ABSTRACT
Patterns ............................................................................................. 121 5.4 Relating Geographic Range, Ecology, and Evolution ................................... 122 5.5 Case Study: Species-Level Analyses of Late Devonian Biogeographic
Patterns .........................................................................................................124 5.5.1 Impact of Geographic Range on Species Survival ........................... 125 5.5.2 Biogeographic Patterns in a Phylogenetic Context ........................... 130 5.5.3 Speciation Rate and Mode Analysis ................................................. 130 5.5.4 Phylogenetic Biogeography .............................................................. 134
5.6 Discussion ..................................................................................................... 135 5.7 Conclusions ................................................................................................... 136 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 136 Literature Cited ...................................................................................................... 137
The fossil record contains a rich history of shifting geographic ranges of species in the ancient past (Lieberman, 2003). Quantifying the geographic ranges of species in the fossil record is currently an underdeveloped yet promising area of study. Palaeobiogeographic studies have typically examined shifts in geographic range over large timescales (stages or periods), mainly of higher taxa (Boucot, 1975). Range reconstruction methods using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), however, provide promising new opportunities to quantify ranges of individual fossil species in addition to higher taxa across temporal intervals approximating that of biostratigraphic zones (Rode and Lieberman, 2004, 2005; Stigall Rode and Lieberman, 2005a, 2005b). Recent use of GIS in palaeontology, including reconstructing the species ranges of Palaeozoic invertebrates through multiple temporal intervals (Rode and Lieberman, 2000, 2004, 2005), has begun to surpass cataloguing species occurrences and to produce data to test palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographic hypotheses. Palaeobiogeographic ranges of higher taxa, such as families and orders, contribute important information about the evolutionary history of clades and their co-evolution with the Earth.
