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Species diversity pattern among marine taxa from Permian–Triassic boundary strata showing great variability in the extinction pattern. Calcareous algae, fusulinids, rugose corals, trilobites and radiolarians were entirely lost in the latest Permian (the top of Neogondolella yini zone or the base of Neogondolella meishanensis zone). A second group, including small foraminifers, ostracods, brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods, ammonoids and conodonts, seems to be less affected by this end-Permian mass extinction and exhibits a two-stage extinction pattern near the P–Tr boundary. Total diversity is clearly divided into three parts by the two extinction pulses, with three distinct species richness levels seen (Supplementary Fig. S11). The last two columns are from refs 2 and 6, respectively, and show a different species richness distribution: species richness in our data set is much higher than the other two (for example, 334 species in the latest Permian in our data set versus 219 species in ref. 6 and 110 species in ref. 2); our data set shows that the species richness levels are constant in Permian–Triassic boundary strata (N. meishanensis-Isarcicella staeschei zones) whereas both refs 2 and 6 show decreasing richness at this time.
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The Permian-Triassic mass extinction is the most severe biotic crisis
identified in Earth history. Over 90% of marine species were eliminated,
causing the destruction of the marine ecosystem structure. This biotic
crisis is generally interpreted as a single extinction event around
252.3 million years ago, and has been variously attributed to the
er...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... diversity of motile and non-motile metazoans was unaffected by the first extinction pulse (Fig. 4b) whereas non-motile taxa suffering markedly higher extinction rates in the second pulse (Fig. 4b). Thus, the proportion of non-motile taxa at genus level was 70% near the P-Tr boundary (a little higher than the post-Caradoc Palaeozoic average of 58% (ref. 3)), but this decreased to 47% (close to the Mesozoic mean 3 ) after the second ...
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Citations
... The Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) is thought to have been the most severe biotic crisis in Earth's evolutionary history [16][17][18] , with extinctions occurring in two pulses 19 . The magnitude and duration of diversity depression of this event have been well evaluated from both regional and global fossil datasets [19][20][21][22] . ...
... The Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) is thought to have been the most severe biotic crisis in Earth's evolutionary history [16][17][18] , with extinctions occurring in two pulses 19 . The magnitude and duration of diversity depression of this event have been well evaluated from both regional and global fossil datasets [19][20][21][22] . However, there is still a lack of consensus around the impact of the PTME on morphological disparity. ...
... (2) Permian-Triassic transitional beds 76 , spanning from 251.941 to 251.88 Ma 73 . The transitional beds include conodont zones from Clarkina meishanensis to Isarcicella staeschei 74,77 and feature taxa that survived the first extinction horizon but went extinct close to the second extinction horizon 19 ; they are also known as mixed fauna beds 78,79 . (3) The post-extinction Induan interval (hereafter Induan), which spans 251.88 to 250.7 Ma 52,73,80 . ...
Morphological disparity and taxonomic diversity are distinct measures of biodiversity, typically expected to evolve synergistically. However, evidence from mass extinctions indicates that they can be decoupled, and while mass extinctions lead to a drastic loss of diversity, their impact on disparity remains unclear. Here we evaluate the dynamics of morphological disparity and extinction selectivity across the Permian–Triassic mass extinction. We developed an automated approach, termed DeepMorph, for the extraction of morphological features from fossil images using a deep learning model and applied it to a high-resolution temporal dataset encompassing 599 genera across six marine clades. Ammonoids, brachiopods and ostracods experienced a selective loss of complex and ornamented forms, while bivalves, gastropods and conodonts did not experience morphologically selective extinctions. The presence and intensity of morphological selectivity probably reflect the variations in environmental tolerance thresholds among different clades. In clades affected by selective extinctions, the intensity of diversity loss promoted the loss of morphological disparity. Conversely, under non-selective extinctions, the magnitude of diversity loss had a negligible impact on disparity. Our results highlight that the Permian–Triassic mass extinction had heterogeneous morphological selective impacts across clades, offering new insights into how mass extinctions can reshape biodiversity and ecosystem structure.
... It is believed that a diversity drop and a turnover of faunal composition occurred in this period (Shuang-Mao et al., 2023), with some of the Palaeozoic lineages such as †Monura and †Paleodyctioptera disappeared (Grimaldi & Engel, 2005;Labandeira & Sepkoski, 1993) while others, such the holometabolans, experienced an evolutionary burst (Misof et al., 2014;Montagna et al., 2019;Zheng et al., 2018). Supposedly, this faunal turnover was mainly promoted by the eco-space left vacant after the end Permian Mass Extinction event (EPME), the most severe biotic extinction event of the Phanerozoic (Raup, 1979;Song et al., 2013). However, recent studies raise the question if continental faunas, and in particular the insects, were really so dramatically affected by this event (Montagna et al., 2019;Nowak et al., 2019;Schachat & Labandeira, 2021) and hypothesized that other globalscale events (such as the Carnian Pluvial Episode, ~ 234 to ∼232 Ma; Late Triassic) might have mostly driven an insect turnover from the Palaeozoic to the Mesozoic, as well as the establishment of the modern fauna (Montagna et al., Submitted). ...
The Triassic is considered a crucial period for the establishment of the modern insect fauna and fossil records from this period are fundamental for understanding the real impact that the end Permian Mass Extinction events had on these animals. Here, we review the insect fossils from one of the main deposits of this period in the world, Monte San Giorgio, which is considered one of the nine main insect Fossillagerstätten. In this Lagerstätte, located on the border between Switzerland and Italy, a total of 273 fossil insects have been collected in five localities. The fossils found in Val Mara site D, one of the two richest insect fossils sites of Monte San Giorgio, present peculiar features, such as extraordinary sizes and phosphatisation of internal tissues revealing fine internal details. In contrast, the Val Mara site VM 12 fossil record (248 specimens) is dominated by small to medium size insects, usually almost intact, preserving details such as setae on wings and compound eyes. Besides these exceptional features, these fossil insects are of extreme evolutionary importance, since they represent the first or the last occurrence for their lineage. In this regard, their use to calibrate nodes in a phylogenomic dating analysis led to backdating the origin of many insect lineages, including Diptera and Heteroptera. Up to now, a total of five species from Monte San Giorgio have been formally described, belonging to the orders Archaeognatha (†Monura and Machilidae), Ephemeroptera, Hemiptera (Tingidae) and Coleoptera (Adephaga). A further species, Merithone laetitiae (†Permithonidae) gen. et sp. nov., whose fossil is included among the recent findings in Val Mara site VM 12, is described in the present work.
... The Permian-Triassic mass extinction was the most severe biological crisis of the Phanerozoic, with a loss of over 80% of marine species, 7,8 and it determined the pivotal transition in the history of life from the Paleozoic to the Modern Evolutionary Fauna, 9,10 which has also been called Mesozoic and Cenozoic communities and has more diverse predators and more complex predator-prey interactions. 11,12 Extinction selectivity based on ecological and phylogenetic criteria has been observed in the Permian-Triassic fossil record. ...
Extinction selectivity determines the direction of macroevolution, especially during mass extinction; however, its driving mechanisms remain poorly understood. By investigating the physiological selectivity of marine animals during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, we found that marine clades with lower O2-carrying capacity hemerythrin proteins and those relying on O2 diffusion experienced significantly greater extinction intensity and body-size reduction than those with higher O2-carrying capacity hemoglobin or hemocyanin proteins. Our findings suggest that animals with high O2-carrying capacity obtained the necessary O2 even under hypoxia and compensated for the increased energy requirements caused by ocean acidification, which enabled their survival during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. Thus, high O2-carrying capacity may have been crucial for the transition from the Paleozoic to the Modern Evolutionary Fauna.
... However, extinction events can have diverse and complex impacts on different clades, which can be revealed by temporal patterns of taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity (Ruta et al., 2013). Conodonts taxonomic diversity was seemingly unaffected by these two major extinctions (Song et al., 2013;Chen and Shen, 2021), or even other important extinctions (Clark, 1987;Aldridge, 1988;De Renzi et al., 1996;Martínez-Pérez et al., 2014). But it is not yet clear what impacts they had on morphological disparity. ...
... A variety of taxa were seriously affected by the end-Permian extinction, and the preceding Guadalupian extinction, especially in the taxonomic diversity of fusulines, brachiopods and rugose corals. However, previous estimates suggest that conodonts were not affected by the mass extinctions based on taxonomic diversity, with some suggesting that conodonts are not, or at least are less, sensitive to mass extinctions (Song et al., 2013;Fan et al., 2020;Chen and Shen, 2021;Dal Corso et al., 2022). Contrary to conventional wisdom, our results indicate that mass extinctions may have played a prominent role in the morphological innovation of major groups of conodonts, which is indicated by the immediate morphospace expansions of Polygnathacea after the extinction events in the Permian. ...
... A globally-widespread, major negative carbon isotope excursion and various extinction mechanisms have been attributed to the release of volcanogenic and thermogenic gases associated with the Siberian Traps large igneous province (STLIP) (Chen and Benton, 2012;Benton and Newell, 2014). Low latitude sea surface temperatures warmed as much as 10 • C between the latest Permian and Early Triassic (Wang et al., 2020a) with devastating consequences for marine life Song et al., 2013;Stanley, 2016). Elevated levels of inertinite/charcoal (Cai et al., 2021a;Lu et al., 2022;Song et al., 2022) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs] (Jiao et al., 2023) in strata from this interval suggests that this atmospheric hyperthermal event promoted forest fires. ...
... The first episode of mass extinction occurred during the latest Permian (1st pulse), while the second episode occurred during the earliest Triassic (2nd pulse). The first pulse witnessed the major biodiversity loss of the foraminifera, calcareous algae, brachiopods, rugose corals etc. (Song et al., 2013), whereas the second pulse accounted for the major destruction of marine ecosystems (Huang et al., 2023). The terrestrial crisis was likely to have been underway several tens to hundreds of thousands of years before the marine extinction (e.g., Chu et al., 2020;Gastaldo et al., 2020). ...
... Datasets: (1) Integrated Geologic Timescaleage scale is the astronomical timescale (ATS) at Shangsi and Meishan (Wu et al., 2013) anchored to the radioisotopic dates from Meishan (Burgess et al., 2014); conodont biozones from Lai et al. (2018); geomagnetic polarity pattern is from this study; δ 13 C carb is a composite from several studies (Cao et al., 2002;Xie et al., 2007;Shen et al., 2013;Wei et al., 2020), trend median line of the δ 13 C carb is a locally weighted smoothing regression (LOWESS, 0.1Myr window) with 2SD confidence intervals, which are calculated using ACycle 2.4.1 (Li et al., 2019). Global trends (colored bars) -lethally high temperature from Joachimski et al. (2012); the increase of atmospheric CO 2 from Shen et al. (2022); two mass extinction pulses from Song et al. (2013) and Yin et al. (2012); Siberian Traps timing from Burgess et al. (2017). (2) Shangsi section, South China -conodont biozones from Jiang et al. (2011) and Yuan et al. (2019); δ 13 C carb from Shen et al. (2013); geomagnetic polarity pattern from this study. ...
... Intensive research over the past few decades has ensured that the best-known record of the Permo-Triassic marine mass extinction (PTMME) is from South China [3,[6][7][8][9]. Strata in the region were deposited in warm, equatorial seas in a broad range of environments ranging from shallow-water platform carbonates to deep-water basinal cherts and mudrocks. ...
... The transition marks the loss of more than 200 species across the region, an extinction magnitude of ~60%, that may have occurred in as little as 1,000 years [11]. Losses were especially severe amongst some shallow-water groups such as calcareous algae, fusulinid foraminifers, gastropods and ammonoids, whilst ostracods and conodonts were little affected at this level [7,12,13]. This crisis has long been known as the end-Permian mass extinction and many earlier studies (and even some recent ones [8,14]) considered this phase to mark the end of a prolonged period of diversity decline. ...
... In South China, and elsewhere in equatorial latitudes, this level also sees the proliferation of microbialities and oolites in shallow-water carbonate sections [17]. The majority of this "mixed fauna" is lost during a second, equally rapid pulse of enhanced extinction rates in the earliest Triassic Isarcica staeschi Zone, around the top of Bed 28 boundary at Meishan [7,10,13]. Species-level losses reach 70% at this level, with many ostracods, brachiopods and small foraminifers disappearing. The mass extinction is thus a two-step event that straddles the Permo-Triassic boundary, with an interlude between crises of around 55 kyr in duration [3]. ...
The marine losses during the Permo-Triassic mass extinction were the worst ever experienced. All groups were badly affected, especially amongst the benthos (e.g. brachiopods, corals, bryozoans, foraminifers, ostracods). Planktonic populations underwent a fundamental change with eukaryotic algae being replaced by nitrogen-fixing bacteria, green-sulphur bacteria, sulphate-reducing bacteria and prasinophytes. Detailed studies of boundary sections, especially those in South China, have resolved the crisis to a ~55 kyr interval straddling the Permo-Triassic boundary. Many of the losses occur at the beginning and end of this interval painting a picture of a two-phase extinction. Improved knowledge of the extinction has been supported by numerous geochemical studies that allow diverse proposed extinction mechanisms to be studied. A transition from oxygenated to anoxic-euxinic conditions is seen in most sections globally, although the intensity and timing shows regional variability. Decreased ocean ventilation coincides with rapidly rising temperatures and many extinction scenarios attribute the losses to both anoxia and high temperatures. Other kill mechanisms include ocean acidification for which there is conflicting support from geochemical proxies and, even less likely, siltation (burial under a massive influx of terrigenous sediment) which lacks substantive sedimentological evidence. The ultimate driver of the catastrophic changes at the end of the Permian was likely Siberian Trap eruptions and their associated carbon dioxide emissions with consequences such as warming, ocean stagnation and acidification. Volcanic winter episodes stemming from Siberian volcanism have also been linked to the crisis, but the short-term nature of these episodes (<decades) and the overwhelming evidence for rapid warming during the crisis makes this an unlikely cause. Finally, whilst the extinction is well studied in equatorial latitudes, a different history is found in northern Boreal latitudes including an earlier crisis which merits further study in order to fully understand the course and cause of the Permo-Triassic extinctions.
... Intensive research over the past few decades has ensured that the best-known record of the Permo-Triassic marine mass extinction (PTMME) is from South China [3,[6][7][8][9]. Strata in the region were deposited in warm, equatorial seas in a broad range of environments ranging from shallow-water platform carbonates to deep-water basinal cherts and mudrocks. ...
... The transition marks the loss of more than 200 species across the region, an extinction magnitude of ~60%, that may have occurred in as little as 1,000 years [11]. Losses were especially severe amongst some shallow-water groups such as calcareous algae, fusulinid foraminifers, gastropods and ammonoids, whilst ostracods and conodonts were little affected at this level [7,12,13]. This crisis has long been known as the end-Permian mass extinction and many earlier studies (and even some recent ones [8,14]) considered this phase to mark the end of a prolonged period of diversity decline. ...
... In South China, and elsewhere in equatorial latitudes, this level also sees the proliferation of microbialities and oolites in shallow-water carbonate sections [17]. The majority of this "mixed fauna" is lost during a second, equally rapid pulse of enhanced extinction rates in the earliest Triassic Isarcica staeschi Zone, around the top of Bed 28 boundary at Meishan [7,10,13]. Species-level losses reach 70% at this level, with many ostracods, brachiopods and small foraminifers disappearing. The mass extinction is thus a two-step event that straddles the Permo-Triassic boundary, with an interlude between crises of around 55 kyr in duration [3]. ...
The marine losses during the Permo-Triassic mass extinction were the worst ever experienced. All groups were badly affected, especially amongst the benthos (e.g. brachiopods, corals, bryozoans, foraminifers, ostracods). Planktonic populations underwent a fundamental change with eukaryotic algae being replaced by nitrogen-fixing bacteria, green-sulphur bacteria, sulphate-reducing bacteria and prasinophytes. Detailed studies of boundary sections, especially those in South China, have resolved the crisis to a ∼55 kyr interval straddling the Permo-Triassic boundary. Many of the losses occur at the beginning and end of this interval painting a picture of a two-phase extinction. Improved knowledge of the extinction has been supported by numerous geochemical studies that allow diverse proposed extinction mechanisms to be studied. A transition from oxygenated to anoxic-euxinic conditions is seen in most sections globally, although the intensity and timing shows regional variability. Decreased ocean ventilation coincides with rapidly rising temperatures and many extinction scenarios attribute the losses to both anoxia and high temperatures. Other kill mechanisms include ocean acidification for which there is conflicting support from geochemical proxies and, even less likely, siltation (burial under a massive influx of terrigenous sediment) which lacks substantive sedimentological evidence. The ultimate driver of the catastrophic changes at the end of the Permian was likely Siberian Trap eruptions and their associated carbon dioxide emissions with consequences such as warming, ocean stagnation and acidification. Volcanic winter episodes stemming from Siberian volcanism have also been linked to the crisis, but the short-term nature of these episodes (<decades) and the overwhelming evidence for rapid warming during the crisis makes this an unlikely cause. Finally, whilst the extinction is well studied in equatorial latitudes, a different history is found in northern Boreal latitudes including an earlier crisis which merits further study in order to fully understand the course and cause of the Permo-Triassic extinctions.
... The Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) is recognized as the most devastating biotic crisis of the Phanerozoic, leading to the global loss of nearly 90% of marine invertebrate species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate genera (McGhee et al., 2004;Erwin, 2006;Song et al., 2013;Fan et al., 2020). The subsequent recovery of the marine ecosystem after the PTME is still an open debate, and the timing, pattern, and process of this recovery remain under discussion (Chen and Benton, 2012;Song et al., 2018;Foster and Twitchett, 2021;Dai et al., 2023). ...
... All the factors mentioned here negatively affected the functioning of biosystems. This resulted in the largest extinction in the history of the Earth: more than 90 per cent of marine organisms and in excess of 70 per cent of terrestrial organisms probably went extinct (Song et al., 2013). The composition of the biocoenosis typical of the Palaeozoic, practically ceased to exist and was not to be rebuilt. ...
In the Solar System, the coming into existence of a peculiar, fully developed atmosphere on Earth was determined by the ‘Great Oxidation Event’ at the turn of the Proterozoic and Palaeozoic. Within about 600 million years, there were large changes in oxygen concentrations in this atmosphere, ranging from 15 to 35 per cent, having been determined by a combination of cosmic-climatic, tectonic-volcanic and biological phenomena. A particular environmental change occurred at the beginning of the 19th century, as a result of the overlap of the end of the natural Little Ice Age and the beginning of anthropogenic warming of the ‘industrial revolution’. According to the author, the rate of human impact on environmental changes is estimated at about 15 per cent. The appearance of mankind brought new changes in the natural environment, including the oxygen content of the air. The current scale of anthropogenic impact justifies the introduction of a new time slice in the planet’s history - the Anthropocene. The functioning of civilisation is conditioned by meeting energy needs, to be implemented by creating a system of energy generators, among which the heat of the Earth should be an important component. The energy generated from this inexhaustible and cost-free geo-resource should be seen as the most ecological among all currently used energy carriers.
