{
  "abstract": "The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG)—a decline in taxonomic richness from the Equator to the poles—is a fundamental biogeographic pattern on Earth today, yet its primary regulators remain debated. Whereas many of the proposed climatic and environmental drivers covary with latitude in the present day, these variables have fluctuated substantially over millions of years. The fossil record therefore offers a unique perspective on the response of diversity and, by extension, the LDG, to global climatic change. We test the hypothesis that Earth's long-term climate state controls LDG strength, determining the conditions under which steep, ‘modern-type’ gradients with low-latitude-centred diversity peaks emerge. By analysing sampling-standardized marine invertebrate diversity across the past 500 million years, we reveal a systematic link: ‘modern-type’ LDGs typically prevail during coldhouse–coolhouse intervals, whereas flattened LDGs or temperate diversity peaks occur predominantly within transitional, warmhouse and hothouse climates. This robust phenomenon demonstrates that long-term climate exerts a primary control on global biodiversity patterns, whereas palaeogeography, including the distribution of shallow-marine habitat and continental configuration, modulates the regional expression of the LDG, including hemispheric variation. As anthropogenic warming pushes Earth towards hothouse conditions, our results offer a critical geohistorical perspective on the impending restructuring of global biodiversity.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "School of Earth Sciences and Engineering and Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China",
    "Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK",
    "State Key Laboratory of Critical Earth Material Cycling and Mineral Deposits, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Die Wen",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-2467-0783"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Lewis A. Jones",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3902-8986"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Junxuan Fan",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9913-0865"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Philip D. Mannion",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9361-6941"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a8rrkj10df5r1.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1098/rspb.2026.1490",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13725536/",
  "id": "a8rrkj10df5r1",
  "issns": [
    "0962-8452",
    "1471-2954"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2026.1490",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Palaeobiology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Palaeontology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Research"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1911|Evolution and Paleontology Studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7224112391",
  "pdf_url": "https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article-pdf/doi/10.1098/rspb.2026.1490/6173862/rspb.2026.1490.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13725536",
  "pmid": "42947417",
  "published": "2026-10-21",
  "publisher": "The Royal Society",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a8rrkj10df5r1.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T12:23:53Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13725536",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2026.1490"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1911|Evolution and Paleontology Studies",
      "subfield": "evolutionary-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Climate state controls the strength of the latitudinal diversity gradient",
  "title_text": "Climate state controls the strength of the latitudinal diversity gradient",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-05T12:22:05Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a8rrkj10df5r1",
  "venue": "Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences",
  "versions": []
}