To describe the spatial patterns of diversity in the AF, we are synthesizing the distribution of taxonomic diversity by integrating data from producers, consumers, parasites, and bacterial symbionts. We are expanding on phylogenetic analyses and summarize broad patterns of endemism and turnover, at the species and lineage levels. To advance diversity prediction, we are integrating data on the ecological mechanisms acting on the AF flora and fauna (the functional dimension of diversity) with dynamic climatic models that describe variability of precipitation and temperature during the last six glacial- interglacial cycles. These models are being informed by paleoclimatological studies, including our pollen fossil and speleothem records.

Through validated Approximate Bayesian Computation methods, we are also using genetic, UCE, and RAD-Seq genomic diversity data from our multiple target taxa to statistically test the fit of the aggregate population histories to the inferred time-calibrated landscape shifts and demographic processes. These models will permit the description of dissimilarity of communities as a function of geographical and environmental turnover in space and time.