Historical processes tens to hundreds of millions of years in the past have shaped not only the trajectory of life through time but also the distribution and composition of life today. Studies aimed at the origin and evolution of regional biotas promise to forge a stronger link among paleobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. Improvements in high-resolution stratigraphic interpretation, numerical modeling of the fossil record, and the application of phylogenetic methods to extinct groups will lead to advances in understanding of (a) assembly of regional biotas, (b) the ecology of extinct taxa, (c) the diversification and environmental expansion of major groups, (d) the processes underlying regional ecosystem persistence and pulsed change, and (e) whether or not diversity has limits over geologic time.

中文翻译：

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区域生物群的起源和演化：一个深层次的视角

过去数千万年至数亿年的历史进程不仅塑造了生命的时间轨迹，也塑造了当今生命的分布和构成。针对区域生物群起源和进化的研究有望在古生物学、生态学和进化生物学之间建立更紧密的联系。高分辨率地层解释、化石记录的数值模拟以及系统发育方法在灭绝群体中的应用的改进将导致对（a）区域生物群的组装，（b）灭绝类群的生态学，（c）的理解的进步) 主要群体的多样化和环境扩张，(d) 区域生态系统持久性和脉冲变化的潜在过程，以及 (e) 多样性是否在地质时间上有限制。