The Central Indo-Pacific (or CIP if you’re stuck for time) is a highly diverse region of the ocean. But how did it get to be this way? That’s what I’m going to be discussing, based on facts collated from the primary literature.
Sources for this episode: 1) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Eocene (online) [Accessed 17/01/2021]. 2) Siqueira, A. C., Bellwood, D. R. and Cowman, P. F. (2019), Historical biogeography of herbivorous coral reef fishes: The formation of an Atlantic fauna. Journal of Biogeography: DOI: 10.25903/5cd265eb0a405. 3) Renema, W., Bellwood, D. R., Braga, J. C., Bromfield, K., Hall, R., Johnson, K. G., Lunt, P., Meyer, C. P., McMonagle, L. B., Morley, R. J., O’Dea, A., Todd, J. A., Wesselingh, F. P., Wilson, M. E. J. and Pandolfi, J. M. (2008), Hopping Hotspots: Global Shifts in Marine Biodiversity. Science (321): 654- 657. 4) Ivany, L. C., Patterson, W. P. and Lohmann, K. C. (2000), Cooler winters as a possible cause of mass extinctions at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Nature 407: 887- 890. 5) Author unknown, Wikipedia (date unknown), Coral (online) [Accessed 17/01/2021]. 6) Miller, E.C., Hayashi, K. T., Song, D., Wiens, J. J., (2018) Explaining the ocean’s richest biodiversity hotspot and global patterns of fish diversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20181314. 7) Jones, K. R., Klein, C. J., Halpern, B. S., Venter, O., Grantham, H., Kuempel, C. D., Shumway, N., Friedlander, A. M., Possingham, H. P. and Watson, J. E. M. (2018), The Location and Protection Status of Earth’s Diminishing Marine Wilderness. Current Biology 28: 2506- 2512.
As far as I am aware, the separate elements and studies that I mention have not been collated into one paper. So, although our discussion is based off scientific literature, it might potentially be best to view it as just that- a discussion. I mention this note of caution simply because I am not an expert in this field.