珊瑚礁因其令人驚訝的多元性而備受稱譽(yù)。但新的物種真的是從珊瑚礁那里產(chǎn)生出來(lái)的嗎,？或者如生態(tài)學(xué)家常常假設(shè)的，這些物種是從其它地方遷徙到珊瑚礁中去的,。
據(jù)1月8日的《科學(xué)》雜志報(bào)道說(shuō),， 在一項(xiàng)凸顯了保護(hù)珊瑚礁重要性的研究中，科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn),，珊瑚礁對(duì)新物種的產(chǎn)生長(zhǎng)久以來(lái)就一直是很重要的,。 Wolfgang Kiessling及其在德國(guó)和美國(guó)的同僚對(duì)自寒武紀(jì)以來(lái)就生活在海底的生物化石的大型數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)進(jìn)行了檢驗(yàn)。 他們將珊瑚礁中首次出現(xiàn)的新屬生物數(shù)與那些出現(xiàn)在其它淺水域環(huán)境中的新屬生物數(shù)進(jìn)行比較后發(fā)現(xiàn),，珊瑚礁不但容納了極大的生物多元性,，而且它也是一個(gè)新的在海底生活的物種首次出現(xiàn)的關(guān)鍵場(chǎng)所。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science 8 January 2010: DOI: 10.1126/science.1182241
Reefs as Cradles of Evolution and Sources of Biodiversity in the Phanerozoic
Wolfgang Kiessling,1,* Carl Simpson,1 Michael Foote2
Large-scale biodiversity gradients among environments and habitats are usually attributed to a complex array of ecological and evolutionary factors. We tested the evolutionary component of such gradients by compiling the environments of the geologically oldest occurrences of marine genera and using sampling standardization to assess if originations tended to be clustered in particular environments. Shallow, tropical environments and carbonate substrates all tend to have harbored high origination rates. Diversity within these environments tended to be preferentially generated in reefs, probably because of their habitat complexity. Reefs were also prolific at exporting diversity to other environments, which might be a consequence of low-diversity habitats being more susceptible to invasions.
1 Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity at the Humboldt University Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
2 Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
