On the Origin of Spaces: framing Palaeobiogeography

Palaeontology sits at the intersection of Earth and life sciences. The fossil record is simultaneously geological and biological in nature, offering a unique window into how Earth developed into what we see today. This long view of Earth system processes has allowed researchers to study how the presence of life has influenced the geosphere, whilst the geosphere has in turn been a powerful force in structuring diversity and ecology. In this closing chapter, we outline the geological and palaeobiological perspectives on the use of the fossil record and introduce a synthetic framework for discussing palaeobiogeographic trends in Earth-life interactions, discriminating between biogeography in reconstructed space and the geography of fossil distributions today. Following from the legacy of LRM Cocks, and his contemporaries, we discuss the utility of fossil data for constraining reconstructions of past earths and compare geological and palaeontological perspectives on biotic ranges on a dynamic Earth.