Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
4749730 | Palaeoworld | 2012 | 10 Pages |
Abstract
All mass extinctions are characterized by certain kind of selectivity. An analysis of stratigraphic ranges of 112 brachiopod superfamilies implies that some Phanerozoic mass extinctions (Late Ordovician, Frasnian/Famennian and Devonian/Carboniferous, Early Jurassic, and Cretaceous/Paleogene) were selective by taxa longevity. They preferentially affected relatively old superfamilies and favoured a survival of relatively young superfamilies. No explanation of this selectivity as an apparent phenomenon is fully satisfactory. The Permian/Triassic mass extinction did not favour a survival of “young” superfamilies because of abnormally low rate of origination established since the Pennsylvanian and the absence of these “young” taxa. This study confirms tentatively a difference between Paleozoic and post-Paleozoic times by the importance of post-extinction recovery intervals for taxa longevity.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Palaeontology
Authors
Dmitry A. Ruban,