Thomas Neubauer及其同事研究发现，欧洲内陆水系统的有限的生物多样性反映了在上次冰川作用末期启动的一个相对年轻的模式。巴尔干半岛的里海与奥赫里德湖目前是欧洲仅有的内陆水生生物多样性热点地区。然而，化石记录揭示出了古代物种丰富性很高，这与一系列长期存在的湖有关联。他们研究了内陆水系统的物种丰富性是否与改变地貌以及在地质时间和空间尺度上驱动气候变化的板块构造过程有关联。这组作者构建了从中新世到今天的大陆水生腹足动物的一个广泛的历史，并且证明了欧洲大陆的地球动力学史跟随了内陆水生生物多样性的出现和进化的步调。在长期存在的湖泊系统中繁盛的热点地区，温暖的气候遇到了强的动物群进化时期。相比之下，第四纪冰室的寒冷和冰川作用的加深，强烈地削减了内陆水生生物多样性，这预示着这个大陆各地多数之前存在的热区的消亡。这些发现合起来提示了目前欧洲内陆水道的物种丰富性模式是一个相对年轻的构造，它始于最近一次冰期的末期。

　　Continental aquatic species richness hotspots are unevenly distributed across the planet. In present-day Europe, only two centers of biodiversity exist (Lake Ohrid on the Balkans and the Caspian Sea). During the Neogene, a wide variety of hotspots developed in a series of long-lived lakes. The mechanisms underlying the presence of richness hotspots in different geological periods have not been properly examined thus far. Based on Miocene to Recent gastropod distributions, we show that the existence and evolution of such hotspots in inland-water systems are tightly linked to the geodynamic history of the European continent. Both past and present hotspots are related to the formation and persistence of long-lived lake systems in geological basins or to isolation of existing inland basins and embayments from themarine realm. The faunal evolution within hotspots highly depends on warm climates and surface area. During the Quaternary icehouse climate and extensive glaciations, limnic biodiversity sustained a severe decline across the continent and most former hotspots disappeared. The Recent gastropod distribution is mainly a geologically young pattern formed after the Last Glacial Maximum (19 ky) and subsequent formation of postglacial lakes. The major hotspots today are related to long-lived lakes in preglacially formed, permanently subsiding geological basins.

　　（来源：PNAS, 2015, 112(37): 11478–11483）