Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-gcwzt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-22T20:14:48.274Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The double mass extinction revisited: reassessing the severity, selectivity, and causes of the end-Guadalupian biotic crisis (Late Permian)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Matthew E. Clapham ,
Shuzhong Shen  and
David J. Bottjer
Matthew E. Clapham
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064. E-mail: mclapham@ucsc.edu
Shuzhong Shen
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Paleobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
David J. Bottjer
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0740
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The end-Guadalupian extinction, at the end of the Middle Permian, is thought to have been one of the largest biotic crises in the Phanerozoic. Previous estimates suggest that the crisis eliminated 58% of marine invertebrate genera during the Capitanian stage and that its selectivity helped the Modern evolutionary fauna become more diverse than the Paleozoic fauna before the end-Permian mass extinction. However, a new sampling-standardized analysis of Permian diversity trends, based on 53731 marine invertebrate fossil occurrences from 9790 collections, indicates that the end-Guadalupian “extinction” was actually a prolonged but gradual decrease in diversity from the Wordian to the end of the Permian. There was no peak in extinction rates; reduced genus richness exhibited by all studied invertebrate groups and ecological guilds, and in different latitudinal belts, was instead driven by a sharp decrease in origination rates during the Capitanian and Wuchiapingian. The global diversity decrease was exacerbated by changes in beta diversity, most notably a reduction in provinciality due to the loss of marine habitat area and a pronounced decrease in geographic disparity over small distances. Disparity over moderate to large distances was unchanged, suggesting that small-scale beta diversity changes may have resulted from compression of bathymetric ranges and homogenization of onshore-offshore faunal gradients stemming from the spread of deep-water anoxia around the Guadalupian/Lopingian boundary. Although tropical invertebrate genera were no more likely than extratropical ones to become extinct, the marked reduction in origination rates during the Capitanian and Wuchiapingian is consistent with the effects of global cooling (the Kamura Event), but may also be consistent with other environmental stresses such as anoxia. However, a gradual reduction in diversity, rather than a sharp end-Guadalupian extinction, precludes the need to invoke drastic extinction mechanisms and indicates that taxonomic loss at the end of the Paleozoic was concentrated in the traditional end-Permian (end-Changhsingian) extinction, which eliminated 78% of all marine invertebrate genera.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , Winter 2009 , pp. 32 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Literature Cited

Adrain, J. M., and Westrop, S. R. 2000. An empirical assessment of taxic paleobiology. Science 280:110–112.Google Scholar
Ali, J. R., Thompson, G. M., Song, X.-Y., and Wang, Y.-L. 2002. Emeishan basalts (SW China) and the “end-Guadalupian” crisis: magnetobiostratigraphic constraints. Journal of the Geological Society of London 159:21–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ali, J. R., Thompson, G. M., Zhou, M.-F., and Song, X.-Y. 2005. Emeishan large igneous province, SW China. Lithos 79:475–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alroy, J., Marshall, C. R., Bambach, R. K., Bezusko, K., Foote, M., Fürsich, F. T., Hansen, T. A., Holland, S. M., Ivany, L. C., Jablonski, D., Jacobs, D. K., Jones, D. C., Kosnik, M. A., Lidgard, S., Low, S., Miller, A. I., Novack-Gottshall, P. M., Olszewski, T. D., Patzkowsky, M. E., Raup, D. M., Roy, K., Sepkoski, J. J., Sommers, M. G., Wagner, P. J., and Webber, A. 2001. Effects of sampling standardization on estimates of Phanerozoic marine diversification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 98:6261–6266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bambach, R. K., Knoll, A. H., and Sepkoski, J. J. 2002. Anatomical and ecological constraints on Phanerozoic animal diversity in the marine realm. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 99:6854–6859.Google Scholar
Bevis, M., and Cambareri, G. 1987. Computing the area of a spherical polygon of arbitrary shape. Mathematical Geology 19:335–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, A. M., Markey, M. J., and Marshall, C. R. 2004. Removing bias from diversity curves: the effects of spatially organized biodiversity on sampling-standardization. Paleobiology 30:666–686.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clapham, M. E., and Bottjer, D. J. 2007a. Permian marine paleoecology and its implications for large-scale decoupling of brachiopod and bivalve abundance and diversity during the Lopingian (Late Permian). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 249:283–301.Google Scholar
Clapham, M. E., and Bottjer, D. J. 2007b. Prolonged Permian-Triassic ecological crisis recorded by molluscan dominance in Late Permian offshore assemblages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104:12971–12975.Google Scholar
Collins, W. J. 1991. A reassessment of the “Hunter-Bowen Orogeny”: tectonic implications for the southern New England fold belt. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 38:409–423.Google Scholar
Collinson, J. W., Kendall, C. G. S. C., and Marcantel, J. B. 1976. Permian-Triassic boundary in eastern Nevada and west-central Utah. Geological Society of America Bulletin 87:821–824.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erwin, D. H. 1993. The great Paleozoic crisis: life and death in the Permian. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Fielding, C. R., Frank, T. D., Birgenheier, L. P., Rygel, M. C., Jones, A. T., and Roberts, J. 2008. The stratigraphic imprint of the late Palaeozoic ice age in eastern Australia: a record of alternating glacial and non-glacial intervals. Journal of the Geological Society, London 165:129–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flessa, K. W., and Jablonski, D. 1996. The geography of evolutionary turnover: a global analysis of extant bivalves. Pp. 376–397 in Jablonski, D., Erwin, D. H., and Lipps, J. H., eds. Evolutionary paleobiology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Foote, M. 2000. Origination and extinction components of taxonomic diversity: general problems. In Erwin, D. H., and Wing, S. L., eds. Deep time: Paleobiology's perspective Paleobiology 26(Suppl. to No. 4):74–102.Google Scholar
Foote, M. 2005. Pulsed origination and extinction in the marine realm. Paleobiology 31:6–20.Google Scholar
Foote, M. 2007. Extinction and quiescence in marine animal genera. Paleobiology 33:261–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallam, A., and Wignall, P. B. 1999. Mass extinctions and sea-level changes. Earth-Science Reviews 48:217–250.Google Scholar
Isozaki, Y. 1997. Permo-Triassic boundary superanoxia and stratified superocean: records from lost deep sea. Science 276:235–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Isozaki, Y., Kawahata, H., and Minoshima, K. 2007a. The Capitanian (Permian) Kamura cooling event: the beginning of the Paleozoic-Mesozoic transition. Palaeoworld 16:16–30.Google Scholar
Isozaki, Y., Kawahata, H., and Ota, A. 2007b. A unique carbon isotope record across the Guadalupian-Lopingian (Middle-Upper Permian) boundary in mid-oceanic paleo-atoll carbonates: the high-productivity “Kamura event” and its collapse in Panthalassa. Global and Planetary Change 55:21–38.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D. 1986. Background and mass extinctions: the alternation of macroevolutionary regimes. Science 231:129–133.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D., and Roy, K. 2003. Geographic range and speciation in fossil and living mollusks. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 270:401–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, J. B. C. 1974. Biogeographic consequences of eurytopy and stenotopy among marine bivalves and their evolutionary significance. American Naturalist 108:541–560.Google Scholar
Jin, Y. G., Zhang, J., and Shang, Q. H. 1994. Two phases of end-Permian mass extinction. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 17:813–822.Google Scholar
Jin, Y., Wardlaw, B. R., Glenister, B. F., and Kotlyar, G. V. 1997. Permian chronostratigraphic subdivisions. Episodes 20:10–15.Google Scholar
Kaiho, K., Chen, Z.-Q., Ohashi, T., Arinobu, T., Sawada, K., and Cramer, B. S. 2005. A negative carbon isotope anomaly associated with the earliest Lopingian (Late Permian) mass extinction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 223:172–180.Google Scholar
Kiessling, W., Aberhan, M., Brenneis, B., and Wagner, P. J. 2007. Extinction trajectories of benthic organisms across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 244:201–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoll, A. H., Bambach, R. K., Canfield, D. E., and Grotzinger, J. P. 1996. Comparative Earth history and Late Permian mass extinction. Science 273:452–457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levine, N. 2004. CrimeStat III: a spatial statistics program for the analysis of crime incident locations. Ned Levine and Associates, Houston, and the National Institute of Justice, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Li, J.-Y. 2006. Permian geodynamic setting of northeast China and adjacent regions: closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean and subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 26:207–224.Google Scholar
Miller, A. I., Buick, D. P., Bulinski, K. V., Ferguson, C. A., and Hendy, A. J. W. 2007. Global geographic disparity of marine biotas through the Phanerozoic. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 39(6):90.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J. K., and Shen, Y. 2004. Evidence for sulfidic deep water during the Late Permian in the East Greenland Basin. Geology 32:1037–1040.Google Scholar
Payne, J. L., and Finnegan, S. 2007. The effect of geographic range on extinction risk during background and mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104:10506–10511.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Payne, J. L., and Kump, L. R. 2007. Evidence for recurrent Early Triassic massive volcanism from quantitative interpretation of carbon isotope fluctuations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 256:264–277.Google Scholar
Powell, M. G. 2007. Latitudinal diversity gradients for brachiopod genera during late Palaeozoic time: links between climate, biogeography and evolutionary rates. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16:529–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powers, C. M., and Bottjer, D. J. 2007. Bryozoan paleoecology indicates mid-Phanerozoic extinctions are the product of long-term environmental stress. Geology 35:995–998.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1979. Size of the Permo-Triassic bottleneck and its evolutionary implications. Science 206:217–218.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M., and Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1982. Mass extinctions in the marine fossil record. Science 215:1501–1503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scotese, C. R. 2001. PointTracker v4c. Arlington, Tex.Google Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1981. A factor analytic description of the Phanerozoic marine record. Paleobiology 7:36–53.Google Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1998. Rates of speciation in the fossil record. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 353:315–326.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shen, S. Z., and Shi, G. R. 2002. Paleobiogeographical extinction patterns of Permian brachiopods in the Asian-western Pacific region. Paleobiology 28:449–463.Google Scholar
Shen, S. Z., and Shi, G. R. 2004. Capitanian (Late Guadalupian, Permian) global brachiopod palaeobiogeography and latitudinal diversity pattern. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 208:235–262.Google Scholar
Shen, S. Z., Zhang, H., Li, W. Z., Mu, L., and Xie, J. F. 2006. Brachiopod diversity patterns from Carboniferous to Triassic in south China. Geological Journal 41:345–361.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1968. Post-Paleozoic adaptive radiation of infaunal bivalve molluscs: a consequence of mantle fusion and siphon formation. Journal of Paleontology 42:214–229.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M., and Powell, M. G. 2003. Depressed rates of origination and extinction during the late Paleozoic ice age: a new state for the global marine ecosystem. Geology 31:877–880.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M., and Yang, X. 1994. A double mass extinction at the end of the Paleozoic Era. Science 266:1340–1344.Google Scholar
Wang, W., Cao, C., and Wang, Y. 2004. The carbon isotope excursion on GSSP candidate section of Lopingian-Guadalupian boundary. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 220:57–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, X. D., Wang, X. J., Zhang, F., and Zhang, H. 2006. Diversity patterns of Carboniferous and Permian rugose corals in south China. Geological Journal 41:329–343.Google Scholar
Weidlich, O. 2002. Permian reefs re-examined: extrinsic control mechanisms of gradual and abrupt changes during 40 my of reef evolution. Geobios Mémoire Spécial 24:287–294.Google Scholar
Wignall, P. B. 2001. Large igneous provinces and mass extinctions. Earth-Science Reviews 53:1–33.Google Scholar
Zhou, M.-F., Malpas, J., Song, X.-Y., Robinson, P. T., Sun, M., Kennedy, A. K., Lesher, C. M., and Keays, R. R. 2002. A temporal link between the Emeishan large igneous province (southwest China) and the end-Guadalupian mass extinction. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 196:113–122.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Clapham et al. supplementary material

Supplementary Material

Download Clapham et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 417.9 KB