Trilobites dominated the first group of complex animals imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo
The tropics are the most biodiverse regions on Earth. Now there is evidence that they聽are also the main source of聽evolutionary innovation and聽diversity.
Complex animals have dominated Earth for 541 million years, a time span called the Phanerozoic eon. Huge numbers of species have evolved and gone extinct during聽this time, in a complex story that includes fish, giant reptiles and whales.
However, in the 1980s palaeontologist John Sepkoski analysed the overall pattern of聽evolution in the sea, where聽the fossil record is best. He concluded that…
