Unearthing deep-time biodiversity changes: The Palaeogene mammalian metacommunity of the Quercy and Limagne area (Massif Central, France)

The long-term changes of the mammalian diversity of the Quercy and Limagne area (Massif Central, France) is quantitatively investigated through a ∼16-Myr time span running from the late Middle Eocene (∼38 Myr) to the Early Miocene (∼22 Myr). Within the specific context of ecosystem response to extreme climatic events, the goal of such a deep-time approach to local community and regional metacommunity evolution is to give time-scaled reference series with which extant changes can be objectively compared. The results indicate that local and regional ecological integration levels show very distinct evolutionary dynamics, involving at least partially independent sets of controlling parameters; those driving the metacommunity still remain largely to be better understood. Clearly, the analyzed data set constitutes a rather unique deep-time key into several major current macroecological debates.