There is no consensus about how terrestrial biodiversity was assembled through deep time, and in particular whether it has risen exponentially over the Phanerozoic. Using a database of 38,711 fossil occurrences, we show that the spatial extent of the ‘global’ terrestrial tetrapod fossil record itself expands exponentially through the Phanerozoic, and that this spatial variation explains around 75% of the variation in known fossil species counts. Controlling for this bias, we find that regional-scale terrestrial...

Aim: Genetic structure has proven difficult to predict for marine and estuarine species with multi-day pelagic larval durations, since many disperse far less than expected based on passive transport models. In such cases, the gap between potential and realized dispersal may result from larval behaviors that evolved to facilitate retention and settlement in favorable environments. Behavior is predicted to play a particularly key role in structuring truly estuarine species, which often moderate their behavior to...

Mineral licks are key ecological resources for many species of birds and mammals in Amazonia, providing essential dietary nutrients and clays, yet little is known about which species visit and their behaviors at the mineral licks. Studying visitation and behavior at mineral licks can provide insight into the lives of otherwise secretive and elusive species. We assessed which species visited mineral licks, when they visited, and whether visits and the probability of recording groups at...

How are rainforest birds faring in the Anthropocene? We use bird captures spanning >35 years from 55 sites within a vast area of intact Amazonian rainforest to reveal reduced abundance of terrestrial and near-ground insectivores in the absence of deforestation, edge effects, or other direct anthropogenic landscape change. Because undisturbed forest includes far fewer terrestrial and near-ground insectivores than it did historically, today’s fragments and second growth are more impoverished than shown by comparisons with...

Sexual habitat segregation during the wintering period is a widespread phenomenon and has important implications for the ecology and conservation of migratory birds. We studied Black-and-white Warblers (Mniotilta varia) wintering in second-growth scrub and old-growth mangrove forest in Jamaica to quantify sexual habitat segregation and explore whether patterns of habitat occupation have consequences on physical condition. We then used this information along with a body size analysis and simulated territorial intrusions to assess whether behavioral...