Extinction in Deep Time

doi:10.1017/9781108668675.004

1 - Extinction in Deep Time

Lessons from the Past?

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 August 2019

Edited by

Peter Raven and

Partha Dasgupta: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Peter Raven: Affiliation:
Missouri Botanical Garden
Anna McIvor: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

Book contents

Get access

Summary

The rocks of the world contain a record of more than 3.5 billion years of change to the living world. As new evidence of past life emerges, increasing rigour is brought to the data that tell of species abundance, distribution and relationships through time. In addition, refinements of the stratigraphic record and new insights into past environments illuminate the physical factors that affect the structure and function of ancient ecosystems, particularly how they respond to climate change over time. For these reasons, palaeontological and geological data can be brought to bear on issues central to understanding biodiversity – the rates and patterns of species loss, mechanisms that drive diversity change and features that make some species and times susceptible to extinction. Moreover, the rock and fossil record can inform an understanding of ecosystem recovery after extinctions, revealing how diversity can rebuild after major catastrophes. While ancient fossil records can reveal the physical and biotic factors that underlie extinction, more recent ones are particularly informative. In the right settings, high-resolution recent fossil records can reveal how ecological communities looked and functioned before our own species’ arrival.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Biological Extinction
New Perspectives
, pp. 22 - 33

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108668675.004 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Barnosky, A. D., Matzke, N., Tomiya, S., Wogan, G. O., Swartz, B., Quental, T. B., Marshall, C., McGuire, J. L., Lindsey, E. L., Maguire, K. C., Mersey, B. & Ferrer, E. A. 2011. Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived? Nature, 471: 51–57.Google Scholar

Ceballos, G., Ehrlich, P. R., Barnosky, A. D., García, A., Pringle, R. M. & Palmer, T. M. 2015. Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction. Science Advances, 1(5): E1400253.Google Scholar

Darwin, C. (1859) The Origin of Species. London: Murray.Google Scholar

Dietl, G. & Flessa, K. 2011. Conservation paleobiology: Putting the dead to work. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 26(1): 30–37.Google Scholar

Dietl, G. & Flessa, K. 2018. Conservation Paleobiology. Chicago: University Chicago Press.Google Scholar

Edie, S. M., Jablonski, D. & Valentine, J. W. 2018. Contrasting responses of functional diversity to major losses in taxonomic diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(4): 732–737.Google Scholar

Erwin, D. H. 2001. Lessons from the past: Biotic recoveries from mass extinctions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(10): 5399–5403.CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Erwin, D. H., Bowring, S. A. & Yugan, J. 2002. End-Permian mass extinctions: A review. Geological Society of American Special Paper, 356: 363–383.Google Scholar

Fraiser, M. L. & Bottjer, D. J. 2007. Elevated atmospheric CO₂ and the delayed biotic recovery from the End-Permian extinction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology, 252: 164–75.Google Scholar

Jablonski, D. 1986. Background and mass extinctions: The alternation of macroevolutionary regimes. Science, 231(4734): 129–133.CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Jablonski, D. 2004. The evolutionary role of mass extinctions: Disaster, recovery and something in between. In Taylor, P. D. (Ed.), Extinctions in the History of Life: 151–177. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Jablonski, D. 2005. Mass extinctions and macroevolution. Paleobiology, 31(2): 192–210.CrossRef Google Scholar

Jablonski, D. 2008. Extinction and the spatial dynamics of biodiversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(Suppl. 1): 11528–11535.CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Kidwell, S. M. 2015. Biology in the Anthropocene: Challenges and insights from young fossil records. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(16): 4922–4929.Google Scholar

Kurtén, B. 1995. The Cave Bear Story. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar

Lockwood, R. 2003. Abundance not linked to survival across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction: Patterns in North American bivalves. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100: 2478–2482.Google Scholar

Newell, N. D. 1967. Revolutions in the history of life. In Albritton, C. C. Jr (Ed.), Uniformity and Simplicity: A Symposium on the Principle of the Uniformity of Nature: 63–91. Boulder CO: Geology Society of America.Google Scholar

Payne, J. L. & Clapham, M. E. 2012. End-Permian mass extinction in the oceans: An ancient analog for the twenty-first century? Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 40: 89–111.Google Scholar

Payne, J. L. & Finnegan, S. 2007. The effect of geographic range on extinction risk during background and mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(25), 10506–10511.Google Scholar

Raup, D. & Sepkoski, J. 1982. Mass extinctions in the marine fossil record. Science, 215:1501–1503.CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Renne, P. R., Deino, A. L., Hilgen, F. J., Kuiper, K. F., Mark, D. F., Mitchell, W. S., III, Morgan, L. E., Mundil, R. & Smit, J. 2013. Time scales of critical events around the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. Science, 339: 684.Google Scholar

Rudwick, M. 1997. Georges Cuvier, Fossil Bones and Geological Catastrophes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar

Rudwick, M. 2008. Worlds before Adam: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar

Sepkoski, J. 1982a. A compendium of fossil marine families. Contributions in Biology and Geology: Milwaukee Public Museum, 51: 1–125.Google Scholar

Sepkoski, J. 1982b. Mass extinctions in the Phanerozoic oceans: A review. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 190: 283–289.Google Scholar

Smith, A. & Jeffery, C. 1998. Selectivity of extinction among sea urchins at the end of the Cretaceous period. Nature, 392: 69–71.Google Scholar

Valentine, J. W. 1969. Patterns of taxonomic and ecological structure of the shelf benthos during Phanerozoic time. Paleontology, 12: 684–709.Google Scholar

Valentine, J. W. & Jablonski, D. 1986. Mass extinctions: Sensitivity of marine larval types. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 83: 6912–6914.Google Scholar

Wing, S. L. 2004. Mass extinctions in plant evolution. In Taylor, P. D. (Ed.), Extinctions in the History of Life: 61–97. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this chapter is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.