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Monarrez PM, Heim NA, Payne JL. Reduced strength and increased variability of extinction selectivity during mass extinctions. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230795. [PMID: 37771968 PMCID: PMC10523066 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023]
Abstract
Two of the traits most often observed to correlate with extinction risk in marine animals are geographical range and body size. However, the relative effects of these two traits on extinction risk have not been investigated systematically for either background times or during mass extinctions. To close this knowledge gap, we measure and compare extinction selectivity of geographical range and body size of genera within five classes of benthic marine animals across the Phanerozoic using capture-mark-recapture models. During background intervals, narrow geographical range is strongly associated with greater extinction probability, whereas smaller body size is more weakly associated with greater extinction probability. During mass extinctions, the association between geographical range and extinction probability is reduced in every class and fully eliminated in some, whereas the association between body size and extinction probability varies in strength and direction across classes. While geographical range is universally the stronger predictor of survival during background intervals, variation among classes during mass extinction suggests a fundamental shift in extinction processes during these global catastrophes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro M. Monarrez
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Noel A. Heim
- Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
| | - Jonathan L. Payne
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
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2
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Singh P, Lu W, Lu Z, Jost AB, Lau K, Bachan A, van de Schootbrugge B, Payne JL. Reduction in animal abundance and oxygen availability during and after the end-Triassic mass extinction. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:175-192. [PMID: 36329603 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The end-Triassic biodiversity crisis was one of the most severe mass extinctions in the history of animal life. However, the extent to which the loss of taxonomic diversity was coupled with a reduction in organismal abundance remains to be quantified. Further, the temporal relationship between organismal abundance and local marine redox conditions is lacking in carbonate sections. To address these questions, we measured skeletal grain abundance in shallow-marine limestones by point counting 293 thin sections from four stratigraphic sections across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in the Lombardy Basin and Apennine Platform of western Tethys. Skeletal abundance decreased abruptly across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in all stratigraphic sections. The abundance of skeletal organisms remained low throughout the lower-middle Hettangian strata and began to rebound during the late Hettangian and early Sinemurian. A two-way ANOVA indicates that sample age (p < .01, η2 = 0.30) explains more of the variation in skeletal abundance than the depositional environment or paleobathymetry (p < .01, η2 = 0.15). Measured I/Ca ratios, a proxy for local shallow-marine redox conditions, show this same pattern with the lowest I/Ca ratios occurring in the early Hettangian. The close correspondence between oceanic water column oxygen levels and skeletal abundance indicates a connection between redox conditions and benthic organismal abundance across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. These findings indicate that the end-Triassic mass extinction reduced not only the biodiversity but also the carrying capacity for skeletal organisms in early Hettangian ecosystems, adding to evidence that mass extinction of species generally leads to mass rarity among survivors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pulkit Singh
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Wanyi Lu
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Zunli Lu
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA
| | - Adam B Jost
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Kimberly Lau
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
| | | | | | - Jonathan L Payne
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
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3
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Kitchel ZJ, Conrad HM, Selden RL, Pinsky ML. The role of continental shelf bathymetry in shaping marine range shifts in the face of climate change. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:5185-5199. [PMID: 35698263 PMCID: PMC9540106 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Revised: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
As a consequence of anthropogenic climate change, marine species on continental shelves around the world are rapidly shifting deeper and poleward. However, whether these shifts deeper and poleward will allow species to access more, less, or equivalent amounts of continental shelf area and associated critical habitats remains unclear. By examining the proportion of seabed area at a range of depths for each large marine ecosystem (LME), we found that shelf area declined monotonically for 19% of LMEs examined. However, the majority exhibited a greater proportion of shelf area in mid-depths or across several depth ranges. By comparing continental shelf area across 2° latitudinal bands, we found that all coastlines exhibit multiple instances of shelf area expansion and contraction, which have the potential to promote or restrict poleward movement of marine species. Along most coastlines, overall shelf habitat increases or exhibits no significant change moving towards the poles. The exception is the Southern West Pacific, which experiences an overall loss of area with increasing latitude. Changes in continental shelf area availability across latitudes and depths are likely to affect the number of species local ecosystems can support. These geometric analyses help identify regions of conservation priority and ecological communities most likely to face attrition or expansion due to variations in available area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoë J. Kitchel
- Ecology and Evolution Graduate ProgramRutgers UniversityNew BrunswickNew JerseyUSA
| | - Hailey M. Conrad
- Department of Fish and Wildlife ConservationBlacksburgVirginiaUSA
| | | | - Malin L. Pinsky
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural ResourcesRutgers UniversityNew BrunswickNew JerseyUSA
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Pier JQ, Brisson SK, Beard JA, Hren MT, Bush AM. Accelerated mass extinction in an isolated biota during Late Devonian climate changes. Sci Rep 2021; 11:24366. [PMID: 34934059 PMCID: PMC8692332 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03510-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The fossil record can illuminate factors that contribute to extinction risk during times of global environmental disturbance; for example, inferred thermal tolerance was an important predictor of extinction during several mass extinctions that corresponded with climate change. Additionally, members of geographically isolated biotas may face higher risk because they have less opportunity to migrate to suitable climate refugia during environmental disturbances. Here, we investigate how different types of risk intersect in the well-preserved brachiopod fauna of the Appalachian Foreland Basin during the two pulses of the Frasnian-Famennian mass extinction (Late Devonian, ~ 372 Ma). The selectivity of extinction is consistent with climate change (cooling) as a primary kill mechanism in this fauna. Overall, the extinction was mild relative to other regions, despite the many endemic species. However, vulnerable taxa went extinct more rapidly, during the first extinction pulse, such that the second pulse was insignificant. These results suggest that vulnerable taxa in geographically isolated biotas face heightened extinction risk at the initiation of environmental stress, but that taxa in other regions may eventually see elevated extinction risk if environmental stress repeats or intensifies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaleigh Q Pier
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT, 06269-3043, USA. .,Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, Cornell University, 4 College Ave, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA.
| | - Sarah K Brisson
- Department of Geosciences, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269-1045, USA
| | - J Andrew Beard
- Department of Geosciences, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269-1045, USA
| | - Michael T Hren
- Department of Geosciences, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269-1045, USA
| | - Andrew M Bush
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT, 06269-3043, USA.,Department of Geosciences, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269-1045, USA
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Cole SR, Hopkins MJ. Selectivity and the effect of mass extinctions on disparity and functional ecology. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabf4072. [PMID: 33952521 PMCID: PMC8099180 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf4072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Selectivity of mass extinctions is thought to play a major role in coupling or decoupling of taxonomic, morphological, and ecological diversity, yet these measures have never been jointly evaluated within a single clade over multiple mass extinctions. We investigate extinction selectivity and changes in taxonomic diversity, morphological disparity, and functional ecology over the ~160-million-year evolutionary history of diplobathrid crinoids (Echinodermata), which spans two mass extinctions. Whereas previous studies documented extinction selectivity for crinoids during background extinction, we find no evidence for selectivity during mass extinctions. Despite no evidence for extinction selectivity, disparity remains strongly correlated with richness over extinction events, contradicting expected patterns of disparity given nonselective extinction. Results indicate that (i) disparity and richness can remain coupled across extinctions even when selective extinction does not occur, (ii) simultaneous decreases in taxonomic diversity and disparity are insufficient evidence for extinction selectivity, and (iii) selectivity differs between background and mass extinction regimes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Selina R Cole
- Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, PO Box 37012, MRC 121, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA.
- Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St., New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Melanie J Hopkins
- Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St., New York, NY 10024, USA
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Stockey RG, Cole DB, Planavsky NJ, Loydell DK, Frýda J, Sperling EA. Persistent global marine euxinia in the early Silurian. Nat Commun 2020; 11:1804. [PMID: 32286253 PMCID: PMC7156380 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15400-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Accepted: 03/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The second pulse of the Late Ordovician mass extinction occurred around the Hirnantian-Rhuddanian boundary (~444 Ma) and has been correlated with expanded marine anoxia lasting into the earliest Silurian. Characterization of the Hirnantian ocean anoxic event has focused on the onset of anoxia, with global reconstructions based on carbonate δ238U modeling. However, there have been limited attempts to quantify uncertainty in metal isotope mass balance approaches. Here, we probabilistically evaluate coupled metal isotopes and sedimentary archives to increase constraint. We present iron speciation, metal concentration, δ98Mo and δ238U measurements of Rhuddanian black shales from the Murzuq Basin, Libya. We evaluate these data (and published carbonate δ238U data) with a coupled stochastic mass balance model. Combined statistical analysis of metal isotopes and sedimentary sinks provides uncertainty-bounded constraints on the intensity of Hirnantian-Rhuddanian euxinia. This work extends the duration of anoxia to >3 Myrs – notably longer than well-studied Mesozoic ocean anoxic events. The Late Ordovician mass extinction has been attributed to extended marine anoxia. Here, the authors use a metal isotope mass balance model and find the marine anoxic event lasted over 3 million years, notably longer than the anoxic event associated with the Permian-Triassic extinction and Cretaceous ocean anoxic events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard G Stockey
- Stanford University, Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
| | - Devon B Cole
- School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Noah J Planavsky
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - David K Loydell
- School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, PO1 3QL, UK
| | - Jiří Frýda
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Erik A Sperling
- Stanford University, Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
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Kröger B, Franeck F, Rasmussen CMØ. The evolutionary dynamics of the early Palaeozoic marine biodiversity accumulation. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20191634. [PMID: 31455187 PMCID: PMC6732384 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The early Palaeozoic Era records the initial biodiversification of the Phanerozoic. The increase in biodiversity involved drastic changes in taxon longevity, and in rates of origination and extinction. Here, we calculate these variables in unprecedented temporal resolution. We find that highly volatile origination and extinction rates are associated with short genus longevities during the Cambrian Period. During the Ordovician and Silurian periods, evolutionary rates were less volatile and genera persisted for increasingly longer intervals. The 90%-genus life expectancy doubled from 5 Myr in the late Cambrian to more than 10 Myr in the Ordovician–Silurian periods. Intervals with widespread ecosystem disruption are associated with short genus longevities during the Cambrian and with exceptionally high longevities during the Ordovician and Silurian periods. The post-Cambrian increase in persistence of genera, therefore, indicates an elevated ability of the changing early Palaeozoic marine ecosystems to sustainably maintain existing genera. This is evidence of a new level of ecosystem resilience which evolved during the Ordovician Period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Björn Kröger
- Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Christian M Ø Rasmussen
- Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Cascading trend of Early Paleozoic marine radiations paused by Late Ordovician extinctions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:7207-7213. [PMID: 30910963 PMCID: PMC6462056 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1821123116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The first 120 million years of Phanerozoic life witnessed significant changes in biodiversity levels. Attempts to correlate these changes to potential short-term environmental drivers have been hampered by the crude temporal resolution of current biodiversity estimates. We present a biodiversity curve for the Early Paleozoic with high temporal precision. It shows that once equatorial sea-surface temperatures fell to present-day levels during the early Mid Ordovician, marine biodiversity accumulation accelerated dramatically. However, this acceleration ceased as increased volcanism commenced during the mid-Late Ordovician. Since biodiversity levels were not restored for at least ∼35 million years, this finding redefines the nature of the end Ordovician mass extinctions and further reframes the Silurian as a prolonged recovery interval. The greatest relative changes in marine biodiversity accumulation occurred during the Early Paleozoic. The precision of temporal constraints on these changes is crude, hampering our understanding of their timing, duration, and links to causal mechanisms. We match fossil occurrence data to their lithostratigraphical ranges in the Paleobiology Database and correlate this inferred taxon range to a constructed set of biostratigraphically defined high-resolution time slices. In addition, we apply capture–recapture modeling approaches to calculate a biodiversity curve that also considers taphonomy and sampling biases with four times better resolution of previous estimates. Our method reveals a stepwise biodiversity increase with distinct Cambrian and Ordovician radiation events that are clearly separated by a 50-million-year-long period of slow biodiversity accumulation. The Ordovician Radiation is confined to a 15-million-year phase after which the Late Ordovician extinctions lowered generic richness and further delayed a biodiversity rebound by at least 35 million years. Based on a first-differences approach on potential abiotic drivers controlling richness, we find an overall correlation with oxygen levels, with temperature also exhibiting a coordinated trend once equatorial sea surface temperatures fell to present-day levels during the Middle Ordovician Darriwilian Age. Contrary to the traditional view of the Late Ordovician extinctions, our study suggests a protracted crisis interval linked to intense volcanism during the middle Late Ordovician Katian Age. As richness levels did not return to prior levels during the Silurian—a time of continental amalgamation—we further argue that plate tectonics exerted an overarching control on biodiversity accumulation.
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Finnegan S, Rasmussen CMØ, Harper DAT. Identifying the most surprising victims of mass extinction events: an example using Late Ordovician brachiopods. Biol Lett 2017; 13:rsbl.2017.0400. [PMID: 28954854 PMCID: PMC5627174 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0400] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2017] [Accepted: 09/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Mass extinction events are recognized by increases in extinction rate and magnitude and, often, by changes in the selectivity of extinction. When considering the selective fingerprint of a particular event, not all taxon extinctions are equally informative: some would be expected even under a ‘background’ selectivity regime, whereas others would not and thus require special explanation. When evaluating possible drivers for the extinction event, the latter group is of particular interest. Here, we introduce a simple method for identifying these most surprising victims of extinction events by training models on background extinction intervals and using these models to make per-taxon assessments of ‘expected’ risk during the extinction interval. As an example, we examine brachiopod genus extinctions during the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction and show that extinction of genera in the deep-water ‘Foliomena fauna’ was particularly unexpected given preceding Late Ordovician extinction patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seth Finnegan
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Christian M Ø Rasmussen
- Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - David A T Harper
- Palaeoecosystems Group, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK.,Department of Geology, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden
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Congreve CR, Falk AR, Lamsdell JC. Biological hierarchies and the nature of extinction. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2017; 93:811-826. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2017] [Revised: 08/18/2017] [Accepted: 08/22/2017] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Curtis R. Congreve
- Department of Geosciences; 510 Deike Building, Pennsylvania State University; University Park PA 16802 U.S.A
| | - Amanda R. Falk
- Department of Biology; Centre College, 600 West Walnut Street; Danville KY 40422 U.S.A
| | - James C. Lamsdell
- Department of Geology and Geography, 98 Beechurst Avenure, Brooks Hall; West Virginia University; Morgantown WV 26506 U.S.A
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Graptolite community responses to global climate change and the Late Ordovician mass extinction. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:8380-5. [PMID: 27432981 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1602102113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Mass extinctions disrupt ecological communities. Although climate changes produce stress in ecological communities, few paleobiological studies have systematically addressed the impact of global climate changes on the fine details of community structure with a view to understanding how changes in community structure presage, or even cause, biodiversity decline during mass extinctions. Based on a novel Bayesian approach to biotope assessment, we present a study of changes in species abundance distribution patterns of macroplanktonic graptolite faunas (∼447-444 Ma) leading into the Late Ordovician mass extinction. Communities at two contrasting sites exhibit significant decreases in complexity and evenness as a consequence of the preferential decline in abundance of dysaerobic zone specialist species. The observed changes in community complexity and evenness commenced well before the dramatic population depletions that mark the tipping point of the extinction event. Initially, community changes tracked changes in the oceanic water masses, but these relations broke down during the onset of mass extinction. Environmental isotope and biomarker data suggest that sea surface temperature and nutrient cycling in the paleotropical oceans changed sharply during the latest Katian time, with consequent changes in the extent of the oxygen minimum zone and phytoplankton community composition. Although many impacted species persisted in ephemeral populations, increased extinction risk selectively depleted the diversity of paleotropical graptolite species during the latest Katian and early Hirnantian. The effects of long-term climate change on habitats can thus degrade populations in ways that cascade through communities, with effects that culminate in mass extinction.
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