Abstract: The emerging idea of locality coverage, or incidence, in the paleontological community and progress in the understanding of the spatial dynamics of metapopulations biology are bringing the paleobiology and present-day biology closer together. The concept of metacommunities and the paleontological notion of chronofauna show much promise for synthesis of paleontology and ecology. Here I review the present understanding of these concepts. I show how these can be used to investigate the paleontological record, using the development of Eurasian large herbivorous mammal communities as a case study.

摘要： 在古生物群落中新近出现的地点覆盖度或发生率的概念，以及对生物集合种群的空间动态学的深入了解，使古生物学和现代生物学的联系更加紧密。集合群落的概念以及地质时 期动物群的古生物学认识显示，将古生物学和生态学结合在一起是大有希望的。评述了目前对这些概念的理解，并以欧亚大陆大型食草动物群落的发育作为范例，介绍了运用这些理论来研究化石记录的方法。研究结果表明，化石记录中种群覆盖度的研究可以在以化石为基础的进化研究和以现生有机体为基础的进化研究之间架起一座桥梁。地点覆盖度最大的类群，像现代生态学中发生率最大的类群一样，往往是地理分布最广泛、在当地最丰富的类群。