Climate change and the latitudinal selectivity of ancient marine extinctions

Reddin, Carl J.; Kocsis, Ádám T.; Kiessling, Wolfgang

doi:10.1017/pab.2018.34

Cited by 33 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…The ancestors of turtles, lepidosaurs, and crocodiles were adapted to tropical conditions during the Late Cretaceous (Markwick 1998;Waterson et al 2016;Pie et al 2017). Our fossil-based diversification results when analyzing differences between taxa adapted to different climates indicate that extinction events were not random (Eiserhardt et al 2015;Reddin et al 2019), but instead preferentially affected taxa living in tropical-like climates at high latitudes (Fig. 4).…”

Section: Toward An Integrative Phylogenetic Niche Conservatism Framewmentioning

confidence: 82%

Ancient tropical extinctions at high latitudes contributed to the latitudinal diversity gradient*

Meseguer

Condamine

2020

Evolution

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Global biodiversity currently peaks at the equator and decreases toward the poles. Growing fossil evidence suggest this hump‐shaped latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) has not been persistent through time, with similar diversity across latitudes flattening out the LDG during past greenhouse periods. However, when and how diversity declined at high latitudes to generate the modern LDG remains an open question. Although diversity‐loss scenarios have been proposed, they remain mostly undemonstrated. We outline the “asymmetric gradient of extinction and dispersal” framework that contextualizes previous ideas behind the LDG under a time‐variable scenario. Using phylogenies and fossils of Testudines, Crocodilia, and Lepidosauria, we find that the hump‐shaped LDG could be explained by (1) disproportionate extinctions of high‐latitude tropical‐adapted clades when climate transitioned from greenhouse to icehouse, and (2) equator‐ward biotic dispersals tracking their climatic preferences when tropical biomes became restricted to the equator. Conversely, equivalent diversification rates across latitudes can account for the formation of an ancient flat LDG. The inclusion of fossils in macroevolutionary studies allows revealing time‐dependent extinction rates hardly detectable from phylogenies only. This study underscores that the prevailing evolutionary processes generating the LDG during greenhouses differed from those operating during icehouses.

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Section: Toward An Integrative Phylogenetic Niche Conservatism Framewmentioning

confidence: 82%

Ancient tropical extinctions at high latitudes contributed to the latitudinal diversity gradient*

Meseguer

Condamine

2020

Evolution

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“…Nevertheless, other impact-driven extinction mechanisms, such as proximity to the impact site, cannot be ruled out as the cause of the observed spatial heterogeneity in extinction and recovery. Further, determining the latitude of survival is often biased by spatial disparity in sample density between latitudes and hemispheres (Reddin et al, 2019).…”

Section: Refugiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes and Climatic Consequences of the Impact Winter at the Cretaceous‐Paleogene Boundary

Tabor

Bardeen

Otto‐Bliesner

et al. 2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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Prolonged periods of low light and cold temperatures at Earth's surface are hypothesized effects of the end‐Cretaceous asteroid impact. However, debate remains about the causes and consequences of this “impact winter.” We perform simulations of the Chicxulub impact with an Earth system model that can simulate the evolution of extreme aerosol loading to quantify the climatic responses to emissions (soot, sulfur, and dust) associated with the impact winter. We show that all impact winter emissions can drastically reduce surface temperature and precipitation. However, only soot emission from impact‐driven firestorms is capable of reducing light to below the photosynthetic threshold for many months. Therefore, our results suggest that widespread fires may have been necessary to produce the observed pattern of marine extinction across the Cretaceous‐Paleogene boundary. We identify polar coasts and the surrounding open oceans as regions likely to have experienced the least climatic, and biotic, disruption from the impact winter.

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“…Alternative selective pressures can confound clade or trait selectivity, such as latitudinal extinction selectivity. When clades with a high extinction rate are geographical clustered, such as temperate brachiopods during the Changhsingian (Reddin et al., 2019), geographical and clade selectivity are inseparable. However, such issues may be diluted when synthesizing over several stages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Victims of ancient hyperthermal events herald the fates of marine clades and traits under global warming

Reddin

Kocsis

Aberhan

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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Organismic groups vary non‐randomly in their vulnerability to extinction. However, it is unclear whether the same groups are consistently vulnerable, regardless of the dominant extinction drivers, or whether certain drivers have their own distinctive and predictable victims. Given the challenges presented by anthropogenic global warming, we focus on changes in extinction selectivity trends during ancient hyperthermal events: geologically rapid episodes of global warming. Focusing on the fossil record of the last 300 million years, we identify clades and traits of marine ectotherms that were more prone to extinction under the onset of six hyperthermal events than during other times. Hyperthermals enhanced the vulnerability of marine fauna that host photosymbionts, particularly zooxanthellate corals, the reef environments they provide, and genera with actively burrowing or swimming adult life‐stages. The extinction risk of larger sized fauna also increased relative to non‐hyperthermal times, while genera with a poorly buffered internal physiology did not become more vulnerable on average during hyperthermals. Hyperthermal‐vulnerable clades include rhynchonelliform brachiopods and bony fish, whereas resistant clades include cartilaginous fish, and ostreid and venerid bivalves. These extinction responses in the geological past mirror modern responses of these groups to warming, including range‐shift magnitudes, population losses, and experimental performance under climate‐related stressors. Accordingly, extinction mechanisms distinctive to rapid global warming may be indicated, including sensitivity to warming‐induced seawater deoxygenation. In anticipation of modern warming‐driven marine extinctions, the trends illustrated in the fossil record offer an expedient preview.

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Climate change and the latitudinal selectivity of ancient marine extinctions

Cited by 33 publications

References 75 publications

Ancient tropical extinctions at high latitudes contributed to the latitudinal diversity gradient*

Ancient tropical extinctions at high latitudes contributed to the latitudinal diversity gradient*

Causes and Climatic Consequences of the Impact Winter at the Cretaceous‐Paleogene Boundary

Victims of ancient hyperthermal events herald the fates of marine clades and traits under global warming

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