Sampling-standardized expansion and collapse of reef building in the Phanerozoic

Kiessling, Wolfgang

doi:10.5194/fr-11-7-2008

Cited by 25 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Archaeocyathid reefs were locally abundant during the early stages of the Cambrian and could have generated important regional engineering effects, but they disappeared in the middle Cambrian. Overall, reefs were relatively insignificant compared to reefs later in the Paleozoic (Kiessling 2008). Bulldozing and bioturbation also increased, with planar laminated sediments essentially disappearing as nearshore marine sediments became well mixed by burrowing organisms.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Ecological drivers of the Ediacaran-Cambrian diversification of Metazoa

2011

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Organismal modifications to their physical and chemical environment play a significant role in structuring many modern ecosystems, and experimental evidence suggests that such behavior can increase diversity. Despite the important role such activities play in connecting ecology and evolution, less is known of the macroevolutionary impact of such influences, especially their role during major evolutionary transitions. The Ediacaran-Cambrian diversification of Metazoa encompassed the appearance and early diversification of virtually all major clades of marine animals and the establishment of metazoan-dominated ecosystems. Here we assess the role of positive ecological feedbacks using a new compilation of the first occurrences of all metazoan phyla, classes; orders and equivalent stem taxa, as well as data from a previously published compendium on fossils from the early to middle Cambrian of China. The results reveal relatively minor feedback during the Ediacaran, but a substantial increase during the Cambrian, principally through bioturbation and the appearance of a number of structural engineers, including sponges. Chemical modification of the environment through filtering and bioturbation seems to have had the largest impact. Data on taxic diversity is a poor proxy for abundance, or for the actual environmental impact of these activities, however. Future assessments of the influence of ecological feedbacks on this event will require standardized assessments of the abundance of taxa with different ecological roles.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Ecological drivers of the Ediacaran-Cambrian diversification of Metazoa

2011

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“…in the Valanginian and Aptian) that saw a dramatic reduction in the production of carbonates [ 52 , 53 ], and potentially decreased the amount of habitable areas for shallow-marine dwelling crocodyliforms. Furthermore, there is evidence that the global drop in eustatic sea level at the J/K boundary decimated reef environments [ 54 , 55 ], and there were elevated extinction rates for sessile groups of cephalopods, bivalves and gastropods at low palaeolatitudes [ 20 , 32 , 56 ]. These events culminated in several episodes of intense ocean water stagnation and anoxia, including the Valanginian Weissert carbon isotope excursion and the late Hauterivian Faraoni oceanic anoxic events [ 52 , 53 , 57 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental drivers of crocodyliform extinction across the Jurassic/Cretaceous transition

2016

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Crocodyliforms have a much richer evolutionary history than represented by their extant descendants, including several independent marine and terrestrial radiations during the Mesozoic. However, heterogeneous sampling of their fossil record has obscured their macroevolutionary dynamics, and obfuscated attempts to reconcile external drivers of these patterns. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of crocodyliform biodiversity through the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) transition using subsampling and phylogenetic approaches and apply maximum-likelihood methods to fit models of extrinsic variables to assess what mediated these patterns. A combination of fluctuations in sea-level and episodic perturbations to the carbon and sulfur cycles was primarily responsible for both a marine and non-marine crocodyliform biodiversity decline through the J/K boundary, primarily documented in Europe. This was tracked by high extinction rates at the boundary and suppressed origination rates throughout the Early Cretaceous. The diversification of Eusuchia and Notosuchia likely emanated from the easing of ecological pressure resulting from the biodiversity decline, which also culminated in the extinction of the marine thalattosuchians in the late Early Cretaceous. Through application of rigorous techniques for estimating biodiversity, our results demonstrate that it is possible to tease apart the complex array of controls on diversification patterns in major archosaur clades.

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“…Coral diversity appears to have increased linearly through the J/K boundary based on subsampled estimates (Alroy, 2010b); however, Kiessling (2008) found a substantial reef expansion in the early Late Jurassic, followed by a comparable decline in the latest Jurassic and over the J/K boundary (see also . In the Late Jurassic, low-latitude shallow marine regions were dominated by scleractinian coral reefs (Leinfelder, 2001;Martin-Garin, Lathuliere & Geister, 2012), with sea level exerting a strong control on their regional distribution (Bambach, 2006).…”

Section: (C) Reefsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The proportion of evaporitic rocks in the Late Jurassic parallels this sea-level pattern (Ronov et al, 1980;Zorina et al, 2008). Falling sea levels through the J/K transition decimated reef environments, as indicated by a marked decline in the areal extent and latest Jurassic diversity of reef-building organisms (Kiessling, 2008;Foote, 2014). Black shales were widely deposited throughout the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, often in marginal seas (Dypvik & Zakharov, 2012; 2012; Meyers, 2014).…”

Section: (2) Sea Level and Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 97%

“…There is a growing body of evidence that low-latitude reef-dwelling or shallow-marine and sessile epifauna (e.g. cemented bivalves, corals) were the most severely affected at the J/K boundary (Zakharov & Yanine, 1975;Skelton et al, 1990;Aberhan et al, 2006;Kiessling, 2008Kiessling, , 2009Alroy, 2010a;Ruban, 2011;Foote, 2014), possibly due to a dramatic shift from calcitic to aragonitic organisms .…”

Section: (B) Marine Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biotic and environmental dynamics through the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover

Mannion¹,

Upchurch²,

Sutton³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous interval represents a time of environmental upheaval and cataclysmic events, combined with disruptions to terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Historically, the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) boundary was classified as one of eight mass extinctions. However, more recent research has largely overturned this view, revealing a much more complex pattern of biotic and abiotic dynamics than has previously been appreciated. Here, we present a synthesis of our current knowledge of Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous events, focusing particularly on events closest to the J/K boundary. We find evidence for a combination of short-term catastrophic events, large-scale tectonic processes and environmental perturbations, and major clade interactions that led to a seemingly dramatic faunal and ecological turnover in both the marine and terrestrial realms. This is coupled with a great reduction in global biodiversity which might in part be explained by poor sampling. Very few groups appear to have been entirely resilient to this J/K boundary 'event', which hints at a 'cascade model' of ecosystem changes driving faunal dynamics. Within terrestrial ecosystems, larger, more-specialised organisms, such as saurischian dinosaurs, appear to have suffered the most. Medium-sized tetanuran theropods declined, and were replaced by larger-bodied groups, and basal eusauropods were replaced by neosauropod faunas. The ascent of paravian theropods is emphasised by escalated competition with contemporary pterosaur groups, culminating in the explosive radiation of birds, although the timing of this is obfuscated by biases in sampling. Smaller, more ecologically diverse terrestrial non-archosaurs, such as lissamphibians and mammaliaforms, were comparatively resilient to extinctions, instead documenting the origination of many extant groups around the J/K boundary. In the marine realm, extinctions were focused on low-latitude, shallow marine shelf-dwelling faunas, corresponding to a significant eustatic sea-level fall in the latest Jurassic. More mobile and ecologically plastic marine groups, such as ichthyosaurs, survived the boundary relatively unscathed. High rates of extinction and turnover in other macropredaceous marine groups, including plesiosaurs, are accompanied by the origin of most major lineages of extant sharks. Groups which occupied both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, including crocodylomorphs, document a selective extinction in shallow marine forms, whereas turtles appear to have diversified. These patterns suggest that different extinction selectivity and ecological processes were operating between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, which were ultimately important in determining the fates of many key groups, as well as the origins of many major extant lineages. We identify a series of potential abiotic candidates for driving these patterns, including multiple bolide impacts, several episodes of flood basalt eruptions, dramatic climate change, and major disruptions to oceanic systems. The J/K t...

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Sampling-standardized expansion and collapse of reef building in the Phanerozoic

Cited by 25 publications

References 39 publications

Ecological drivers of the Ediacaran-Cambrian diversification of Metazoa

Ecological drivers of the Ediacaran-Cambrian diversification of Metazoa

Environmental drivers of crocodyliform extinction across the Jurassic/Cretaceous transition

Biotic and environmental dynamics through the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous transition: evidence for protracted faunal and ecological turnover

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