DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qv9s4mwt6
title: Data from: Reviewing the Great American Biotic Interchange: Climate change as a trigger for biodiversity dispersal

description: The Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI), during which an intense
 biodiversity interchange occurred between South and North America,
 strongly affected the biodiversity of the Americas. Despite its
 importance, there are still knowledge gaps regarding the factors
 triggering species dispersion, the taxonomic groups that first dispersed,
 the age at which dispersions began and intensified, and whether there was
 a main dispersal direction through the continent (from North to South
 America or vice versa). To fill these gaps, we conducted a scientific
 literature review of GABI, searching for studies with information
 regarding dispersal age, taxonomic groups (invertebrates, amphibians,
 non-avian reptiles, birds, mammals, and plants), dispersion direction
 (toward South or North America), and the type of data used as the source
 of evidence (fossil, molecular, or living species). We also investigate
 the effect of the climatic dynamic on the biodiversity dispersal through
 the relationships between oxygen-isotope levels (δ 18O, as a proxy of past
 temperatures) and the number and geological age of dispersal records. Only
 41.8% (87 publications) of the studies included information on
 biodiversity dispersion during the GABI. We found evidence of the GABI
 starting at 23 million years ago (Ma) and becoming a continuous process
 from approximately 15 Ma. Cooling periods after the Miocene Climate
 Optimum (MCO) favoured continuous dispersals, which have since
 intensified. Studies based on molecular data recovered more closely
 related to the intermediate ages of dispersal records. In addition, birds,
 plants, and mammals were displaced first, whereas amphibians were
 displaced last.
description: # Data from: Reviewing the Great American Biotic Interchange: Climate
 change as a trigger for biodiversity dispersal Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.qv9s4mwt6](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qv9s4mwt6) ##
 Description of the data and file structure Dataset Title Reviewing the
 Great American Biotic Interchange: climate change as a trigger for
 biodiversity dispersal Date of Article submission 2025 Contributors Roniel
 Freitas-Oliveira - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução,
 Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia,
 GO, Brazil; Matheus S. Lima-Ribeiro - National Institute for Science and
 Technology (INCT) in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation,
 Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil; Victor H. Mendoza-Rodriguez - Programa de
 Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas,
 Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil; Levi Carina Terribile
 - Laboratório de Macroecologia, Universidade Federal de Jataí, UFJ, Jataí,
 GO, Brazil; Overview This dataset provides the necessary information to
 reproduce the analyses presented in the article, including the associated
 tables and R core code. This dataset relates to *The Great American Biotic
 Interchange*, revised with information about dispersal events using
 temperature proxies, directions of movement (North to South and vice
 versa), types of evidence (fossil, molecular, or species), and the
 taxonomic groups involved in the dispersal (Mammals, Birds, Amphibians,
 Reptiles, Invertebrates, and Plants). The data are organised across the
 following tables (.txt and .csv): **year_oxy**, **Data.txt**,
 **evi_pca.txt**, **pca_group_direction.csv**, and
 **pca_group_evidence.csv**.   **File: year_oxy**\ **Variables:** * **Age**
 – Geological time in millions of years (from 23 to 0 Ma). * **DNumber** –
 Number of biodiversity dispersal events between North and South America. *
 **oxy18** – Oxygen-18 isotope data, used as a temperature proxy.   **File:
 Data.txt**\ **Variables:** * **Age** – Geological time in millions of
 years (from 23 to 0 Ma). * **General** – Total number of dispersal events
 across all groups. * **Mammals**, **Birds**, **Invertebrates**,
 **Plants**, **Amphibians**, **Reptiles** – Number of dispersal events for
 each group at each time interval.   **File: evi_pca.txt**\ **Variables:**
 * **Species**, **Molecular**, **Fossils** – Number of dispersal events
 supported by each type of evidence.   **File: pca_group_direction.csv**\
 **Variables:** * **Direction** – Direction of dispersal (North to South or
 South to North). * **Mammals**, **Birds**, **Amphibians**, **Reptiles**,
 **Invertebrates**, **Plants** – Number of dispersal events for each
 taxonomic group.   **File: pca_group_evidence.csv**\ **Variables:** *
 **Evidence** – Type of evidence used (fossil, molecular, or species). *
 **Mammals**, **Birds**, **Amphibians**, **Reptiles**, **Invertebrates**,
 **Plants** – Number of dispersal events for each group supported by each
 evidence type. Data Formats Metadata: .txt and .csv: contain the
 information required to run the analyses. .R: provides the R code
 necessary to reproduce the analyses step by step. ### Files and variables
 #### File: RSPB-2025-1745.zip **Description:** data  ## Code/software R
 Core Development Team R. 2021 A Language and Environment for Statistical
 Computing. *R Foundation for Statistical Computing*. **2**,
 [https://www.R-project.org](https://www.R-project.org). ## Access
 information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * Data was
 derived from the following sources: * The oxy18 variable derived from:
 Zachos JC, Dickens GR, Zeebe RE. 2008 An early Cenozoic perspective on
 greenhouse warming and carbon-cycle dynamics. *Nature* **451**, 279–283.
 (doi:10.1038/nature06588)