Leprieur F. auteur aut IRD Descombes P. auteur aut IRD Gaboriau T. auteur aut IRD Cowman P. F. auteur aut IRD Parravicini Valeriano auteur aut IRD Kulbicki Michel auteur aut IRD Melian C. J. auteur aut IRD de Santana C. N. auteur aut IRD Heine C. auteur aut IRD Mouillot D. auteur aut IRD Bellwood D. R. auteur aut IRD Pellissier L. C. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access The Cretaceous breakup of Gondwana strongly modified the global distribution of shallow tropical seas reshaping the geographic configuration of marine basins. However, the links between tropical reef availability, plate tectonic processes and marine biodiversity distribution patterns are still unknown. Here, we show that a spatial diversification model constrained by absolute plate motions for the past 140 million years predicts the emergence and movement of diversity hotspots on tropical reefs. The spatial dynamics of tropical reefs explains marine fauna diversification in the Tethyan Ocean during the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic, and identifies an eastward movement of ancestral marine lineages towards the Indo-Australian Archipelago in the Miocene. A mechanistic model based only on habitat-driven diversification and dispersal yields realistic predictions of current biodiversity patterns for both corals and fishes. As in terrestrial systems, we demonstrate that plate tectonics played a major role in driving tropical marine shallow reef biodiversity dynamics. specialized OCEAN INDIEN PACIFIQUE ATLANTIQUE 064 036 7 art. 11461 [8 p.] 2016 2041-1723 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010066850 10.1038/ncomms11461 2041-1723 [F B010066850] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010066850 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers16-05/010066850.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2016-06-02 2018-06-19 fdi:010066850 fre