The Evolution of Brachiopoda

Abstract

Brachiopods are (perhaps all too) familiar to any geology student who has taken an invertebrate paleontology course; they may well be less familiar to biology students. Even though brachiopods are among the most significant components of the marine fossil record by virtue of their considerable diversity, abundance, and long evolutionary history, fewer than 500 species are extant. Reconciling the geological and biological perspectives is necessary in order to test hypotheses, not only about phylogenetic relationships among brachiopods but also about their spectacular decline in diversity in the end-Permian mass extinction, which permanently reset their evolutionary trajectory. Studying brachiopod ontogeny and development, population genetics, ecology, physiology, and biogeography, as well as molecular systematics and phylogenomics, enables us to better understand the context of evolutionary processes over the short term. Investigating brachiopod morphological, taxonomic, and stratigraphic records over the Phanerozoic Eon reveals historical patterns of long-term macroevolutionary change, patterns that are simply unknowable from a biological perspective alone.