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    W10 by Donny

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    aemarcy
    This document discusses extinction as a natural evolutionary process that occurs continuously throughout geological time at varying rates. It describes background extinction rates and how species with small geographic ranges and population sizes are more prone to extinction from "accidents". Mass extinctions that result in over 50% global species loss are also examined, with the "Big Five" mass extinctions attributed to various catastrophic events. A more recent Pleistocene extinction is discussed where humans are implicated in the loss of mammal species. Debate is presented on whether the current extinction rate constitutes a sixth mass extinction.

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    W10 by Donny

    Uploaded by

    aemarcy
    46 views4 pages
    This document discusses extinction as a natural evolutionary process that occurs continuously throughout geological time at varying rates. It describes background extinction rates and how species with small geographic ranges and population sizes are more prone to extinction from "accidents". Mass extinctions that result in over 50% global species loss are also examined, with the "Big Five" mass extinctions attributed to various catastrophic events. A more recent Pleistocene extinction is discussed where humans are implicated in the loss of mammal species. Debate is presented on whether the current extinction rate constitutes a sixth mass extinction.

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    This document discusses extinction as a natural evolutionary process that occurs continuously throughout geological time at varying rates. It describes background extinction rates and how species with small geographic ranges and population sizes are more prone to extinction from "accidents". Mass extinctions that result in over 50% global species loss are also examined, with the "Big Five" mass extinctions attributed to various catastrophic events. A more recent Pleistocene extinction is discussed where humans are implicated in the loss of mammal species. Debate is presented on whether the current extinction rate constitutes a sixth mass extinction.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    46 views4 pages

    W10 by Donny

    Uploaded by

    aemarcy
    This document discusses extinction as a natural evolutionary process that occurs continuously throughout geological time at varying rates. It describes background extinction rates and how species with small geographic ranges and population sizes are more prone to extinction from "accidents". Mass extinctions that result in over 50% global species loss are also examined, with the "Big Five" mass extinctions attributed to various catastrophic events. A more recent Pleistocene extinction is discussed where humans are implicated in the loss of mammal species. Debate is presented on whether the current extinction rate constitutes a sixth mass extinction.

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    of 4

    Week 11: EXTINCTION

    Speciation adds new species →(+)→ OVERALL DIVERSITY ←(-)← Extinction removes species
    Extinction is a normal evolutionary process occurring continuously throughout geological time
    Background extinction rate:
    • mean rate of extinction of animal families in geological time ≈ 3-4 per million years
    • ≈ loss of 1-2 sp. every 1 to 10 yrs
    * Average sp. duration in fossil record 1-20 million years
    “Accidents” causes extinction
    Small populations (e.g. species with small geographic ranges) are prone to accidents
    Species with small ranges have a high probability of extinction, since they
    • have fragmented (disjunct) ranges
    • occupy fewer sites with the range
    • have smaller population sizes
    • are likely at the limits of their environmental tolerance
    EX: bivalves and gastropods in late Cretaceous extinctions – spp. with large ranges showed a
    significantly higher chance of survival
    Distribution and abundance:
    rare common
    widespread or cosmopolitan --- Likely to survive
    narrow or 'endemic' Likely to become extinct ---
    * Cosmopolitan vs. endemic spp. (relative terms)
    What “accidents” lead to extinction?
    EX: population fluctuations, volcanic eruptions, 'normal' climatic fluctuations, natural
    disasters, competition with immigrants, evolution of new predators or competitors, etc.
    Mass Extinctions
    Def: >50% global loss of spp. (>75% in Barnosky et al. paper), very sudden, broad taxonomic
    coverage, results in changes to surviving biota
    Potential causes of mass extinction include dramatic changes in: ocean circulation, global climatic,
    sea level potentially associated with dramatic events (e.g. volcanic eruptions, asteroid
    impacts)
    Big Five Mass Extinctions:
    1. Ordovician (438 myr)
    26% marine families; 85% spp.
    Theory: climate change (glaciation), sea-level regression, anoxia
    2. Devonian (375 myr)
    22% families; 80% spp.
    Theory: global temperature decline, sea-level decline, meteorite impact
    3. Permo-Triassic, “The mother of all mass extinctions” (248 myr)
    52% families; 96% spp.
    Recorded in the Siberian Traps (flood basalts)
    Theories: SYNERY of... productivity decline, continental shelf area decline,
    cosmic radiation, provinciality decline, asteroid impact, global
    warming/cooling, volcanism, anoxia
    4. Late Triassic (206 myr)
    Theory: increased aridity, sea-level regression, impact, rifting
    5.Cretaceous-Tertiary (65 myr)
    16% families; 75% spp. (bye-bye dinos!)
    Alvarez et al. (1980) observe spike in iridium (rare on Earth, common in
    meteorites) → eventually they track down the crater from an asteroid 10
    km in diameter, capable of causing extinction on a mass scale
    Theory: asteroid impact → volcanic eruption → global climate change
    A more recent extinction: Pleistocene Extinction
    Affected mostly terrestrial biota (mostly mammals, fewer birds)
    Dramatic changes in geographic ranges of plants, animals, and marine organisms
    Body size changes in surviving spp. (megafauna hit hard)
    Global temp trends: Cooling in Pliocene-Pleistocene, recent Late Pleistocene warming
    An estimated 1680 mammal spp. extinct (relative to 4327 known extant mammal spp.)
    Humans implicated as catalysts
    Are we in the 6th mass extinction?

    PAPERS!!

    BARNOSKY ET AL. 2011 “Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived?”
    -they argue technically not, because the qualifying number of species (75%) has not been lost
    -BUT if threatened/endangered species are lost, we could potentially reach mass extinction
    levels in as little as three centuries

    LAVOUE ET AL. 2010 “Remarkable evolutionary stasis in an extant vertebrate despite tens of
    millions of years of divergence”
    African butterfly fish (Pantodon) lineages that split more than 50 million years go, but have
    been in almost complete stasis since
    Repeated climatic flux may have helped produce genetic diversity by repeated drift events

    they’re so cool looking!

    MIHLBACHER 2011 “Dietary change and evolution of horses in North America”


    Horses trend towards increased hypsodonty (high-crowned dentition), associated with a grazing
    diet
    Happens in time with diversification and climatic cooling and aridization beginning in early
    Miocene
    Frugivore -> browser -> mixed feeder -> grazer

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