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# From radiation to provinces: spatial scaling of Cambrian diversity

## Details

**Authors** Na et al.

**Year** 2026

**Publisher** Geological Society, London, Special Publications

**Discipline** Evolutionary Biology

**Secondary disciplines** Geology

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1144/gslspecpub2026-20) 
10.1144/gslspecpub2026-20

## In authors' words

### What they found (results)

Analysis of global fossil-occurrence databases shows that global Cambrian diversity growth (Fortunian through Stage 3) was accompanied by early-established, persistent regional differentiation driven by taxonomic turnover among provinces rather than by hierarchical nesting of regional faunas.

## Commentary

### In short

The global diversity 'whole' is not simply the hierarchical sum of its regional 'parts'; it is a system whose identity depends on turnover among semi-independent provinces, and demonstrating this required drawing sharp distinctions between endemic and non-endemic, differentiated regional faunas.

**Patterns it shows** D, S

**Added** 2026-09-08

**How to cite this** Na et al. (2026). From radiation to provinces: spatial scaling of Cambrian diversity. Geological Society, London, Special Publications.