Post on 21-Dec-2015
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Check web page:Updated study questions
&HW #1!
From Primack, Essential of Conservation Biology
Permian Extinction
From National Geographic, September 2000
Species “Life”
From New Scientist 23 October 1999
Background Extinction
• Averaged over the history of life on earth– 1 species every few years.
• Current expected background rate– Expected species “life” is 1 – 10 million years.– Extinction rate between 1 x 10-6 and 1 x 10-7
– 1 to 10 spp. per year (assuming ~ 10 million spp.)
Proposed Agents of Mass Extinctions
• Changes in climate (global cooling) and sea level (marine regression).
• Asteroid impacts (especially K/T).
• Volcanic eruptions
Stanley’s research on bivalves during Pleistocene
cold adapted: no changewarm adapted: no change
Gulfstream
cold adapted: no changewarm adapted: declined
Glacier
Climate Change (Glaciation)
Marine Regression
Continentalshelf: lossof habitat
refuges
Current sea level
Conicalisland: no
loss of habitat
Climate Change Evidence
• Glaciation associated with Ordovician ME.• Equivocal evidence for global cooling during
Devonian, Cretaceous, and Permian ME’s.• No major glaciation associated with Triassic ME.• A major glaciation ca. 300 million years ago and
lasting 90 million yrs did not result in an ME.• Tentative Conclusion: glaciations are not currently
regarded as a necessary cause for ME’s.
Alvarez Hypothesis
Iridium Profile
Chicxulub Crater
Possible Consequences of “IMPACT”!
• Global dust cloud
• Global warming / cooling
• Global wildfires
• Acid rain
• Tidal wave
Evidence for Alvarez Hypothesis
• Iridium and shocked quartz at KT boundary.
• Chicxulub crater
• Synchronicity in Cretaceous extinctions (?)
• Tentative Conclusion: Almost certainly implicated at least in part with Cretaceous extinction
Evidence for Impact Extinctions
• Strong evidence for Cretaceous ME
• Associated with Permian ME
• Several impact events NOT associated with ME’s.
• Tentative Conclusion: Does not appear to be a general explanation for ME’s.
Volcanic Eruptions
Volcanic Eruption Hypothesis
• Eruptions boost greenhouse gasses.• Global warming releases sub-sea-floor
methane, further increasing global warming.• The heat itself might drive species to
extinction.• The altered climate might induce changes in
ocean circulation, biological productivity and ultimately cause oceanic anoxia.
Evidence for Volcanic Eruptions
• Associated with Cretaceous, Triassic, and Permian ME’s.
• Triassic ME has no sign of methane.• Significant lava flows 120 MYBP
associated with methane release but no ME.• Tentative Conclusion: More work is needed
to assess this hypothesis – especially relevant to current climate change.
Plants and Mass Extinctions?
Summary of Mass Extinctions
• Multiple causes:– marine regression– glaciation– asteroids– volcanic eruptions
• Some type of climate change probably always implicated.
Extinctions Past and Present
• Early mass extinctions
• Blitzkrieg in the Pleistocene
• Recent extinctions