Phytoplankton and the Late Paleozoic wave of extinction

Pitrat, Charles W.

doi:10.1016/0031-0182(70)90079-9

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The Permo-Carboniferous also coincides with the "Phytoplankton Blackout" of Riegel [69], who attributed it to nutrient decline that resulted from the radiation of forests and nutrient sequestration in terrestrial plant biomass (see also [7,8]). By contrast, Pitrat [70] cited evidence for abundant food supplies during the Permo-Carboniferous and Schwark and Empt [38] noted a sharp increase in steranes indicative of more modern algae across the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary. Other possibilities for the green to red shift have been discussed by Falkowski et al [71].…”

Section: The Shift From Green To Red Phytoplankton Lineagesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Evolving Phytoplankton Stoichiometry Fueled Diversification of the Marine Biosphere

Martin

Quigg

2012

Geosciences

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The availability of nutrients and the quantity and quality of food at the base of food webs have largely been ignored in discussions of the Phanerozoic record of biodiversity. We examine the role of nutrient availability and phytoplankton stoichiometry (the relative proportions of inorganic nutrients to carbon) in the diversification of the marine biosphere. Nutrient availability and phytoplankton stoichiometry played a critical role in the initial diversification of the marine biosphere during the Neoproterozoic. Initial biosphere expansion during this time resulted in the massive sequestration of nutrients into biomass which, along with the geologically slow input of nutrients from land, set the stage for severe nutrient limitation and relatively constant marine biodiversity during the rest of the Paleozoic. Given the slow nutrient inputs from land and low recycling rates, the growth of early-to-middle Paleozoic metazoans remained limited by their having to expend energy to first “burn off” (respire) excess carbon in food before the associated nutrients could be utilized for growth and reproduction; the relative equilibrium in marine biodiversity during the Paleozoic therefore appears to be real. Limited nutrient availability and the consequent nutrient imbalance may have delayed the appearance of more advanced carnivores until the Permo-Carboniferous, when widespread orogeny, falling sea level, the spread of forests, greater weathering rates, enhanced ocean circulation, oxygenation, and upwelling all combined to increase nutrient availability. During the Meso-Cenozoic, rising oxygen levels, the continued nutrient input from land, and, especially, increasing rates of bioturbation, enhanced nutrient availability, increasing the nutrient content of phytoplankton that fueled the diversification of the Modern Fauna

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Section: The Shift From Green To Red Phytoplankton Lineagesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Evolving Phytoplankton Stoichiometry Fueled Diversification of the Marine Biosphere

Martin

Quigg

2012

Geosciences

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“…Acritarch diversity declined dramatically after the Devonian and remained quite low during the rest of the Phanerozoic (Strother 1996). The decline in acritarch diversity occurred because either nutrient availability increased to higher levels relative to the Cambro-Devonian (`sub-mesotrophic' conditions of Martin 1996) or a major taxon of non-encysting algaē ourished during the Late Palaeozoic (Strother 1996, p. 100;see also McCammon 1969;Pitrat 1970). In either case, encystation was less likely to occur.…”

Section: Planktonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This trend continued into the Carboniferous and Permian. Although Tappan (1968Tappan ( , 1970Tappan ( , 1971 suggested that productivity declined during the Carboniferous and Permian as a result of the sequestration of nutrients in terrestrial plant biomass (Tappan 1986), Pitrat (1970) noted that this was inconsistent with the prominence of suspension-feeding benthos during this time (see also McCammon 1969;Algeo & Scheckler 1998;Bambach 1999). There was also a noticeable increase in the maximum depth of bioturbation during the Permo-Carboniferous (Ausich & Bottjer 2001), which suggests a further increase in the pelagic rain of dead matter to the bottom as the result of expanding plankton populations.…”

Section: Benthosmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fossil record of biodiversity: nutrients, productivity, habitat area and differential preservation

Martin

2003

LET

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Martin, R.E. 2003 09 12: The fossil record of biodiversity: nutrients, productivity, habitat area and differential preservation. Lethaia, Vol. 36, pp. 179±194. Oslo. ISSN 0024-1164. It is hypothesized that the Phanerozoic record of fossil diversity is a function of a secular increase in nutrient availability and productivity (food, energy), and cyclic changes in sea level and habitat area due to supercontinent assembly and rifting. Both variables may have affected biodiversity through the combined variable of {productivity Â area}. {Productivity Â area} remained relatively constant after the Cambro-Ordovician until the end of the Permian, as did the traditional curve for biodiversity. During assembly of Pangea, decreasing sea level and habitat area were counteracted by increasing nutrient inputs due to uplift and the spread of vascular plants and enhanced continental weathering. As Pangea underwent its ®nal assembly, interior drainage increased, so that by the end of the Permian both habitat area and nutrient runoff decreased. Following the end-Permian extinctions, the traditional curve of diversity began to increase, habitat area, nutrient levels and productivity all increased. Despite the confounding factors of differential preservation and sampling bias toward the present, the fossil record re¯ects a real response by the marine biosphere to tectonism, sea level, paleoceanographic regime and climate, and the spread of terrestrial¯oras, and their in¯uence on habitat area, nutrient inputs, and productivity through time.

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Diversity dynamics and evolutionary patterns of Devonian Bryozoa

Ernst

2012

Palaeobio Palaeoenv

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Phytoplankton and the Late Paleozoic wave of extinction

Cited by 13 publications

References 1 publication

Evolving Phytoplankton Stoichiometry Fueled Diversification of the Marine Biosphere

Evolving Phytoplankton Stoichiometry Fueled Diversification of the Marine Biosphere

The fossil record of biodiversity: nutrients, productivity, habitat area and differential preservation

Diversity dynamics and evolutionary patterns of Devonian Bryozoa

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