scholarly journals Delayed recovery of non-marine tetrapods after the end-Permian mass extinction tracks global carbon cycle

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1732) ◽  
pp. 1310-1318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall B. Irmis ◽  
Jessica H. Whiteside
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Marine Invertebrates ◽  
Global Carbon Cycle ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Triassic Boundary ◽  
Delayed Recovery ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction ◽  
Global Carbon

During the end-Permian mass extinction, marine ecosystems suffered a major drop in diversity, which was maintained throughout the Early Triassic until delayed recovery during the Middle Triassic. This depressed diversity in the Early Triassic correlates with multiple major perturbations to the global carbon cycle, interpreted as either intrinsic ecosystem or external palaeoenvironmental effects. In contrast, the terrestrial record of extinction and recovery is less clear; the effects and magnitude of the end-Permian extinction on non-marine vertebrates are particularly controversial. We use specimen-level data from southern Africa and Russia to investigate the palaeodiversity dynamics of non-marine tetrapods across the Permo-Triassic boundary by analysing sample-standardized generic richness, evenness and relative abundance. In addition, we investigate the potential effects of sampling, geological and taxonomic biases on these data. Our analyses demonstrate that non-marine tetrapods were severely affected by the end-Permian mass extinction, and that these assemblages did not begin to recover until the Middle Triassic. These data are congruent with those from land plants and marine invertebrates. Furthermore, they are consistent with the idea that unstable low-diversity post-extinction ecosystems were subject to boom–bust cycles, reflected in multiple Early Triassic perturbations of the carbon cycle.

Organic carbon isotopes in terrestrial Permian-Triassic boundary sections of North China: Implications for global carbon cycle perturbations

2019 ◽  
Vol 132 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1106-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuyang Wu ◽  
Jinnan Tong ◽  
Thomas J. Algeo ◽  
Daoliang Chu ◽  
Ying Cui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Carbon Isotope ◽  
North China ◽  
Global Carbon Cycle ◽  
Middle Part ◽  
Triassic Boundary ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction ◽  
Permian Triassic Boundary ◽  
Global Carbon

Abstract The end-Permian mass extinction (ca. 252 Ma) represents the most severe biotic crisis of the Phanerozoic, and it was accompanied by profound environmental perturbations, especially to the global carbon cycle, as indicated by sharp negative carbon isotope excursions (CIE) in both carbonates (δ13Ccarb) and organic matter (δ13Corg). To date, carbon isotope records are mostly from marine Permian-Triassic transitional sequences with relatively few high-resolution carbon isotope profiles having been generated for terrestrial facies. Terrestrial Permian-Triassic sequences suitable for high-resolution carbon isotope study are rare globally and are difficult to correlate with better-studied marine sequences. However, carbon isotope records from continental facies are essential to a full understanding of global carbon cycle changes during the Permian-Triassic transition. Here, we present bulk δ13Corg profiles for three terrestrial sections in North China representing Permian-Triassic transitional beds. These profiles exhibit similar patterns of secular variation defining three stages: (1) a pre-CIE interval, (2) a CIE interval, characterized by a rapid negative shift of 1.7‰–2.2‰ within the middle part of the Sunjiagou Formation, and (3) a post-CIE interval. The similarity of the CIE in all three study sections facilitates correlations among them, and its presence in the Permian-Triassic transitional beds suggests that it is equivalent to the negative CIE at the Permian-Triassic boundary in the Meishan global stratotype section and point (GSSP) and in coeval marine and terrestrial sections globally. The end-Permian CIE was probably triggered by a massive release of 13C-depleted carbon from volcanogenic sources leading to elevated atmospheric pCO2, although oceanic sources of CO2 cannot be ruled out at present.

Early and Middle Triassic trends in diversity, evenness, and size of foraminifers on a carbonate platform in south China: implications for tempo and mode of biotic recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction

Paleobiology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan L. Payne ◽  
Mindi Summers ◽  
Brianna L. Rego ◽  
Demir Altiner ◽  
Jiayong Wei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Carbonate Platform ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Recovery Pattern ◽  
Biotic Recovery ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction

Delayed biotic recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction has long been interpreted to result from environmental inhibition. Recently, evidence of more rapid recovery has begun to emerge, suggesting the role of environmental inhibition was previously overestimated. However, there have been few high-resolution taxonomic and ecological studies spanning the full Early and Middle Triassic recovery interval, leaving the precise pattern of recovery and underlying mechanisms poorly constrained. In this study, we document Early and Middle Triassic trends in taxonomic diversity, assemblage evenness, and size distribution of benthic foraminifers on an exceptionally exposed carbonate platform in south China. We observe gradual increases in all metrics through Early Triassic and earliest Middle Triassic time, with stable values reached early in the Anisian. There is little support in our data set for a substantial Early Triassic lag interval during the recovery of foraminifers or for a stepwise recovery pattern. The recovery pattern of foraminifers on the GBG corresponds well with available global data for this taxon and appears to parallel that of many benthic invertebrate clades. Early Triassic diversity increase in foraminifers was more gradual than in ammonoids and conodonts. However, foraminifers continued to increase in diversity, size, and evenness into Middle Triassic time, whereas diversity of ammonoids and conodonts declined. These contrasts suggest decoupling of recovery between benthic and pelagic environments; it is unclear whether these discrepancies reflect inherent contrasts in their evolutionary dynamics or the differential impact of Early Triassic ocean anoxia or associated environmental parameters on benthic ecosystems.

scholarly journals Archosauriform footprints in the Lower Triassic of Western Alps and their role in understanding the effects of the Permian-Triassic hyperthermal

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10522
Author(s):  
Fabio Massimo Petti ◽  
Heinz Furrer ◽  
Enrico Collo ◽  
Edoardo Martinetto ◽  
Massimo Bernardi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Lower Triassic ◽  
Western Alps ◽  
Large Igneous Province ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Triassic Boundary ◽  
Habitable Zones ◽  
Single Well ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction ◽  
Permian Triassic Boundary

The most accepted killing model for the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) postulates that massive volcanic eruption (i.e., the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province) led to geologically rapid global warming, acid rain and ocean anoxia. On land, habitable zones were drastically reduced, due to the combined effects of heating, drought and acid rains. This hyperthermal had severe effects also on the paleobiogeography of several groups of organisms. Among those, the tetrapods, whose geographical distribution across the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) was the subject of controversy in a number of recent papers. We here describe and interpret a new Early Triassic (?Olenekian) archosauriform track assemblage from the Gardetta Plateau (Briançonnais, Western Alps, Italy) which, at the Permian-Triassic boundary, was placed at about 11° North. The tracks, both arranged in trackways and documented by single, well-preserved imprints, are assigned to Isochirotherium gardettensis ichnosp. nov., and are here interpreted as produced by a non-archosaurian archosauriform (erytrosuchid?) trackmaker. This new discovery provides further evidence for the presence of archosauriformes at low latitudes during the Early Triassic epoch, supporting a model in which the PTME did not completely vacate low-latitude lands from tetrapods that therefore would have been able to cope with the extreme hot temperatures of Pangaea mainland.

scholarly journals The main stage of recovery after the end-Permian mass extinction: taxonomic rediversification and ecologic reorganization of marine level-bottom communities during the Middle Triassic

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11654
Author(s):  
Evelyn Friesenbichler ◽  
Michael Hautmann ◽  
Hugo Bucher
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Trophic Relationships ◽  
Lag Phase ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Bottom Communities ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction

The recovery of marine life from the end-Permian mass extinction event provides a test-case for biodiversification models in general, but few studies have addressed this episode in its full length and ecological context. This study analyses the recovery of marine level-bottom communities from the end-Permian mass extinction event over a period of 15 Ma, with a main focus on the previously neglected main phase during the Middle Triassic. Our analyses are based on faunas from 37 lithological units representing different environmental settings, ranging from lagoons to inner, mid- and outer ramps. Our dataset comprises 1562 species, which belong to 13 higher taxa and 12 ecological guilds. The diversification pattern of most taxa and guilds shows an initial Early Triassic lag phase that is followed by a hyperbolic diversity increase during the Bithynian (early middle Anisian) and became damped later in the Middle Triassic. The hyperbolic diversity increase is not predicted by models that suggest environmental causes for the initial lag phase. We therefore advocate a model in which diversification is primarily driven by the intensity of biotic interactions. Accordingly, the Early Triassic lag phase represents the time when the reduced species richness in the wake of the end-Permian mass extinction was insufficient for stimulating major diversifications, whereas the Anisian main diversification event started when self-accelerating processes became effective and stopped when niche-crowding prevented further diversification. Biotic interactions that might drive this pattern include interspecific competition but also habitat construction, ecosystem engineering and new options for trophic relationships. The latter factors are discussed in the context of the resurgence of large carbonate platforms, which occurred simultaneously with the diversification of benthic communities. These did not only provide new hardground habitats for a variety of epifaunal taxa, but also new options for grazing gastropods that supposedly fed from microalgae growing on dasycladaceans and other macroalgae. Whereas we do not claim that changing environmental conditions were generally unimportant for the recovery of marine level-bottom communities, we note that their actual role can only be assessed when tested against predictions of the biotic model.

scholarly journals Early Triassic fluctuations of the global carbon cycle: New evidence from paired carbon isotopes in the western USA basin

2017 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 10-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwénaël Caravaca ◽  
Christophe Thomazo ◽  
Emmanuelle Vennin ◽  
Nicolas Olivier ◽  
Théophile Cocquerez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Carbon Isotopes ◽  
Global Carbon Cycle ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Western Usa ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Global Carbon

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 A new stem group echinoid from the Triassic of China leads to a revised macroevolutionary history of echinoids during the end-Permian mass extinction

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 171548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Thompson ◽  
Shi-xue Hu ◽  
Qi-Yue Zhang ◽  
Elizabeth Petsios ◽  
Laura J. Cotton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Stem Group ◽  
History Of ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction ◽  
Lazarus Effect ◽  
A New Species

The Permian–Triassic bottleneck has long been thought to have drastically altered the course of echinoid evolution, with the extinction of the entire echinoid stem group having taken place during the end-Permian mass extinction. The Early Triassic fossil record of echinoids is, however, sparse, and new fossils are paving the way for a revised interpretation of the evolutionary history of echinoids during the Permian–Triassic crisis and Early Mesozoic. A new species of echinoid, Yunnanechinus luopingensis n. sp. recovered from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) Luoping Biota fossil Lagerstätte of South China, displays morphologies that are not characteristic of the echinoid crown group. We have used phylogenetic analyses to further demonstrate that Yunnanechinus is not a member of the echinoid crown group. Thus a clade of stem group echinoids survived into the Middle Triassic, enduring the global crisis that characterized the end-Permian and Early Triassic. Therefore, stem group echinoids did not go extinct during the Palaeozoic, as previously thought, and appear to have coexisted with the echinoid crown group for at least 23 million years. Stem group echinoids thus exhibited the Lazarus effect during the latest Permian and Early Triassic, while crown group echinoids did not.

LOCALLY VARIABLE RESPONSES TO A GLOBAL CARBON-CYCLE DISTURBANCE: ENVIRONMENTAL PERTURBATIONS DURING THE FRASNIAN–FAMENNIAN MASS EXTINCTION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence M.E. Percival ◽  
◽  
Leszek Marynowski ◽  
François Baudin ◽  
David De Vleeschouwer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Global Carbon Cycle ◽  
Environmental Perturbations ◽  
Global Carbon

Diversity and distribution of Triassic bryozoans in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction

2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 362-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine M. Powers ◽  
Joseph F. Pachut
Keyword(s):  
Surface Area ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Carbonate Rock ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Diversity Pattern ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction ◽  
Early Late

Seventy-three species of stenolaemate bryozoans are documented worldwide from the Triassic. Stage-level diversity and paleogeographical analyses reveal that the recovery of bryozoans following the end-Permian mass extinction was delayed until the Middle Triassic. Early Triassic bryozoans faunas, dominated by members of the Order Trepostomida, were depauperate and geographically restricted. Bryozoan diversity increased during the Middle Triassic and diversity peaked in the Carnian (early Late Triassic). High extinction rates throughout the Late Triassic led to the extinction of all stenolaemate orders except the Cyclostomida by the end of the Triassic. Comparisons between global carbonate rock volume, outcrop surface area, and bryozoan diversity indicate that the documented diversity pattern for bryozoans may have been related, in part, to the availability of carbonate environments during the Triassic.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document