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Journal articles on the topic 'Biological Extinction'
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Huang Baokun, 黄宝锟, 胡以华 Hu Yihua, 顾有林 Gu Youlin, 赵义正 Zhao Yizheng, 李. 乐. Li Le, and 赵欣颖 Zhao Xinying. "Aerodynamic property of artificial biological extinction material." Infrared and Laser Engineering 47, no. 2 (2018): 204005. http://dx.doi.org/10.3788/irla201847.0204005.
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Collins, Catherine J., Nicolas J. Rawlence, Stefan Prost, Christian N. K. Anderson, Michael Knapp, R. Paul Scofield, Bruce C. Robertson, et al. "Extinction and recolonization of coastal megafauna following human arrival in New Zealand." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281, no. 1786 (July 7, 2014): 20140097. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0097.
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Extinctions can dramatically reshape biological communities. As a case in point, ancient mass extinction events apparently facilitated dramatic new evolutionary radiations of surviving lineages. However, scientists have yet to fully understand the consequences of more recent biological upheaval, such as the megafaunal extinctions that occurred globally over the past 50 kyr. New Zealand was the world's last large landmass to be colonized by humans, and its exceptional archaeological record documents a vast number of vertebrate extinctions in the immediate aftermath of Polynesian arrival approximately AD 1280. This recently colonized archipelago thus presents an outstanding opportunity to test for rapid biological responses to extinction. Here, we use ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis to show that extinction of an endemic sea lion lineage ( Phocarctos spp.) apparently facilitated a subsequent northward range expansion of a previously subantarctic-limited lineage. This finding parallels a similar extinction–replacement event in penguins ( Megadyptes spp.). In both cases, an endemic mainland clade was completely eliminated soon after human arrival, and then replaced by a genetically divergent clade from the remote subantarctic region, all within the space of a few centuries. These data suggest that ecological and demographic processes can play a role in constraining lineage distributions, even for highly dispersive species, and highlight the potential for dynamic biological responses to extinction.
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Li, Peter. "Biological Data Extinction." OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology 7, no. 1 (January 2003): 49–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/153623103322006599.
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Turvey, Samuel T., and Susanne A. Fritz. "The ghosts of mammals past: biological and geographical patterns of global mammalian extinction across the Holocene." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366, no. 1577 (September 12, 2011): 2564–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0020.
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Although the recent historical period is usually treated as a temporal base-line for understanding patterns of mammal extinction, mammalian biodiversity loss has also taken place throughout the Late Quaternary. We explore the spatial, taxonomic and phylogenetic patterns of 241 mammal species extinctions known to have occurred during the Holocene up to the present day. To assess whether our understanding of mammalian threat processes has been affected by excluding these taxa, we incorporate extinct species data into analyses of the impact of body mass on extinction risk. We find that Holocene extinctions have been phylogenetically and spatially concentrated in specific taxa and geographical regions, which are often not congruent with those disproportionately at risk today. Large-bodied mammals have also been more extinction-prone in most geographical regions across the Holocene. Our data support the extinction filter hypothesis, whereby regional faunas from which susceptible species have already become extinct now appear less threatened; they may also suggest that different processes are responsible for driving past and present extinctions. We also find overall incompleteness and inter-regional biases in extinction data from the recent fossil record. Although direct use of fossil data in future projections of extinction risk is therefore not straightforward, insights into extinction processes from the Holocene record are still useful in understanding mammalian threat.
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Finnegan, Seth, Christian M. Ø. Rasmussen, and David A. T. Harper. "Identifying the most surprising victims of mass extinction events: an example using Late Ordovician brachiopods." Biology Letters 13, no. 9 (September 2017): 20170400. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0400.
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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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Bromham, Lindell, Robert Lanfear, Phillip Cassey, Gillian Gibb, and Marcel Cardillo. "Reconstructing past species assemblages reveals the changing patterns and drivers of extinction through time." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279, no. 1744 (August 2012): 4024–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.1437.
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Predicting future species extinctions from patterns of past extinctions or current threat status relies on the assumption that the taxonomic and biological selectivity of extinction is consistent through time. If the driving forces of extinction change through time, this assumption may be unrealistic. Testing the consistency of extinction patterns between the past and the present has been difficult, because the phylogenetically explicit methods used to model present-day extinction risk typically cannot be applied to the data from the fossil record. However, the detailed historical and fossil records of the New Zealand avifauna provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct a complete, large faunal assemblage for different periods in the past. Using the first complete phylogeny of all known native New Zealand bird species, both extant and extinct, we show how the taxonomic and phylogenetic selectivity of extinction, and biological correlates of extinction, change from the pre-human period through Polynesian and European occupation, to the present. These changes can be explained both by changes in primary threatening processes, and by the operation of extinction filter effects. The variable patterns of extinction through time may confound attempts to identify risk factors that apply across time periods, and to infer future species declines from past extinction patterns and current threat status.
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Smits, Peter D. "Expected time-invariant effects of biological traits on mammal species duration." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 42 (October 5, 2015): 13015–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1510482112.
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Determining which biological traits influence differences in extinction risk is vital for understanding the differential diversification of life and for making predictions about species’ vulnerability to anthropogenic impacts. Here I present a hierarchical Bayesian survival model of North American Cenozoic mammal species durations in relation to species-level ecological factors, time of origination, and phylogenetic relationships. I find support for the survival of the unspecialized as a time-invariant generalization of trait-based extinction risk. Furthermore, I find that phylogenetic and temporal effects are both substantial factors associated with differences in species durations. Finally, I find that the estimated effects of these factors are partially incongruous with how these factors are correlated with extinction risk of the extant species. These findings parallel previous observations that background extinction is a poor predictor of mass extinction events and suggest that attention should be focused on mass extinctions to gain insight into modern species loss.
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Egorov, Pavel, Evgeny Nesterov, Stanislav Dubrova, Konstantin Shmoylov, and Maria Markova. "Variability in biological diversity of dinosaurs and types of their diet." E3S Web of Conferences 371 (2023): 01087. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202337101087.
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Biodiversity analysis underlies macroevolutionary studies and allows to identify mass extinctions. Numerous studies of mass extinctions show that geological factors play a central role in determining the diversity dynamics. The late Cretaceous extinction is of interest to science as the closest to us extinction of the five mass extinctions that occurred in the Phanerozoic. There is currently no scientific consensus on the scenario in which the extinction occurred on land. In order to assess the features of superorder Dinosauria development during the Cretaceous-Paleogene, the authors have analysed the diversity of terrestrial taxa of Mesozoic dinosaurs. Based on data from the paleobiodb paleontological database using the Python programming language and its libraries, the features of the species diversity of Dinosauria have been studied. An attempt was made to quantify the species diversity of this group based on the ratio of predators to herbivores using data on dinosaur food types. The simulated diversity data were compared with observed patterns and existing estimates. It is likely that less than one-third of the dinosaurs that existed are currently known, as indicated by the geography of the fossils, and the proportions of dinosaurs by type of diet.
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Wagler, Ron. "The Anthropocene Mass Extinction: An Emerging Curriculum Theme for Science Educators." American Biology Teacher 73, no. 2 (February 1, 2011): 78–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/abt.2011.73.2.5.
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There have been five past great mass extinctions during the history of Earth. There is an ever-growing consensus within the scientific community that we have entered a sixth mass extinction. Human activities are associated directly or indirectly with nearly every aspect of this extinction. This article presents an overview of the five past great mass extinctions; an overview of the current Anthropocene mass extinction; past and present human activities associated with the current Anthropocene mass extinction; current and future rates of species extinction; and broad science-curriculum topics associated with the current Anthropocene mass extinction that can be used by science educators. These broad topics are organized around the major global, anthropogenic direct drivers of habitat modification, fragmentation, and destruction; overexploitation of species; the spread of invasive species and genes; pollution; and climate change.
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Hanna, Emily, and Marcel Cardillo. "Predation selectively culls medium-sized species from island mammal faunas." Biology Letters 10, no. 4 (April 2014): 20131066. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.1066.
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Globally, elevated extinction risk in mammals is strongly associated with large body size. However, in regions where introduced predators exert strong top-down pressure on mammal populations, the selectivity of extinctions may be skewed towards species of intermediate body size, leading to a hump-shaped relationship between size and extinction risk. The existence of this kind of extinction pattern, and its link to predation, has been contentious and difficult to demonstrate. Here, we test the hypothesis of a hump-shaped body size–extinction relationship, using a database of 927 island mammal populations. We show that the size-selectivity of extinctions on many islands has exceeded that expected under null models. On islands with introduced predators, extinctions are biased towards intermediate body sizes, but this bias does not occur on islands without predators. Hence, on islands with a large-bodied mammal fauna, predators are selectively culling species from the lower end of the size distribution, and on islands with a small-bodied fauna they are culling species from the upper end. These findings suggest that it will be difficult to use predictable generalizations about extinction patterns, such as a positive body size–extinction risk association, to anticipate future species declines and plan conservation strategies accordingly.
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Fordham, Damien A., Barry W. Brook, Conrad J. Hoskin, Robert L. Pressey, Jeremy VanDerWal, and Stephen E. Williams. "Extinction debt from climate change for frogs in the wet tropics." Biology Letters 12, no. 10 (October 2016): 20160236. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0236.
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The effect of twenty-first-century climate change on biodiversity is commonly forecast based on modelled shifts in species ranges, linked to habitat suitability. These projections have been coupled with species–area relationships (SAR) to infer extinction rates indirectly as a result of the loss of climatically suitable areas and associated habitat. This approach does not model population dynamics explicitly, and so accepts that extinctions might occur after substantial (but unknown) delays—an extinction debt. Here we explicitly couple bioclimatic envelope models of climate and habitat suitability with generic life-history models for 24 species of frogs found in the Australian Wet Tropics (AWT). We show that (i) as many as four species of frogs face imminent extinction by 2080, due primarily to climate change; (ii) three frogs face delayed extinctions; and (iii) this extinction debt will take at least a century to be realized in full. Furthermore, we find congruence between forecast rates of extinction using SARs, and demographic models with an extinction lag of 120 years. We conclude that SAR approaches can provide useful advice to conservation on climate change impacts, provided there is a good understanding of the time lags over which delayed extinctions are likely to occur.
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Clapham, Matthew E., and Paul R. Renne. "Flood Basalts and Mass Extinctions." Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 47, no. 1 (May 30, 2019): 275–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-053018-060136.
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Flood basalts were Earth's largest volcanic episodes that, along with related intrusions, were often emplaced rapidly and coincided with environmental disruption: oceanic anoxic events, hyperthermals, and mass extinction events. Volatile emissions, both from magmatic degassing and vaporized from surrounding rock, triggered short-term cooling and longer-term warming, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation. The magnitude of biological extinction varied considerably, from small events affecting only select groups to the largest extinction of the Phanerozoic, with less-active organisms and those with less-developed respiratory physiology faring especially poorly. The disparate environmental and biological outcomes of different flood basalt events may at first order be explained by variations in the rate of volatile release modulated by longer trends in ocean carbon cycle buffering and the composition of marine ecosystems. Assessing volatile release, environmental change, and biological extinction at finer temporal resolution should be a top priority to refine ancient hyperthermals as analogs for anthropogenic climate change. ▪ Flood basalts, the largest volcanic events in Earth history, triggered dramatic environmental changes on land and in the oceans. ▪ Rapid volcanic carbon emissions led to ocean warming, acidification, and deoxygenation that often caused widespread animal extinctions. ▪ Animal physiology played a key role in survival during flood basalt extinctions, with reef builders such as corals being especially vulnerable. ▪ The rate and duration of volcanic carbon emission controlled the type of environmental disruption and the severity of biological extinction.
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Terzopoulou, Sofia, François Rigal, Robert J. Whittaker, Paulo A. V. Borges, and Kostas A. Triantis. "Drivers of extinction: the case of Azorean beetles." Biology Letters 11, no. 6 (June 2015): 20150273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0273.
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Oceanic islands host a disproportionately high fraction of endangered or recently extinct endemic species. We report on species extinctions among endemic Azorean beetles following 97% habitat loss since AD 1440. We infer extinctions from historical and contemporary records and examine the influence of three predictors: geographical range, habitat specialization and body size. Of 55 endemic beetle species investigated (out of 63), seven can be considered extinct. Single-island endemics (SIEs) were more prone to extinction than multi-island endemics. Within SIEs restricted to native habitat, larger species were more extinction-prone. We thus show a hierarchical path to extinction in Azorean beetles: species with small geographical range face extinction first, with the larger bodied ones being the most threatened. Our study provides a clear warning of the impact of habitat loss on island endemic biotas.
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Ceballos, Gerardo, Paul R. Ehrlich, and Peter H. Raven. "Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 24 (June 1, 2020): 13596–602. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922686117.
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The ongoing sixth mass species extinction is the result of the destruction of component populations leading to eventual extirpation of entire species. Populations and species extinctions have severe implications for society through the degradation of ecosystem services. Here we assess the extinction crisis from a different perspective. We examine 29,400 species of terrestrial vertebrates, and determine which are on the brink of extinction because they have fewer than 1,000 individuals. There are 515 species on the brink (1.7% of the evaluated vertebrates). Around 94% of the populations of 77 mammal and bird species on the brink have been lost in the last century. Assuming all species on the brink have similar trends, more than 237,000 populations of those species have vanished since 1900. We conclude the human-caused sixth mass extinction is likely accelerating for several reasons. First, many of the species that have been driven to the brink will likely become extinct soon. Second, the distribution of those species highly coincides with hundreds of other endangered species, surviving in regions with high human impacts, suggesting ongoing regional biodiversity collapses. Third, close ecological interactions of species on the brink tend to move other species toward annihilation when they disappear—extinction breeds extinctions. Finally, human pressures on the biosphere are growing rapidly, and a recent example is the current coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, linked to wildlife trade. Our results reemphasize the extreme urgency of taking much-expanded worldwide actions to save wild species and humanity’s crucial life-support systems from this existential threat.
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Pires, Mathias M., Brian D. Rankin, Daniele Silvestro, and Tiago B. Quental. "Diversification dynamics of mammalian clades during the K–Pg mass extinction." Biology Letters 14, no. 9 (September 2018): 20180458. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0458.
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The Cretaceous/Palaeogene (K–Pg) episode is an iconic mass extinction, in which the diversity of numerous clades abruptly declined. However, the responses of individual clades to mass extinctions may be more idiosyncratic than previously understood. Here, we examine the diversification dynamics of the three major mammalian clades in North America across the K–Pg. Our results show that these clades responded in dramatically contrasting ways to the K–Pg event. Metatherians underwent a sudden rise in extinction rates shortly after the K–Pg, whereas declining origination rates first halted diversification and later drove the loss of diversity in multituberculates. Eutherians experienced high taxonomic turnover near the boundary, with peaks in both origination and extinction rates. These findings indicate that the effects of geological episodes on diversity are context dependent and that mass extinctions can affect the diversification of clades by independently altering the extinction regime, the origination regime or both.
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Ceballos, Gerardo, Paul R. Ehrlich, and Rodolfo Dirzo. "Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, no. 30 (July 10, 2017): E6089—E6096. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704949114.
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The population extinction pulse we describe here shows, from a quantitative viewpoint, that Earth’s sixth mass extinction is more severe than perceived when looking exclusively at species extinctions. Therefore, humanity needs to address anthropogenic population extirpation and decimation immediately. That conclusion is based on analyses of the numbers and degrees of range contraction (indicative of population shrinkage and/or population extinctions according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature) using a sample of 27,600 vertebrate species, and on a more detailed analysis documenting the population extinctions between 1900 and 2015 in 177 mammal species. We find that the rate of population loss in terrestrial vertebrates is extremely high—even in “species of low concern.” In our sample, comprising nearly half of known vertebrate species, 32% (8,851/27,600) are decreasing; that is, they have decreased in population size and range. In the 177 mammals for which we have detailed data, all have lost 30% or more of their geographic ranges and more than 40% of the species have experienced severe population declines (>80% range shrinkage). Our data indicate that beyond global species extinctions Earth is experiencing a huge episode of population declines and extirpations, which will have negative cascading consequences on ecosystem functioning and services vital to sustaining civilization. We describe this as a “biological annihilation” to highlight the current magnitude of Earth’s ongoing sixth major extinction event.
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Finnegan, Seth, Jonathan L. Payne, and Steve C. Wang. "The Red Queen revisited: reevaluating the age selectivity of Phanerozoic marine genus extinctions." Paleobiology 34, no. 3 (2008): 318–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/07008.1.
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Extinction risk is inversely related to genus age (time since first appearance) in most intervals of the Phanerozoic marine fossil record, in apparent contradiction to the macroevolutionary Red Queen's Hypothesis, which posits that extinction risk is independent of taxon age. Age-dependent increases in the mean species richness and geographic range of genera have been invoked to reconcile this genus-level observation with the presumed prevalence of Red Queen dynamics at the species level. Here we test these explanations with data from the Paleobiology Database. Multiple logistic regression demonstrates that the association of extinction risk with genus age is not adequately explained by species richness or geographic range: there is a residual association between age and extinction risk even when range and richness effects are accounted for. Throughout most of the Phanerozoic the age selectivity gradient is highest among the youngest age cohorts, whereas there is no association between age and extinction risk among older age cohorts. Some of the apparent age selectivity of extinction in the global fauna is attributable to differences in extinction rate among taxonomic groups, but extinction risk declines with genus age even within most taxonomic orders. Notable exceptions to this pattern include the Cambrian-Ordovician, latest Permian, Triassic, and Paleocene intervals. The association of age with extinction risk could reflect sampling heterogeneity or taxonomic practice more than biological reality, but at present it is difficult to evaluate or correct for such biases. Alternatively, the pattern may reflect consistent extinction selectivity on some as-yet unidentified covariate of genus age. Although this latter explanation is not compatible with a Red Queen model if most genus extinctions have resulted from biological interactions, it may be applicable if most genus extinctions have instead been caused by recurrent physical disturbances that repeatedly impose similar selective pressures.
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Davies, T. Jonathan, and Kowiyou Yessoufou. "Revisiting the impacts of non-random extinction on the tree-of-life." Biology Letters 9, no. 4 (August 23, 2013): 20130343. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0343.
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The tree-of-life represents the diversity of living organisms. Species extinction and the concomitant loss of branches from the tree-of-life is therefore a major conservation concern. There is increasing evidence indicating that extinction is phylogenetically non-random, such that if one species is vulnerable to extinction so too are its close relatives. However, the impact of non-random extinctions on the tree-of-life has been a matter of recent debate. Here, we combine simulations with empirical data on extinction risk in mammals. We demonstrate that phylogenetically clustered extinction leads to a disproportionate loss of branches from the tree-of-life, but that the loss of their summed lengths is indistinguishable from random extinction. We argue that under a speciational model of evolution, the number of branches lost might be of equal or greater consequences than the loss of summed branch lengths. We therefore suggest that the impact of non-random extinction on the tree-of-life may have been underestimated.
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Dodson, C. H., and A. H. Gentry. "Biological Extinction in Western Ecuador." Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 78, no. 2 (1991): 273. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2399563.
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Raup, D. "Biological extinction in earth history." Science 231, no. 4745 (March 28, 1986): 1528–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.11542058.
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Feulner, Georg. "Climate modelling of mass-extinction events: a review." International Journal of Astrobiology 8, no. 3 (July 2009): 207–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1473550409990061.
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AbstractDespite tremendous interest in the topic and decades of research, the origins of the major losses of biodiversity in the history of life on Earth remain elusive. A variety of possible causes for these mass-extinction events have been investigated, including impacts of asteroids or comets, large-scale volcanic eruptions, effects from changes in the distribution of continents caused by plate tectonics, and biological factors, to name but a few. Many of these suggested drivers involve or indeed require changes of Earth's climate, which then affect the biosphere of our planet, causing a global reduction in the diversity of biological species. It can be argued, therefore, that a detailed understanding of these climatic variations and their effects on ecosystems are prerequisites for a solution to the enigma of biological extinctions. Apart from investigations of the paleoclimate data of the time periods of mass extinctions, climate-modelling experiments should be able to shed some light on these dramatic events. Somewhat surprisingly, however, only a few comprehensive modelling studies of the climate changes associated with extinction events have been undertaken. These studies will be reviewed in this paper. Furthermore, the role of modelling in extinction research in general and suggestions for future research are discussed.
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Gray, Alan. "The ecology of plant extinction: rates, traits and island comparisons." Oryx 53, no. 3 (May 21, 2018): 424–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0030605318000315.
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AbstractAlthough there is increasing evidence for a sixth mass extinction, relatively few plants have been officially declared extinct (<150 are categorized as Extinct on the IUCN Red List). The Red List, although the data are neither perfect nor comprehensive, is perhaps the most reliable indicator of extinction and extinction threat. Here, data collated from the Red List, of Extinct plant species and of Critically Endangered plant species with populations in decline, are examined to address three questions: (1) How do background, continental, and island plant extinction rates compare? (2) Are biological and physical island parameters associated with plant extinction? (3) Are any plant traits associated with extinction and if so do these differ between islands and continents? The background rate for plant extinction is estimated to be 0.05–0.13 E/MSY (extinctions per million species-years) and the Red List data are above these background rates and also above a higher extinction rate of 0.15 E/MSY. The data indicate that plant extinctions are dominated by insular species. The Red List extinction data are associated with lower competitive ability and lower climate change velocities, and anthropogenic factors. Analyses using only Critically Endangered species whose populations are in decline (arguably the species most at risk of extinction in the near future) largely mirrors this pattern and suggests that drivers of plant extinction may have an inertia that could last well into the future.
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Bush, Andrew M., Steve C. Wang, Jonathan L. Payne, and Noel A. Heim. "A framework for the integrated analysis of the magnitude, selectivity, and biotic effects of extinction and origination." Paleobiology 46, no. 1 (October 24, 2019): 1–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pab.2019.35.
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AbstractThe taxonomic and ecologic composition of Earth's biota has shifted dramatically through geologic time, with some clades going extinct while others diversified. Here, we derive a metric that quantifies the change in biotic composition due to extinction or origination and show that it equals the product of extinction/origination magnitude and selectivity (variation in magnitude among groups). We also define metrics that describe the extent to which a recovery (1) reinforced or reversed the effects of extinction on biotic composition and (2) changed composition in ways uncorrelated with the extinction. To demonstrate the approach, we analyzed an updated compilation of stratigraphic ranges of marine animal genera. We show that mass extinctions were not more selective than background intervals at the phylum level; rather, they tended to drive greater taxonomic change due to their higher magnitudes. Mass extinctions did not represent a separate class of events with respect to either strength of selectivity or effect. Similar observations apply to origination during recoveries from mass extinctions, and on average, extinction and origination were similarly selective and drove similar amounts of biotic change. Elevated origination during recoveries drove bursts of compositional change that varied considerably in effect. In some cases, origination partially reversed the effects of extinction, returning the biota toward the pre-extinction composition; in others, it reinforced the effects of the extinction, magnifying biotic change. Recoveries were as important as extinction events in shaping the marine biota, and their selectivity deserves systematic study alongside that of extinction.
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Lyons, S. Kathleen, Joshua H. Miller, Danielle Fraser, Felisa A. Smith, Alison Boyer, Emily Lindsey, and Alexis M. Mychajliw. "The changing role of mammal life histories in Late Quaternary extinction vulnerability on continents and islands." Biology Letters 12, no. 6 (June 2016): 20160342. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0342.
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Understanding extinction drivers in a human-dominated world is necessary to preserve biodiversity. We provide an overview of Quaternary extinctions and compare mammalian extinction events on continents and islands after human arrival in system-specific prehistoric and historic contexts. We highlight the role of body size and life-history traits in these extinctions. We find a significant size-bias except for extinctions on small islands in historic times. Using phylogenetic regression and classification trees, we find that while life-history traits are poor predictors of historic extinctions, those associated with difficulty in responding quickly to perturbations, such as small litter size, are good predictors of prehistoric extinctions. Our results are consistent with the idea that prehistoric and historic extinctions form a single continuing event with the same likely primary driver, humans, but the diversity of impacts and affected faunas is much greater in historic extinctions.
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Monroe, Melanie J., Stuart H. M. Butchart, Arne O. Mooers, and Folmer Bokma. "The dynamics underlying avian extinction trajectories forecast a wave of extinctions." Biology Letters 15, no. 12 (December 2019): 20190633. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0633.
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Population decline is a process, yet estimates of current extinction rates often consider just the final step of that process by counting numbers of species lost in historical times. This neglects the increased extinction risk that affects a large proportion of species, and consequently underestimates the effective extinction rate. Here, we model observed trajectories through IUCN Red List extinction risk categories for all bird species globally over 28 years, and estimate an overall effective extinction rate of 2.17 × 10 −4 /species/year. This is six times higher than the rate of outright extinction since 1500, as a consequence of the large number of species whose status is deteriorating. We very conservatively estimate that global conservation efforts have reduced the effective extinction rate by 40%, but mostly through preventing critically endangered species from going extinct rather than by preventing species at low risk from moving into higher-risk categories. Our findings suggest that extinction risk in birds is accumulating much more than previously appreciated, but would be even greater without conservation efforts.
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Valentine, James W., and Timothy D. Walker. "Extinctions in a model taxonomic hierarchy." Paleobiology 13, no. 2 (1987): 193–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0094837300008745.
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A computer model of background and mass extinctions in a taxonomic hierarchy has been used to study the effects of different extinction patterns in a search for clues as to the causes of actual extinction events. Model taxa at four levels were built up from speciation events in adaptive space according to rules of origination which seem plausible biologically. The frequency distribution of species among the three higher taxonomic levels in the model is similar to that in living marine taxa which have good fossil records. Three mass extinction patterns were imposed on the model after species diversity had attained equilibrium (i.e., when speciation = background extinction): random; bloc (contiguous niches were cleared); and clade (all members of selected higher taxa were removed). Effects on the taxonomic profile varied with pattern. Four of the five historical mass extinctions resemble the effects of the random pattern. End-Permian families were harder hit than those in the random model, but this may be a result of an extremely high species extinction level. It is concluded that the effect of extinctions on the taxonomic hierarchy provides a tool to help in understanding extinction causes.
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White, Lauren C., Frédérik Saltré, Corey J. A. Bradshaw, and Jeremy J. Austin. "High-quality fossil dates support a synchronous, Late Holocene extinction of devils and thylacines in mainland Australia." Biology Letters 14, no. 1 (January 2018): 20170642. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0642.
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The last large marsupial carnivores—the Tasmanian devil ( Sarcophilis harrisii ) and thylacine ( Thylacinus cynocephalus )—went extinct on mainland Australia during the mid-Holocene. Based on the youngest fossil dates (approx. 3500 years before present, BP), these extinctions are often considered synchronous and driven by a common cause. However, many published devil dates have recently been rejected as unreliable, shifting the youngest mainland fossil age to 25 500 years BP and challenging the synchronous-extinction hypothesis. Here we provide 24 and 20 new ages for devils and thylacines, respectively, and collate existing, reliable radiocarbon dates by quality-filtering available records. We use this new dataset to estimate an extinction time for both species by applying the Gaussian-resampled, inverse-weighted McInerney (GRIWM) method. Our new data and analysis definitively support the synchronous-extinction hypothesis, estimating that the mainland devil and thylacine extinctions occurred between 3179 and 3227 years BP.
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Boakes, Elizabeth H., Richard A. Fuller, Philip J. K. McGowan, and Georgina M. Mace. "Uncertainty in identifying local extinctions: the distribution of missing data and its effects on biodiversity measures." Biology Letters 12, no. 3 (March 2016): 20150824. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0824.
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Identifying local extinctions is integral to estimating species richness and geographic range changes and informing extinction risk assessments. However, the species occurrence records underpinning these estimates are frequently compromised by a lack of recorded species absences making it impossible to distinguish between local extinction and lack of survey effort—for a rigorously compiled database of European and Asian Galliformes, approximately 40% of half-degree cells contain records from before but not after 1980. We investigate the distribution of these cells, finding differences between the Palaearctic (forests, low mean human influence index (HII), outside protected areas (PAs)) and Indo-Malaya (grassland, high mean HII, outside PAs). Such cells also occur more in less peaceful countries. We show that different interpretations of these cells can lead to large over/under-estimations of species richness and extent of occurrences, potentially misleading prioritization and extinction risk assessment schemes. To avoid mistakes, local extinctions inferred from sightings records need to account for the history of survey effort in a locality.
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Mills, Stuart J., and Andrew G. Christy. "Mineral extinction." Mineralogical Magazine 83, no. 5 (September 20, 2019): 621–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1180/mgm.2019.60.
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Abstract‘Mineral evolution’ has attracted much attention in the last decade as a counterpart of the long-established biological concept, but is there a corresponding ‘mineral extinction’? We present new geochronological data from uranium-bearing secondary minerals and show that they are relatively recent, irrespective of the age of their primary uranium sources. The secondary species that make up much of the diversity of minerals appear to be ephemeral, and many may have vanished from the geological record without trace. Nevertheless, an ‘extinct’ mineral species can recur when physiochemical conditions are appropriate. This reversibility of ‘extinction’ highlights the limitations of the ‘evolution’ analogy. Mineral occurrence may be time-dependent but does not show the unique contingency between precursor and successor species that is characteristic of biological evolution.
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Chen, Guolong, Youlin Gu, Yihua Hu, Fanhao Meng, Wanying Ding, and Xi Zhang. "Analysis of extinction characteristics of non-spherical biological particle aggregates [Invited]." Chinese Optics Letters 21, no. 9 (2023): 090003. http://dx.doi.org/10.3788/col202321.090003.
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Huang, Shan, T. Jonathan Davies, and John L. Gittleman. "How global extinctions impact regional biodiversity in mammals." Biology Letters 8, no. 2 (September 28, 2011): 222–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0752.
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Phylogenetic diversity (PD) represents the evolutionary history of a species assemblage and is a valuable measure of biodiversity because it captures not only species richness but potentially also genetic and functional diversity. Preserving PD could be critical for maintaining the functional integrity of the world's ecosystems, and species extinction will have a large impact on ecosystems in areas where the ecosystem cost per species extinction is high. Here, we show that impacts from global extinctions are linked to spatial location. Using a phylogeny of all mammals, we compare regional losses of PD against a model of random extinction. At regional scales, losses differ dramatically: several biodiversity hotspots in southern Asia and Amazonia will lose an unexpectedly large proportion of PD. Global analyses may therefore underestimate the impacts of extinction on ecosystem processes and function because they occur at finer spatial scales within the context of natural biogeography.
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Kauffinan, Erle G. "Common Patterns of Mass Extinction, Survival, and Recovery in Marine Environments: What Do They Tell Us About the Future?" Paleontological Society Special Publications 7 (1994): 437–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s2475262200009709.
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Mass extinction is characterized by the loss of more than 50 percent of the world's species within a short interval of geologic time - months to as much as 3 million years (My). In the fossil record, these events have primarily been recorded from the marine realm. Three patterns of mass extinction have been described - catastrophic, stepwise, and graded extinction. Many well-studied extinction intervals contain elements of more than one pattern, suggesting that these biotic crises were caused by varied forcing mechanisms linked by complex environmental feedback loops. This hypothesis is supported by the discovery that the four well-studied Phanerozoic mass extinctions (Late Devonian, middle and terminal Cretaceous, Eocene-Oligocene boundary extinctions) share a number of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics in common. They consistently show stepwise extinction patterns linked to intervals of extraordinary fluctuations in the temperature, chemistry and structure of ocean-climate systems, at rates and magnitudes well above background levels. In addition, tropical ecosystems were the first and most severely affected, and more poleward, temperate biotas were mainly stressed during the later phases of the extinction interval. Evidence for these unusual environmental changes is derived from high-resolution (cm-scale) paleobiological, sedimentological, trace-element and stable-isotope analyses spanning mass extinction intervals. These dramatic environmental fluctuations were the immediate causes of mass extinction, as they progressively exceeded the survival limits of global biotas largely adapted to warm, equable, ice-free climates which characterized over 90 percent of Phanerozoic time. These environmental fluctuations probably represented feedback phenomena from more powerful, short-term forcing mechanisms which abruptly perturbed the structure of ocean-climate systems. Multiple impacts of extraterrestrial objects within short (<1-3 My) time intervals - so-called meteorite/comet showers - are the most logical candidates. This hypothesis is supported by physical and chemical evidence for impacts clustered around most, but not all, Mesozoic and Cenozoic mass extinctions.
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Câmara, Ibsen De Gusmão. "Extinção e o registro fóssil." Anuário do Instituto de Geociências 30, no. 1 (January 1, 2007): 123–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.11137/2007_1_123-134.
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The extinctions and their relationships with the biological evolution allow the changes in the biota patterns through the geological time. In this study is presented a synthesis of the extinction events registered in the paleontological data and their importance to the evolutionary processes.
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Kitchell, Jennifer A., David L. Clark, and Andrew M. Gombos. "Biological Selectivity of Extinction: A Link between Background and Mass Extinction." PALAIOS 1, no. 5 (October 1986): 504. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3514632.
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Li Le, 李. 乐., 胡以华 Hu Yihua, 王. 枭. Wang Xiao, 顾有林 Gu Youlin, 赵义正 Zhao Yizheng, and 于. 磊. Yu Lei. "Diffusion characteristics of biological extinction material." Infrared and Laser Engineering 46, no. 6 (2017): 621001. http://dx.doi.org/10.3788/irla201746.0621001.
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Feldmann, Rodney M. "On impacts and extinction: biological solutions to biological problems." Journal of Paleontology 64, no. 1 (January 1990): 151–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022336000042347.
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There appears to be an overwhelming urge in the study of earth sciences currently to discover the “cosmic generality.” Certainly, no observational and descriptive aspects of the study of earth history can be concluded until one has placed the observations into a broader context. On the other hand, there are not very many “cosmic generalities” and few lasting generalizations have been developed before the basic data have been gathered. When generalizations do precede observations, the former fall into the category of testable hypotheses or speculations, depending upon the overall plausibility of the ideas and the generosity of the reader.
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Kosnik, Matthew A., and Michał Kowalewski. "Understanding modern extinctions in marine ecosystems: the role of palaeoecological data." Biology Letters 12, no. 4 (April 2016): 20150951. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0951.
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Because anthropogenic impacts on ecological systems pre-date the oldest scientific observations, historical documents and archaeological records, understanding modern extinctions requires additional data sources that extend further back in time. Palaeoecological records, which provide quantitative proxy records of ecosystems prior to human impact, are essential for understanding recent extinctions and future extinction risks. Here we critically review the value of the most recent fossil record in contributing to our understanding of modern extinctions and illustrate through case studies how naturally occurring death assemblages and Holocene sedimentary records provide context to the plight of marine ecosystems. While palaeoecological data are inherently restricted censuses of past communities (manipulative experiments are not possible), they yield quantitative records over temporal scales that are beyond the reach of ecology. Only by including palaeoecological data is it possible to fully assess the role of long-term anthropogenic processes in driving modern extinction risk.
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Levinson, Paul. "The extinction of extinction." Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems 16, no. 4 (January 1993): 501–2. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/1061-7361(93)90020-r.
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Christie, Max, Steven M. Holland, and Andrew M. Bush. "Contrasting the ecological and taxonomic consequences of extinction." Paleobiology 39, no. 4 (2013): 538–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/12033.
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Extinction in the fossil record is most often measured by the percentage of taxa (species, genera, families, etc.) that go extinct in a certain time interval. This is a measure of taxonomic loss, but previous work has indicated that taxonomic loss may be decoupled from the ecological effects of an extinction. To understand the role extinction plays in ecological change, extinction should also be measured in terms of loss of functional diversity. This study tests whether ecological changes increase correspondingly with taxonomic changes during the Late Ordovician M4/M5 extinction, the Ordovician/Silurian mass extinction, and the Late Devonian mass extinction. All three extinctions are evaluated with regional data sets from the eastern United States. Ecological effects are measured by classifying organisms into ecological lifestyles, which are groups based on ecological function rather than evolutionary history. The taxonomic and ecological effects of each extinction are evaluated with additive diversity partitioning, detrended correspondence analysis, and relative abundance distributions. Although the largest taxonomic changes occur in the Ordovician/Silurian extinction, the largest ecological changes occur in the Late Devonian extinction. These results suggest that the ecological consequences of extinction need to be considered in addition to the taxonomic effects of extinction.
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Dai, Xu, and Haijun Song. "Toward an understanding of cosmopolitanism in deep time: a case study of ammonoids from the middle Permian to the Middle Triassic." Paleobiology 46, no. 4 (September 21, 2020): 533–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pab.2020.40.
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AbstractCosmopolitanism occurred recurrently during the geologic past, especially after mass extinctions, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly known. Three theoretical models, not mutually exclusive, can lead to cosmopolitanism: (1) selective extinction in endemic taxa, (2) endemic taxa becoming cosmopolitan after the extinction and (3) an increase in the number of newly originated cosmopolitan taxa after extinction. We analyzed an updated occurrence dataset including 831 middle Permian to Middle Triassic ammonoid genera and used two network methods to distinguish major episodes of ammonoid cosmopolitanism during this time interval. Then, we tested the three proposed models in these case studies. Our results confirm that at least two remarkable cosmopolitanism events occurred after the Permian–Triassic and late Smithian (Early Triassic) extinctions, respectively. Partitioned analyses of survivors and newcomers revealed that the immediate cosmopolitanism event (Griesbachian) after the Permian–Triassic event can be attributed to endemic genera becoming cosmopolitan (model 2) and an increase in the number of newly originated cosmopolitan genera after the extinction (model 3). Late Smithian cosmopolitanism is caused by selective extinction in endemic taxa (model 1) and an increase in the number of newly originated cosmopolitan genera (model 3). We found that the survivors of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction did not show a wider geographic range, suggesting that this mass extinction is nonselective among the biogeographic ranges, while late Smithian survivors exhibit a wide geographic range, indicating selective survivorship among cosmopolitan genera. These successive cosmopolitanism events during severe extinctions are associated with marked environmental upheavals such as rapid climate changes and oceanic anoxic events, suggesting that environmental fluctuations play a significant role in cosmopolitanism.
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Janevski, G. Alex, and Tomasz K. Baumiller. "Evidence for extinction selectivity throughout the marine invertebrate fossil record." Paleobiology 35, no. 4 (2009): 553–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/0094-8373-35.4.553.
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The fossil record has been used to show that in some geologic intervals certain traits of taxa may increase their survivability, and therefore that the risk of extinction is not randomly distributed among taxa. It has also been suggested that traits that buffer against extinction in background times do not confer the same resistance during mass extinction events. An open question is whether at any time in geologic history extinction probabilities were randomly distributed among taxa. Here we use a method for detecting random extinction to demonstrate that during both background and mass extinction times, extinction of marine invertebrate genera has been nonrandom with respect to species richness categories of genera. A possible cause for this nonrandom extinction is selective clustering of extinctions in genera consisting of species which possess extinction-biasing traits. Other potential causes considered here include geographic selectivity, increased extinction susceptibility for species in species-rich genera, or biases related to taxonomic practice and/or sampling heterogeneity. An important theoretical result is that extinction selectivity at the species level cannot be smoothly extrapolated upward to genera; the appearance of random genus extinction with respect to species richness of genera results when extinction has been highly selective at the species level.
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Reddin, Carl J., Ádám T. Kocsis, and Wolfgang Kiessling. "Climate change and the latitudinal selectivity of ancient marine extinctions." Paleobiology 45, no. 1 (November 23, 2018): 70–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pab.2018.34.
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AbstractGeologically rapid climate change is anticipated to increase extinction risk nonuniformly across the Earth's surface. Tropical species may be more vulnerable than temperate species to current climate warming because of high tropical climate velocities and reduced seawater oxygen levels. To test whether rapid warming indeed preferentially increased the extinction risk of tropical fossil taxa, we combine a robust statistical assessment of latitudinal extinction selectivity (LES) with the dominant views on climate change occurring at ancient extinction crises. Using a global data set of marine fossil occurrences, we assess extinction rates for tropical and temperate genera, applying log ratios to assess effect size and Akaike weights for model support. Among the classical “big five” mass extinction episodes, the end-Permian mass extinction exhibits temperate preference of extinctions, whereas the Late Devonian and end-Triassic selectively hit tropical genera. Simple links between the inferred direction of climate change and LES are idiosyncratic, both during crisis and background intervals. More complex models, including sampling patterns and changes in the latitudinal distribution of continental shelf area, show tropical LES to be generally associated with raised tropical heat and temperate LES with global cold temperatures. With implications for the future, our paper demonstrates the consistency of high tropical temperatures, habitat loss, and the capacity of both to interact in generating geographic patterns in extinctions.
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Brisman, Avi, and Nigel South. "A criminology of extinction: Biodiversity, extreme consumption and the vanity of species resurrection." European Journal of Criminology 17, no. 6 (February 28, 2019): 918–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1477370819828307.
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This article explores an issue pertaining to the commodification of nature and related market processes – reviving extinct species. It begins by offering an overview of the aesthetic, economic, scientific and ethical reasons to preserve biological diversity. The article then considers how and why biological diversity is actually being reduced at an unprecedented rate – the ways in which, and the explanations for why, human acts and omissions are directly and indirectly, separately and synergistically, causing extinctions, quite possibly of species that we do not even know exist. From here, the article draws on the growing body of research on resurrecting species – a process known as de-extinction – to contemplate the questions raised about the permanency of extinction, as well as whether we should revive extinct species and the meaning and criminological implications of doing so.
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Boyajian, George E. "Taxon age and selectivity of extinction." Paleobiology 17, no. 1 (1991): 49–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0094837300010344.
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Taxon-age distributions were compiled for families of marine animals surviving or becoming extinct in each stage of the Phanerozoic. I demonstrate, through the use of a modified bootstrap analysis, that there is no difference between the longevity of families becoming extinct during times of background extinction and times of mass extinction. In both mass and background extinction intervals the mean age of families that become extinct is 2 standard deviations below the geometric mean taxon age of families available for extinction. Young families are more susceptible to extinction, perhaps as the result of lower species richness or of occupying a smaller geographic range. There is no tendency during mass extinctions toward loss of families with different taxon ages other than those that become extinct during background times. Thus, in terms of family survival, mass extinction appears to be an exaggeration of processes of background extinction.
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Wang, Steve C., and Andrew M. Bush. "Adjusting global extinction rates to account for taxonomic susceptibility." Paleobiology 34, no. 4 (2008): 434–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/07060.1.
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Studies of extinction in the fossil record commonly involve comparisons of taxonomic extinction rates, often expressed as the percentage of taxa (e.g., families or genera) going extinct in a time interval. Such extinction rates may be influenced by factors that do not reflect the intrinsic severity of an extinction trigger. Two identical triggering events (e.g., bolide impacts, sea level changes, volcanic eruptions) could lead to different taxonomic extinction rates depending on factors specific to the time interval in which they occur, such as the susceptibility of the fauna or flora to extinction, the stability of food webs, the positions of the continents, and so on. Thus, it is possible for an extinction event with a higher taxonomic extinction rate to be caused by an intrinsically less severe trigger, compared to an event with a lower taxonomic extinction rate.Here, we isolate the effects of taxonomic susceptibility on extinction rates. Specifically, we quantify the extent to which the taxonomic extinction rate in a substage is elevated or depressed by the vulnerability to extinction of classes extant in that substage. Using a logistic regression model, we estimate that the taxonomic susceptibility of marine fauna to extinction has generally declined through the Phanerozoic, and we adjust the observed extinction rate in each substage to estimate the intrinsic extinction severity more accurately. We find that mass extinctions do not generally occur during intervals of unusually high susceptibility, although susceptibility sometimes increases in post-extinction recovery intervals. Furthermore, the susceptibility of specific animal classes to extinction is generally similar in times of background and mass extinction, providing no evidence for differing regimes of extinction selectivity. Finally, we find an inverse correlation between extinction rate within substages and the evenness of diversity of major taxonomic groups, but further analyses indicate that low evenness itself does not cause high rates of extinction.
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MacPhee, Ross D. E., and Alex D. Greenwood. "Infectious Disease, Endangerment, and Extinction." International Journal of Evolutionary Biology 2013 (January 16, 2013): 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/571939.
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Infectious disease, especially virulent infectious disease, is commonly regarded as a cause of fluctuation or decline in biological populations. However, it is not generally considered as a primary factor in causing the actual endangerment or extinction of species. We review here the known historical examples in which disease has, or has been assumed to have had, a major deleterious impact on animal species, including extinction, and highlight some recent cases in which disease is the chief suspect in causing the outright endangerment of particular species. We conclude that the role of disease in historical extinctions at the population or species level may have been underestimated. Recent methodological breakthroughs may lead to a better understanding of the past and present roles of infectious disease in influencing population fitness and other parameters.
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Kocsis, Ádám T., Carl J. Reddin, and Wolfgang Kiessling. "The biogeographical imprint of mass extinctions." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285, no. 1878 (May 2, 2018): 20180232. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.0232.
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Mass extinctions are defined by extinction rates significantly above background levels and have had substantial consequences for the evolution of life. Geographically selective extinctions, subsequent originations and species redistributions may have changed global biogeographical structure, but quantification of this change is lacking. In order to assess quantitatively the biogeographical impact of mass extinctions, we outline time-traceable bioregions for benthic marine species across the Phanerozoic using a compositional network. Mass extinction events are visually recognizable in the geographical depiction of bioregions. The end-Permian extinction stands out with a severe reduction of provinciality. Time series of biogeographical turnover represent a novel aspect of the analysis of mass extinctions, confirming concentration of changes in the geographical distribution of benthic marine life.
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Green, Walton A., Gene Hunt, Scott L. Wing, and William A. DiMichele. "Does extinction wield an axe or pruning shears? How interactions between phylogeny and ecology affect patterns of extinction." Paleobiology 37, no. 1 (2011): 72–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/09078.1.
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Extinctions are caused by environmental and ecological change but are recognized and measured in the fossil record by the disappearance of clades or lineages. If the ecological preferences of lineages or taxa are weakly congruent with their phylogenetic relationships, even large ecological perturbations are unlikely to drive major clades extinct because the factors that eliminate some species are unlikely to affect close relatives with different ecological preferences. In contrast, if phylogenetic relatedness and ecological preferences are congruent, then ecological perturbations can more easily cause extinctions of large clades. In order to quantify this effect, we used a computer model to simulate the diversification and extinction of clades based on ecological criteria. By varying the parameters of the model, we explored (1) the relationship between the extinction probability for a clade of a given size (number of terminals) and the overall intensity of extinction (the proportion of the terminals that go extinct), and (2) the congruence between ecological traits of the terminals and their phylogenetic relationships. Data from two extinctions (planktonic foraminifera at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary and vascular land plants at the Middle/Late Pennsylvanian boundary) show phylogenetic clustering of both ecological traits and extinction probability and demonstrate the interaction of these factors. The disappearance of large clades is observed in the fossil record, but our model suggests that it is very improbable without both high overall extinction intensities and high congruence between ecology and phylogeny.
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Congreve, Curtis R., Amanda R. Falk, and James C. Lamsdell. "Biological hierarchies and the nature of extinction." Biological Reviews 93, no. 2 (September 24, 2017): 811–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.12368.
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Jones, Kate E., Andy Purvis, and John L. Gittleman. "Biological Correlates of Extinction Risk in Bats." American Naturalist 161, no. 4 (April 2003): 601–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/368289.
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