Extinction cascades, community collapse, and recovery across a Mesozoic hyperthermal event.

ABSTRACT: Mass extinctions are considered to be quintessential examples of Court Jester drivers of macroevolution, whereby abiotic pressures drive a suite of extinctions leading to huge ecosystem changes across geological timescales. Most research on mass extinctions ignores species interactions and community structure, limiting inference about which and why species go extinct, and how Red Queen processes that link speciation to extinction rates affect the subsequent recovery of biodiversity, structure and function. Here, we apply network reconstruction, secondary extinction modelling and community structure analysis to the Early Toarcian (Lower Jurassic; 183 Ma) Extinction Event and recovery. We find that primary extinctions targeted towards infaunal guilds, which caused secondary extinction cascad

SUBMITTER: Dunhill AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11452722 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature