Hartvigsen, G. 2000. The Influence of Evolution on the Biodiversity of Past and Present Communities. In press. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. Academic Press. (Invited)

Evolution has led to an incredible diversification of forms that have originated from a single ancestor. Our current accounting of species on Earth is woefully lacking, as many of the entries in this encyclopedia have demonstrated. In addition, the fossil record is, unfortunately, grossly underrepresented by taxa that have existed on earth since life began 3.5 – 4.0 billion years ago. The purpose of this entry is to summarize our current understanding of the rise of earth’s biodiversity and to discuss how evolution has both driven this process of the accumulation of taxa over time and how evolution influences communities, both past and present, in which organisms reside. The influence of evolution on integrated communities of diverse taxa and the likely changes to take place in the near future certainly ranks among one of the great frontiers facing students of biodiversity as we watch the profound test of the resilience of Earth’s ecosystems to the enterprise of Homo sapiens.