Rapid macrobenthic diversification and stabilization after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event

Geology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 1048-1052
Author(s):  
Francisco J. Rodríguez-Tovar ◽  
Christopher M. Lowery ◽  
Timothy J. Bralower ◽  
Sean P.S. Gulick ◽  
Heather L. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Rapid Recovery ◽  
Community Recovery ◽  
Scientific Drilling ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Chicxulub Impact Crater ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
International Ocean Discovery Program ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Previous ichnological analysis at the Chicxulub impact crater, Yucatán Peninsula, México (International Ocean Discovery Program [IODP]/International Continental Scientific Drilling Program [ICDP] Site M0077), showed a surprisingly rapid initial tracemaker community recovery after the end-Cretaceous (Cretaceous-Paleogene [K-Pg]) mass extinction event. Here, we found that full recovery was also rapid, with the establishment of a well-developed tiered community within ∼700 k.y. Several stages of recovery were observed, with distinct phases of stabilization and diversification, ending in the development of a trace fossil assemblage mainly consisting of abundant Zoophycos, Chondrites, and Planolites, assigned to the Zoophycos ichnofacies. The increase in diversity is associated with higher abundance, larger forms, and a deeper and more complex tiering structure. Such rapid recovery suggests that favorable paleoenvironmental conditions were quickly reestablished within the impact basin, enabling colonization of the substrate. Comparison with the end-Permian extinction reveals similarities during recovery, yet postextinction recovery was significantly faster after the K-Pg event. The rapid recovery has significant implications for the evolution of macrobenthic biota after the K-Pg event. Our results have relevance in understanding how communities recovered after the K-Pg impact and how this event differed from other mass extinction events.

scholarly journals Differential human impact on the survival of genetically distinct avian lineages

1999 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin L. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Human Impact ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Biotic Diversity ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mass Extinction Events

SummaryAt the present time the earth is facing an anthropogenic (human-caused) mass extinction event that may eventually rival previous mass extinction events caused by drastic changes i n the physical environment; however, the impact of this event on the earth's biotic diversity remains difficult to predict. Patterns of extinction and endangerment in birds, one of the best known taxonomically among major groups of organisms, showed that the distribution of human impact has been non-uniform relative to phylogenetic relationships. Fifteen major avian lineages differed over 35-fold with respect to the frequency of historical extinction and over threefold with respect to frequency of current threat; and overall rates of both extinction and threat were significantly higher in non-passerine orders than in passerines. Moreover, among both passerines and non-passerines, the rate of historic extinction has been significantly higher for species in monotypic genera than for other species; and in passerines, the rate of current threat is significantly higher for species in monotypic genera than for other species. Thus, the anthropogenic extinction and threat to avian species has specifically targeted species that are phylogenetically and thus, presumably genetically, unique.

scholarly journals The impact of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction event on the global sulfur cycle: Evidence from Seymour Island, Antarctica

2018 ◽  
Vol 230 ◽  
pp. 17-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Witts ◽  
Robert J. Newton ◽  
Benjamin J.W. Mills ◽  
Paul B. Wignall ◽  
Simon H. Bottrell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Sulfur Cycle ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Seymour Island

scholarly journals Probing the hydrothermal system of the Chicxulub impact crater

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (22) ◽  
pp. eaaz3053 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Kring ◽  
Sonia M. Tikoo ◽  
Martin Schmieder ◽  
Ulrich Riller ◽  
Mario Rebolledo-Vieyra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydrothermal System ◽  
Earth’S Crust ◽  
Scientific Drilling ◽  
Chicxulub Impact Crater ◽  
Earth's Crust ◽  
International Ocean Discovery Program ◽  
Geomagnetic Polarity ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Yellowstone Caldera

The ~180-km-diameter Chicxulub peak-ring crater and ~240-km multiring basin, produced by the impact that terminated the Cretaceous, is the largest remaining intact impact basin on Earth. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Expedition 364 drilled to a depth of 1335 m below the sea floor into the peak ring, providing a unique opportunity to study the thermal and chemical modification of Earth’s crust caused by the impact. The recovered core shows the crater hosted a spatially extensive hydrothermal system that chemically and mineralogically modified ~1.4 × 105 km3 of Earth’s crust, a volume more than nine times that of the Yellowstone Caldera system. Initially, high temperatures of 300° to 400°C and an independent geomagnetic polarity clock indicate the hydrothermal system was long lived, in excess of 106 years.

scholarly journals Evidence for fungal proliferation following the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass-extinction event, based on chemostratigraphy in the Raton and Powder River basins, western North America

2020 ◽  
pp. 134-142
Author(s):  
Keith Berry
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
North America ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
River Basins ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Ecosystem Recovery ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
The Impact

The presence of the amino acid α-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) within Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary clay in the Raton and Powder River basins in Colorado and Wyoming, respectively, has been described as compelling evidence that extraterrestrial Aib survived the high-energy Chicxulub impact. Based on contemporary experiments and simulations, however, it is highly unlikely that extraterrestrial Aib survived the impact, which had peak impact pressures and temperatures in excess of 600 GPa and 10,000 K, respectively. In other words, the amino acid signature of the carbonaceous chondritic asteroid that impacted Chicxulub was undoubtedly destroyed upon impact during formation of the vapor plume or so-called “fireball.” The only organisms known to produce Aib are the suite (more than 30 genera) of cosmopolitan saprotrophic filamentous fungi that include Trichoderma Pers., which has recently been hypothesized to have thrived during the K/Pg mass-extinction event. Therefore it is proposed that the Aib horizon in the K/Pg boundary clay in the Raton and Powder River basins correlates with the K/Pg boundary fungal spike, which thus far has only been observed in New Zealand (Southern Hemisphere). This proposition is based upon superimposing the Aib horizon on the well-known iridium and fern-spore spikes, as its stratigraphic position precisely matches that predicted by the fungal spike. If correct, this hypothesis alters the conventional perspective on the tempo and mode of terrestrial ecosystem recovery in western North America, as the heavily sampled K/Pg boundary section in the Raton Basin was instrumental in shaping the traditional narrative of the rapid recolonization of a denuded landscape by ferns via wind-blown spores in the immediate wake of regional deforestation caused by the K/Pg impact event. Perhaps more importantly, it could present an alternative to traditional palynological approaches for locating the fungal spike in other terrestrial K/Pg boundary sections and could provide additional support for the generalization that global mass-extinction events are frequently accompanied by fungal spikes.

Testing for a mass extinction without selecting taxa

Paleobiology ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 647-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Solow ◽  
Woollcott K. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Inference ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
Mass Extinction Events ◽  
Stratigraphic Height ◽  
Selection Of

Statistical inference about mass extinction events is commonly based on the pattern of fossil finds among a group of taxa. An important issue for existing methods is the selection of taxa for inclusion in the analysis. A common approach is to select taxa on the basis of the stratigraphic height of their uppermost finds. This approach creates a bias in favor of detecting a mass extinction event. This paper describes and illustrates an approach that avoids this problem.

scholarly journals A Hiatus Obscures the Early Evolution of Modern Lineages of Bony Fishes

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Romano
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Triassic Boundary ◽  
Bony Fishes ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
The Impact

About half of all vertebrate species today are ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii), and nearly all of them belong to the Neopterygii (modern ray-fins). The oldest unequivocal neopterygian fossils are known from the Early Triassic. They appear during a time when global fish faunas consisted of mostly cosmopolitan taxa, and contemporary bony fishes belonged mainly to non-neopterygian (“paleopterygian”) lineages. In the Middle Triassic (Pelsonian substage and later), less than 10 myrs (million years) after the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction event (PTBME), neopterygians were already species-rich and trophically diverse, and bony fish faunas were more regionally differentiated compared to the Early Triassic. Still little is known about the early evolution of neopterygians leading up to this first diversity peak. A major factor limiting our understanding of this “Triassic revolution” is an interval marked by a very poor fossil record, overlapping with the Spathian (late Olenekian, Early Triassic), Aegean (Early Anisian, Middle Triassic), and Bithynian (early Middle Anisian) substages. Here, I review the fossil record of Early and Middle Triassic marine bony fishes (Actinistia and Actinopterygii) at the substage-level in order to evaluate the impact of this hiatus–named herein the Spathian–Bithynian gap (SBG)–on our understanding of their diversification after the largest mass extinction event of the past. I propose three hypotheses: 1) the SSBE hypothesis, suggesting that most of the Middle Triassic diversity appeared in the aftermath of the Smithian-Spathian boundary extinction (SSBE; ∼2 myrs after the PTBME), 2) the Pelsonian explosion hypothesis, which states that most of the Middle Triassic ichthyodiversity is the result of a radiation event in the Pelsonian, and 3) the gradual replacement hypothesis, i.e. that the faunal turnover during the SBG was steady and bony fishes were not affected by extinction events subsequent to the PTBME. Based on current knowledge, hypothesis three is favored herein, but further studies are necessary to test alternative hypotheses. In light of the SBG, claims of a protracted diversification of bony fishes after the PTBME should be treated with caution.

scholarly journals Divergence rates of subviral pathogens of angiosperms abruptly decreased at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 89-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Bajdek
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Continental Drift ◽  
Time Calibration ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Drift Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Probable Impact ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
First Time

Biogeographic distribution of infected plants and the continental drift theory allow a tentative time calibration of the phylogenetic tree of Pospiviroidae. Hypothetically, viroids evolved in the late Early Cretaceous shortly after the appearance of angiosperms, which constitute their only known hosts. No decline in the estimated divergence rates of Pospiviroidae is observed during the Late Cretaceous but it appears that they abruptly decreased at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. However, an adaptive radiation of Pospiviroidae which occurred in the late Paleocene may reflect a recovery from the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction. It seems that the evolutionary history of viroids has been in part shaped by radiation and extinction events of angiosperms. Herein, for the first time I show the probable impact of a mass extinction event on the divergence rates of subviral pathogens, which are the simplest known “lifeforms”.

scholarly journals Dead clades walking are a pervasive macroevolutionary pattern

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (15) ◽  
pp. e2019208118
Author(s):  
B. Davis Barnes ◽  
Judith A. Sclafani ◽  
Andrew Zaffos
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Bayesian Method ◽  
Marine Invertebrate ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Genus Richness ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
Mass Extinction Events

D. Jablonski [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 8139–8144 (2002)] coined the term “dead clades walking” (DCWs) to describe marine fossil orders that experience significant drops in genus richness during mass extinction events and never rediversify to previous levels. This phenomenon is generally interpreted as further evidence that the macroevolutionary consequences of mass extinctions can continue well past the formal boundary. It is unclear, however, exactly how long DCWs are expected to persist after extinction events and to what degree they impact broader trends in Phanerozoic biodiversity. Here we analyze the fossil occurrences of 134 skeletonized marine invertebrate orders in the Paleobiology Database (paleobiodb.org) using a Bayesian method to identify significant change points in genus richness. Our analysis identifies 70 orders that experience major diversity losses without recovery. Most of these taxa, however, do not fit the popular conception of DCWs as clades that narrowly survive a mass extinction event and linger for only a few stages before succumbing to extinction. The median postdrop duration of these DCW orders is long (>30 Myr), suggesting that previous studies may have underestimated the long-term taxonomic impact of mass extinction events. More importantly, many drops in diversity without recovery are not associated with mass extinction events and occur during background extinction stages. The prevalence of DCW orders throughout both mass and background extinction intervals and across phyla (>50% of all marine invertebrate orders) suggests that the DCW pattern is a major component of macroevolutionary turnover.

scholarly journals Impact of K-Pg Mass Extinction Event on Crocodylomorpha Inferred from Phylogeny of Extinct and Extant Taxa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew F. Magee ◽  
Sebastian Höhna
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Likelihood Function ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Occurrence Data ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Biodiversity Changes ◽  
The Impact

AbstractCrocodilians and their allies have survived several mass extinction events. However, the impact of the K-Pg mass extinction event on crocodylomorphs is considered as minor or non-existent although other clades of archosaurs, e.g., non-avian dinosaurs and pterosaurs, went extinct completely. Previous approaches using fossil occurrence data alone have proven inconclusive. In this paper, we take a phylogenetic approach using extant and extinct species. The time-calibrated phylogeny of extant crocodilians provides insights into the pattern of recent biodiversity changes whereas fossil occurrence data provide insights about the more ancient past. The two data sources combined into a single phylogeny with extinct and extant taxa provide a holistic view of the historical biodiversity. To utilize this combined data and to infer the impact of the K-Pg mass extinction event, we derive the likelihood function for a time-varying (episodic) serially sampled birth-death model that additionally incorporates mass extinctions and bursts of births. We implemented the likelihood function in a Bayesian framework with recently developed smoothing priors to accommodate for both abrupt and gradual changes in speciation, extinction and fossilization rates. Contrary to previous research, we find strong evidence for the K-Pg extinction event in crocodiles and their allies. This signal is robust to uncertainty in the phylogeny and the prior on the mass extinctions. Through simulated data analyses, we show that there is high power to detect this mass extinction and little risk of false positives.

Chicxulub Structure: A Volcanic Sequence of Late Cretaceous Age

1994 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 425-436
Author(s):  
Charles B. Officer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Residence Time ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Dust Cloud ◽  
Asteroid Impact ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
The Impact

The present Cretaceous/Tertiary extinction debate started with findings by Alvarez et al. (1980) of enhanced levels of iridium at K/T sections in Italy, Denmark and New Zealand. They postulated that the iridium was extraterrestrial in origin and related to a 10 km diameter asteroid impact which would have produced a crater some 200 km in diameter. They further suggested that a giant dust cloud would have been injected into the stratosphere from the impact with a residence time of several years and that the resulting darkness would have suppressed photosynthesis with a consequent elimination of succeeding members in the biological food chain — ergo, a mass extinction event.

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