The timing and pattern of biotic recovery following the end-Permian mass extinction

• Published in: Nature Geoscience
• Main Authors: Chen, Zhong-Qiang, Benton, Michael J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1983/bfbf3c2e-b151-4b66-ad0b-62e744e1c9ac; https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/bfbf3c2e-b151-4b66-ad0b-62e744e1c9ac; https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1475

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.