Placing our current ‘hyperthermal’ in the context of rapid climate change in our geological past

Foster, Gavin L.; Hull, Pincelli M.; Lunt, Daniel J.; Zachos, James C

doi:10.1098/rsta.2017.0086

Cited by 57 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…The Paleocene and Eocene were the warmest intervals of the Cenozoic, dominated by ‘greenhouse’ climates, characterized by the absence of polar ice caps (Foster et al ., 2018). The Paleocene ended with the short‐lived Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) ( ca .…”

Section: Six Major ‘Geo‐climatic’ Periods Impacting Tropical African mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonics, climate and the diversification of the tropical African terrestrial flora and fauna

et al. 2020

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Tropical Africa is home to an astonishing biodiversity occurring in a variety of ecosystems. Past climatic change and geological events have impacted the evolution and diversification of this biodiversity. During the last two decades, around 90 dated molecular phylogenies of different clades across animals and plants have been published leading to an increased understanding of the diversification and speciation processes generating tropical African biodiversity. In parallel, extended geological and palaeoclimatic records together with detailed numerical simulations have refined our understanding of past geological and climatic changes in Africa. To date, these important advances have not been reviewed within a common framework. Here, we critically review and synthesize African climate, tectonics and terrestrial biodiversity evolution throughout the Cenozoic to the mid‐Pleistocene, drawing on recent advances in Earth and life sciences. We first review six major geo‐climatic periods defining tropical African biodiversity diversification by synthesizing 89 dated molecular phylogeny studies. Two major geo‐climatic factors impacting the diversification of the sub‐Saharan biota are highlighted. First, Africa underwent numerous climatic fluctuations at ancient and more recent timescales, with tectonic, greenhouse gas, and orbital forcing stimulating diversification. Second, increased aridification since the Late Eocene led to important extinction events, but also provided unique diversification opportunities shaping the current tropical African biodiversity landscape. We then review diversification studies of tropical terrestrial animal and plant clades and discuss three major models of speciation: (i) geographic speciation via vicariance (allopatry); (ii) ecological speciation impacted by climate and geological changes, and (iii) genomic speciation via genome duplication. Geographic speciation has been the most widely documented to date and is a common speciation model across tropical Africa. We conclude with four important challenges faced by tropical African biodiversity research: (i) to increase knowledge by gathering basic and fundamental biodiversity information; (ii) to improve modelling of African geophysical evolution throughout the Cenozoic via better constraints and downscaling approaches; (iii) to increase the precision of phylogenetic reconstruction and molecular dating of tropical African clades by using next generation sequencing approaches together with better fossil calibrations; (iv) finally, as done here, to integrate data better from Earth and life sciences by focusing on the interdisciplinary study of the evolution of tropical African biodiversity in a wider geodiversity context.

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Section: Six Major ‘Geo‐climatic’ Periods Impacting Tropical African mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonics, climate and the diversification of the tropical African terrestrial flora and fauna

et al. 2020

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“…In the Paleocene and Eocene global climate was characterized by a series hyperthermal events superimposed upon an already exceptionally warm climate, which wrought changes to the hydrological system and atmospheric composition ( Anagnostou et al., 2016 ; Carmichael et al., 2017 ; Foster et al., 2018 ; Inglis et al., 2019 ; Zachos et al., 2010 ). The impact of such extremes early in the Paleogene in the central Tibetan lowland and across to Yunnan is difficult to determine because of a dearth of fossil evidence, but widely distributed ‘red bed’ sediments suggest an extremely arid climate in which only specialist xeromorphic plants and palms would have survived, and then most likely only near river courses (e.g.…”

Section: An Overview Of the Cenozoic Biota Of The Tibetan Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is clear that treelines are increasing in elevation ( Harsch et al., 2009 ) and the ability to migrate unhindered is especially important given that climate warming is happening far more rapidly than during past extreme thermal events ( Foster et al., 2018 ), and yet migration is currently frustrated by landscape and ecosystem fragmentation (e.g. Tiwari et al., 2019 ).…”

Section: Questions For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cenozoic topography, monsoons and biodiversity conservation within the Tibetan Region: An evolving story

Spicer

Farnsworth

2020

Plant Diversity

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The biodiversity of the Himalaya, Hengduan Mountains and Tibet, here collectively termed the Tibetan Region, is exceptional in a global context. To contextualize and understand the origins of this biotic richness, and its conservation value, we examine recent fossil finds and review progress in understanding the orogeny of the Tibetan Region. We examine the deep-time origins of monsoons affecting Asia, climate variation over different timescales, and the establishment of environmental niche heterogeneity linked to topographic development. The origins of the modern biodiversity were established in the Eocene, concurrent with the formation of pronounced topographic relief across the Tibetan Region. High (>4 km) mountains to the north and south of what is now the Tibetan Plateau bounded a Paleogene central lowland (<2.5 km) hosting moist subtropical vegetation influenced by an intensifying monsoon. In mid Miocene times, before the Himalaya reached their current elevation, sediment infilling and compressional tectonics raised the floor of the central valley to above 3000 m, but central Tibet was still moist enough, and low enough, to host a warm temperate angiosperm-dominated woodland. After 15 Ma, global cooling, the further rise of central Tibet, and the rain shadow cast by the growing Himalaya, progressively led to more open, herb-rich vegetation as the modern high plateau formed with its cool, dry climate. In the moist monsoonal Hengduan Mountains, high and spatially extensive since the Eocene but subsequently deeply dissected by river incision, Neogene cooling depressed the tree line, compressed altitudinal zonation, and created strong environmental heterogeneity. This served as a cradle for the then newly-evolving alpine biota and favoured diversity within more thermophilic vegetation at lower elevations. This diversity has survived through a combination of minimal Quaternary glaciation, and complex relief-related environmental niche heterogeneity. The great antiquity and diversity of the Tibetan Region biota argues for its conservation, and the importance of that biota is demonstrated through our insights into its long temporal gestation provided by fossil archives and information written in surviving genomes. These data sources are worthy of conservation in their own right, but for the living biotic inventory we need to ask what it is we want to conserve. Is it 1) individual taxa for their intrinsic properties, 2) their services in functioning ecosystems, or 3) their capacity to generate future new biodiversity? If 2 or 3 are our goal then landscape conservation at scale is required, and not just seed banks or botanical/zoological gardens.

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“…We identify hyperthermal events over the last 300 million years (Permian to Neogene) following the evidence and criteria set by Foster et al. (2018). These events include the Permian–Triassic (PT, ~252 Ma), Triassic–Jurassic (TJ, ~201.3 Ma), the end‐Pliensbachian–early Toarcian (Pli‐Toa, ~183 Ma), the OAE1 (Aptian, ~120 Ma), the OAE2 (Cenomanian‐Turonian, ~94 Ma), and the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ~55.5 Ma).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the equivalence between ancient biotic responses to hyperthermals and the biotic responses exhibited today is often questioned. Ancient hyperthermal events were initially triggered by volcanic degassing (Foster et al., 2018). Then, the proliferation of calcareous plankton, including coccolithophores and foraminifera, from the Middle Jurassic onward may have formed a game‐changing buffer against rapid changes in ocean chemistry (Ridgwell, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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Placing our current ‘hyperthermal’ in the context of rapid climate change in our geological past

Cited by 57 publications

References 73 publications

Tectonics, climate and the diversification of the tropical African terrestrial flora and fauna

Tectonics, climate and the diversification of the tropical African terrestrial flora and fauna

Cenozoic topography, monsoons and biodiversity conservation within the Tibetan Region: An evolving story

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

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