Journal
NATURE GEOSCIENCE
Volume 5, Issue 6, Pages 375-383Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1475
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Funding
- ARC [DP0770938]
- NSFC [40830212]
- 111 program of China [B08030]
- China Geological Survey [1212010610211, 1212011140051]
- NERC [NE/C518973/1]
- NERC [NE/C518973/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/C518973/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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The aftermath of the great end-Permian period mass extinction 252 Myr ago shows how life can recover from the loss of >90% species globally. The crisis was triggered by a number of physical environmental shocks (global warming, acid rain, ocean acidification and ocean anoxia), and some of these were repeated over the next 5-6 Myr. Ammonoids and some other groups diversified rapidly, within 1-3 Myr, but extinctions continued through the Early Triassic period. Triassic ecosystems were rebuilt stepwise from low to high trophic levels through the Early to Middle Triassic, and a stable, complex ecosystem did not re-emerge until the beginning of the Middle Triassic, 8-9 Myr after the crisis. A positive aspect of the recovery was the emergence of entirely new groups, such as marine reptiles and decapod crustaceans, as well as new tetrapods on land, including-eventually-dinosaurs. The stepwise recovery of life in the Triassic could have been delayed either by biotic drivers (complex multispecies interactions) or physical perturbations, or a combination of both. This is an example of the wider debate about the relative roles of intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of large-scale evolution.
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