Euro-North African Sirenia biodiversity as a response to climate variations

•Study of the evolution of Sirenia in the Euro-North African realm (Eocene-Pliocene)•Study of the climate evolution in the same time interval and realm•Climate patterns like seasonality and climate disruptions were quantified•Sirenia speciation and its relation to climate evolution was observed•Climate patterns considered show a major effect in Sirenia speciation

Earth has a latitudinal biodiversity gradient in which more species inhabit tropical than polar regions. Frequently attributed to seasonality, this ecological pattern is applied to the evolution of the Euro-North African sirenians and its relation to Cenozoic climate change. Climate disruption, changes in seasonality, and geological processes such as sea level variations are statistically tested as primary drivers to explain sirenian evolution and regional (amphi-Mediterranean) sirenian speciation and biodiversity.