Data from: Recent extinctions disturb path to equilibrium diversity in Caribbean bats

Islands are ideal systems to reconstruct changes in biodiversity and reveal the influence of humans on natural communities. While theory predicts biodiversity on islands tends towards equilibrium, the recent extinction of large proportions of island biotas complicates testing this model. The well-preserved subfossil record of Caribbean bats provides a rare opportunity to model diversity dynamics in an insular community. Here we reconstruct the diversity trajectory in noctilionoid bats of the Greater Antilles by applying a dynamic model of colonisation, extinction and speciation to phylogenetic and paleontological data. We show species richness asymptotes to an equilibrium value, demonstrating natural equilibrium dynamics across an entire community. However, recent extinctions have wiped out nearly a third of island lineages, dragging diversity away from equilibrium. Using a metric to measure island biodiversity loss, we estimate it will take at least eight million years to regain pre-human diversity levels. Our integrative approach reveals how anthropogenic extinctions can drastically alter the natural trajectory of biological communities.,Divergence dates from 100 treesDivergence dates in Ma from 100 trees randomly selected from Bayesian posteriors.Data 100 trees.txtSample from Bayesian posteriorSample of 500 trees from the Bayesian posterior of dated phylogenies from: Rojas, D., O. M. Warsi, and L. M. Dávalos. 2016. Bats (Chiroptera: Noctilionoidea) challenge a recent origin of extant neotropical diversity. Syst Biol 65:432–448.Rojas et al 2016_posterior.treesSample from Bayesian posteriorSample of 100 trees form Bayesian posterior from analyses of combined morphological and molecular data by Tavares*, V. D. C., L. M. Dávalos*, O. M. Warsi, F. Balseiro, C. A. Mancina, and J. Rothleder. In Prep. Out of the Antilles: Fossil phylogenies support reverse colonization to South America.Tavares 100 fossil posterior.trees,