Splendid isolation with migration: Diversity dynamics of South American mammals

Biodiversity dynamics following encounters between long-isolated faunas provide natural experiments to examine how diversity dependence and ecological interactions shape diversification patterns at macroevolutionary time scales. The Cenozoic arrival of African and North American mammals in South America likely had transformative effects on one of the most unique and previously isolated continental faunas. However, the extent and persistence of these effects remain debated. Here, we assess the impact of immigrant mammal groups on native South American mammal diversity by combining an extensive fossil dataset (6,214 occurrences; 1,739 species) with deep learning methods and time-series analyses to model dynamics of mammalian biodiversity throughout the Cenozoic. The arrival of African and North American lineages increased the overall species richness in the continent but also contributed to a decline in native diversity. Additionally, our models suggest that the negative effect of immigrant lineages on native diversity was strongest immediately after their arrival and initial diversification, but this effect lessened over time. Overall, these findings support a scenario where immigration simultaneously enriched South American faunas and triggered a time-decaying replacement of native lineages, reshaping continental biodiversity.