Jonathan Payne
Dorrell William Kirby Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Biology
Earth & Planetary Sciences
Bio
I received my B.A. in Geosciences from Williams College in 1997. After graduation, I spent two years working as a high school math and science teacher. I then returned to graduate school, earning my Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University in the spring of 2005. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at Penn State, I joined the faculty at Stanford University in the fall of 2005. My research addresses the relationship between environmental change and biological evolution in the fossil record, with a focus on mass extinction events and long-term trends in the ecological structure of marine ecosystems. I teach courses for undergraduates in historical geology and invertebrate paleobiology and courses for graduate students in carbonate sedimentology, geobiology, and paleobiology.
Academic Appointments
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Professor, Earth & Planetary Sciences
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Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
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Professor (By courtesy), Biology
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Member, Bio-X
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Affiliate, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Administrative Appointments
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Dorrell William Kirby Professor of Geological Sciences, Stanford University (2020 - Present)
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Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University (2020 - Present)
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Professor of Biology (by courtesy), Stanford University (2016 - Present)
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Professor of Geological Sciences, Stanford University (2016 - 2020)
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Chair, Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University (2015 - 2019)
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Associate Chair, Dept. of Geological & Environmental Sciences, Stanford University (2014 - 2015)
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Associate Professor of Biology (by courtesy), Stanford University (2012 - 2016)
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Associate Professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University (2012 - 2016)
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Assistant Professor of Biology (by courtesy), Stanford University (2010 - 2012)
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Affiliated Faculty Member, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University (2009 - Present)
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Assistant Professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University (2005 - 2012)
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Post-doctoral Fellow, Pennsylvania State University (2005 - 2005)
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Research Assistant, Harvard University (2002 - 2005)
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Teaching Assistant, Harvard University (2000 - 2005)
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Science and Mathematics Teacher, The American School in Switzerland (TASIS) (1997 - 1999)
Honors & Awards
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Fellow, Geological Society of America (2018)
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Stuart A. Northrop Distinguished Lecture, University of New Mexico (2017)
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Allan V. Cox Medal, Stanford University (2015)
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Charles Schuchert Award, Paleontological Society (2015)
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Fellow, Paleontological Society (2015)
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Stanford Fellow, Stanford University (2014-2016)
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VPUE Faculty Scholar, Stanford University (2013-2014)
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CAREER Award, NSF (2012)
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Frederick E. Terman Fellowship, Stanford University (2007-2009)
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Honorable mention for best paper, Palaios (2006)
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National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, US Department of Defense (1999 - 2002)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Co-Chair, Scientific Program Committee, Theme 14, Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference (2017 - 2017)
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Invited Speaker, Penn State; UT Austin; University of New Mexico; Stanford; US Geological Survey (2017 - 2017)
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Invited Speaker, Stanford University; Colgate University (2016 - 2016)
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Invited Speaker, U of Chicago; Northwestern; U of Zurich; U of Padua; U Penn; Lehigh; UC Davis (2015 - 2015)
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Member, Breadth Governance Board, Stanford University (2014 - 2015)
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Co-chair, Theme Team for Goldschmidt 2014 - 'Evolution of the Earth's Environment' (2014 - 2014)
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Convener, Topical Session on Ecosystem Geobiology and Paleobiology, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (2014 - 2014)
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Invited Speaker, University of Michigan; Yale University (2014 - 2014)
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Outside Chair for PhD Exam (EESS x3), Stanford University (2014 - 2014)
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Panelist, NASA Exobiology Program (2014 - 2014)
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Pre-major advisor - 4 students, Stanford University (2014 - 2014)
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Research mentor: 2 high school teachers; 4 undergraduate students; 17 high school students, Stanford University (2014 - 2014)
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Member, Teaching Task Force, Stanford University, School of Earth Sciences (2013 - 2014)
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Co-organizer, Paleontological Society short course at GSA Annual Meeting - 'Ecosystem Paleobiology and Geobiology' (2013 - 2013)
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Convener, Topical Session on End-Permian Mass Extinction, Joint GSA-GSC Meeting in Chengdu, China (2013 - 2013)
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Convener, Topical Session on the History of the Biological Pump, Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference, Florence, Italy (2013 - 2013)
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Invited Speaker, University of Zurich; Syracuse University; Bodega Marine Lab, UC Davis (2013 - 2013)
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Lecture for Camp for Talented Youth Geology Class (Middle School Students), Stanford University (2013 - 2013)
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Lecture for SES Summer Program in Paleoclimate for K-12 teachers, Stanford University (2013 - 2013)
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Member, Theme Team for Goldschmidt 2013 - 'Evolution of the Earth's Environment' (2013 - 2013)
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Outside Chair for PhD Exam (Physics), Stanford University (2013 - 2013)
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Pre-major advisor - 4 students; Major advisor (GES) - 2 students, Stanford University (2013 - 2013)
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Research mentor: 2 high school teachers, Stanford Research Experience for Teachers Program; 20 high school students; 7 undergraduate students, Stanford University (2013 - 2013)
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Member, Society for the Study of Evolution (2012 - Present)
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Chair, GES Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Stanford University (2012 - 2014)
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Undergraduate Program Director, GES, Stanford University (2012 - 2014)
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Invited Speaker, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University; University of California at Berkeley; Agouron Institute Meeting: The Comings and Goings of Animal Life on Earth; Scripps Institute of Oceanography; Saudi Aramco (2012 - 2012)
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Lecture for Camp for Talented Youth Geology Class (Middle School Students), Stanford University (2012 - 2012)
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Lecture for SES VPUE and SURGE Summer Undergraduate Research Students, Stanford University (2012 - 2012)
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Major advisor (GES) - 2 students, Stanford University (2012 - 2012)
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Outside chair for PhD Exam - 5 exams (Biology x2, CEE, Chemistry, Physics), Stanford University (2012 - 2012)
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Research mentor: 2 high school teachers, Stanford Research Experience for Teachers Program; 10 high school students (7 presented posters at AGU December meeting); 5 undergraduate students (4 presented posters at AGU December meeting), Stanford University (2012 - 2012)
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Associate Editor, American Journal of Science (2011 - Present)
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Member, American Chemical Society (2011 - Present)
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Co-chair, Geobiology Search Committee, Stanford University (2011 - 2014)
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Convener, Topical session on Carbon Isotopes and the Geological Carbon Cycle at the European Geophysical Union Annual Meeting (2011 - 2011)
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Invited Speaker, Princeton University (2011 - 2011)
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Lecture for Camp for Talented Youth Geology Class (Middle School Students), Stanford University (2011 - 2011)
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Lecture for SES VPUE Summer Undergraduate Research Students, Stanford University (2011 - 2011)
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Outside chair for PhD Exam - 1 exam (EESS), Stanford University (2011 - 2011)
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Research mentor for 1 high school science teacher, Stanford Research Experience for Teachers Program, Stanford University (2011 - 2011)
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Research mentor for 5 high school students (all 5 presented posters at AGU December meeting in San Francisco); Research mentor for 3 undergraduate students (2 funded by VPUE, 1 funded by SURGE), Stanford University (2011 - 2011)
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Invited Speaker, University of California at Berkeley; University of Frankfurt; University of California at Santa Cruz; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL (2010 - 2010)
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Lecture for Camp for Talented Youth Geology Class (Middle School Students), Stanford University (2010 - 2010)
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Lecturer for SES Summer High School Interns and Undergraduate Research Students, Stanford University (2010 - 2010)
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Research mentor for 1 high school science teacher, Stanford Research Experience for Teachers Program, Stanford University (2010 - 2010)
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Research mentor for 12 high school students (10 presented posters at AGU December meeting in San Francisco), Stanford University (2010 - 2010)
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Member, Earth Sciences Council, Stanford University (2009 - Present)
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Convener, Topical session on Geochemistry of Extinction and Radiation Events at Goldschmidt Conference (2009 - 2009)
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Invited Speaker, Stanford GES & Geophysics Joint Dept Seminar; San Jose State University; California Academy of Sciences; University of California at Santa Barbara; University of New Mexico (2009 - 2009)
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Lecturer, SES VPUE Summer Undergraduate Research Students and High School Interns, Stanford University (2009 - 2009)
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Outside chair for PhD Exam - 2 exams (Biology), Stanford University (2009 - 2009)
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Research mentor for 2 high school students (both presented posters at AGU December meeting in San Francisco), Stanford University (2009 - 2009)
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Member, SES Educational Outreach Committee, Stanford University (2008 - Present)
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SES Librarian Search Committee, Stanford University (2008 - 2009)
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Invited Speaker, MIT; Stanford School of Earth Sciences Faculty Forum; Chevron-Texaco, San Ramon, CA; Harvard University; NASA Ames Research Center; UC Santa Cruz (2008 - 2008)
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Lecturer and mentor, SES VPUE Summer Undergraduate Research Students (2008 - 2008)
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Associate Editor, Newsletter on Stratigraphy (2007 - Present)
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Member, American Geophysical Union (2007 - Present)
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Member, University Human Skeletal Remains Oversight Committee, Stanford University (2007 - Present)
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GES TA Training Coordinator, Stanford Univesity (2007 - 2014)
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GES Long Range Planning Committee, Stanford University (2007 - 2010)
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GES Dept Seminar Coordinator, Stanford University (2007 - 2009)
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Convener, Topical Session on Extinction Selectivity at GSA Annual Meeting (2007 - 2007)
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Invited Speaker, California Academy of Sciences; Guizhou Geological Survey, Guiyang, China; University of California at Berkeley; University of California at Davis; Williams College (2007 - 2007)
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Lecturer and mentor, SES Summer High School Interns (2007 - 2007)
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Outside chair for PhD Exam - 4 exams (Biological Sciences), Stanford University (2007 - 2007)
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Associate Editor, Palaeontologia Electronica (2006 - Present)
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Member, Earth Systems Committee of the Whole, Stanford University (2006 - Present)
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Member, GES Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Stanford University (2006 - 2012)
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Judge, SES Annual Research Review (2006 - 2008)
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Invited Speaker, San Jose State University; Chevron-Texaco, San Ramon, CA; University of Chicago; Northwestern University (2006 - 2006)
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Lecture for SES Summer High School Interns, Stanford University (2006 - 2006)
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Lecture for SES VPUE Summer Undergraduate Research Students, Stanford University (2006 - 2006)
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Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005 - Present)
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Proposal Reviewer, NSF (Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology; Geobiology and Low Temperature Geochemistry; Antaractic Earth Sciences) , NASA Astrobiology, Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society, Swiss National Science Foundation, Austrian Science Fund, National Geographic Society, Lewis and Clark Foundation, Paleontological Society (Student Grants), US Civilian Research and Development Foundation (2005 - Present)
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Invited Speaker, Peninsula Geological Society, Stanford, CA; Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey; Pennsylvania State University; Stanford University; University of Connecticut; University of Michigan (2005 - 2005)
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Manuscript Reviewer, Science, PNAS, Geology, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Geobiology, Paleobiology, Environmental Science, American Journal of Science, Journal of Paleontology, Global and Planetary Change, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Geological Society of America Bulletin, Palaeoworld, New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletin, Palaios, Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, Sedimentology, Lithos, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, Gondwana Research, Nature Geoscience (2004 - Present)
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Invited Speaker, University of Kyushu, Japan; Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Hermosillo (2004 - 2004)
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Member, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (2003 - Present)
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Member, Society for Sedimentary Geology (2003 - Present)
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Invited Speaker, University of Kansas (2003 - 2003)
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Invited Speaker, Guizhou Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, China (2002 - 2002)
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Member, Paleontological Society (2000 - Present)
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Member, Geological Society of America (2000 - Present)
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Member, Sigma Xi (1997 - Present)
Program Affiliations
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Center for East Asian Studies
Professional Education
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Ph.D., Harvard University, Earth and Planetary Sciences (2005)
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A.M., Harvard University, Earth and Planetary Sciences (2002)
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B.A., Williams College, Geosciences (1997)
Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Research
My research group studies the relationship between environmental change and biological evolution in the fossil record. The primary focus of my research group is on understanding the causes of mass extinctions and the processes that control subsequent recovery of biodiversity and global ecosystems. We are working to constrain the causes of the end-Permian and end-Triassic mass extinctions using high-resolution sedimentary, geochemical, and paleontological records developed from carbonate platform sediments in China, Italy, Turkey, and Japan. We are also using global data on fossil occurrence patterns and body sizes to study longer-term connections between environmental change and biological evolution, with a focus on extinction selectivity and body size evolution.
Teaching
I teach courses for undergraduates in historical geology and invertebrate paleobiology and courses for graduate students in carbonate sedimentology, geobiology, and paleobiology.
2024-25 Courses
- The Sixth Extinction (and the Other Five)
BIO 169, BIO 237, EARTHSYS 127A, EARTHSYS 227A, EPS 137, EPS 237 (Aut) -
Independent Studies (15)
- Advanced Projects
EPS 399 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Directed Individual Study in Earth Systems
EARTHSYS 297 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Directed Reading with Earth & Planetary Sciences Faculty
EPS 292 (Aut, Win) - Directed Research
EARTHSYS 250 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Field Research
EPS 299 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Graduate Research
EPS 400 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Graduate Teaching Experience in Geological Sciences
EPS 386 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Honors Program
EPS 199 (Aut, Win) - Honors Program in Earth Systems
EARTHSYS 199 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Out-of-Department Undergraduate Research
BIO 199X (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Practical Experience in the Geosciences
EPS 385 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Research in the Field
EPS 190 (Aut, Win, Sum) - Senior Thesis
EPS 197 (Aut, Win) - Teaching in Geological Sciences
EPS 398 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Undergraduate Research in Earth & Planetary Sciences
EPS 192 (Aut, Win)
- Advanced Projects
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Prior Year Courses
2023-24 Courses
- Macroevolution
BIO 136, BIO 236, EPS 136, EPS 236 (Spr)
2022-23 Courses
- Geology of Oman Field Trip
GEOLSCI 293A (Aut) - The Sixth Extinction (and the Other Five)
BIO 169, BIO 237, EARTHSYS 127A, EARTHSYS 227A, GEOLSCI 137, GEOLSCI 237 (Spr)
2021-22 Courses
- Macroevolution
BIO 136, BIO 236, GEOLSCI 136, GEOLSCI 236 (Win) - Sedimentology and Rock Physics of Carbonates
GEOLSCI 254, GEOPHYS 254 (Win)
- Macroevolution
Stanford Advisees
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Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Valerie Martin -
Postdoctoral Faculty Sponsor
Mohamad Bazzi, Pulkit Singh -
Doctoral (Program)
Jood Al Aswad, Kemi Ashing-Giwa, Eliane Petersohn
Graduate and Fellowship Programs
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Biology (School of Humanities and Sciences) (Phd Program)
All Publications
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Impact of warming on aquatic body sizes explained by metabolic scaling from microbes to macrofauna.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
2022; 119 (28): e2201345119
Abstract
Rising temperatures are associated with reduced body size in many marine species, but the biological cause and generality of the phenomenon is debated. We derive a predictive model for body size responses to temperature and oxygen (O2) changes based on thermal and geometric constraints on organismal O2 supply and demand across the size spectrum. The model reproduces three key aspects of the observed patterns of intergenerational size reductions measured in laboratory warming experiments of diverse aquatic ectotherms (i.e., the "temperature-size rule" [TSR]). First, the interspecific mean and variability of the TSR is predicted from species' temperature sensitivities of hypoxia tolerance, whose nonlinearity with temperature also explains the second TSR pattern-its amplification as temperatures rise. Third, as body size increases across the tree of life, the impact of growth on O2 demand declines while its benefit to O2 supply rises, decreasing the size dependence of hypoxia tolerance and requiring larger animals to contract by a larger fraction to compensate for a thermally driven rise in metabolism. Together our results support O2 limitation as the mechanism underlying the TSR, and they provide a physiological basis for projecting ectotherm body size responses to climate change from microbes to macrofauna. For small species unable to rapidly migrate or evolve greater hypoxia tolerance, ocean warming and O2 loss in this century are projected to induce >20% reductions in body mass. Size reductions at higher trophic levels could be even stronger and more variable, compounding the direct impact of human harvesting on size-structured ocean food webs.
View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.2201345119
View details for PubMedID 35787059
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Ecologically diverse clades dominate the oceans via extinction resistance.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
2020; 367 (6481): 1035–38
Abstract
Ecological differentiation is correlated with taxonomic diversity in many clades, and ecological divergence is often assumed to be a cause and/or consequence of high speciation rate. However, an analysis of 30,074 genera of living marine animals and 19,992 genera of fossil marine animals indicates that greater ecological differentiation in the modern oceans is actually associated with lower rates of origination over evolutionary time. Ecologically differentiated clades became taxonomically diverse over time because they were better buffered against extinction, particularly during mass extinctions, which primarily affected genus-rich, ecologically homogeneous clades. The relationship between ecological differentiation and taxonomic richness was weak early in the evolution of animals but has strengthened over geological time as successive extinction events reshaped the marine fauna.
View details for DOI 10.1126/science.aax6398
View details for PubMedID 32108111
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Energetic tradeoffs control the size distribution of aquatic mammals
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
2018: 4194–99
Abstract
Four extant lineages of mammals have invaded and diversified in the water: Sirenia, Cetacea, Pinnipedia, and Lutrinae. Most of these aquatic clades are larger bodied, on average, than their closest land-dwelling relatives, but the extent to which potential ecological, biomechanical, and physiological controls contributed to this pattern remains untested quantitatively. Here, we use previously published data on the body masses of 3,859 living and 2,999 fossil mammal species to examine the evolutionary trajectories of body size in aquatic mammals through both comparative phylogenetic analysis and examination of the fossil record. Both methods indicate that the evolution of an aquatic lifestyle is driving three of the four extant aquatic mammal clades toward a size attractor at ∼500 kg. The existence of this body size attractor and the relatively rapid selection toward, and limited deviation from, this attractor rule out most hypothesized drivers of size increase. These three independent body size increases and a shared aquatic optimum size are consistent with control by differences in the scaling of energetic intake and cost functions with body size between the terrestrial and aquatic realms. Under this energetic model, thermoregulatory costs constrain minimum size, whereas limitations on feeding efficiency constrain maximum size. The optimum size occurs at an intermediate value where thermoregulatory costs are low but feeding efficiency remains high. Rather than being released from size pressures, water-dwelling mammals are driven and confined to larger body sizes by the strict energetic demands of the aquatic medium.
View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1712629115
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5910812
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Temperature-dependent hypoxia explains biogeography and severity of end-Permian marine mass extinction.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
2018; 362 (6419)
Abstract
Rapid climate change at the end of the Permian Period (~252 million years ago) is the hypothesized trigger for the largest mass extinction in Earth's history. We present model simulations of the Permian/Triassic climate transition that reproduce the ocean warming and oxygen (O2) loss indicated by the geologic record. The effect of these changes on animal survival is evaluated using the Metabolic Index (Phi), a measure of scope for aerobic activity governed by organismal traits sampled in diverse modern species. Modeled loss of aerobic habitat predicts lower extinction intensity in the tropics, a pattern confirmed with a spatially explicit analysis of the marine fossil record. The combined physiological stresses of ocean warming and O2 loss can account for more than half the magnitude of the "Great Dying."
View details for PubMedID 30523082
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Body size downgrading of mammals over the late Quaternary.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
2018; 360 (6386): 310–13
Abstract
Since the late Pleistocene, large-bodied mammals have been extirpated from much of Earth. Although all habitable continents once harbored giant mammals, the few remaining species are largely confined to Africa. This decline is coincident with the global expansion of hominins over the late Quaternary. Here, we quantify mammalian extinction selectivity, continental body size distributions, and taxonomic diversity over five time periods spanning the past 125,000 years and stretching approximately 200 years into the future. We demonstrate that size-selective extinction was already under way in the oldest interval and occurred on all continents, within all trophic modes, and across all time intervals. Moreover, the degree of selectivity was unprecedented in 65 million years of mammalian evolution. The distinctive selectivity signature implicates hominin activity as a primary driver of taxonomic losses and ecosystem homogenization. Because megafauna have a disproportionate influence on ecosystem structure and function, past and present body size downgrading is reshaping Earth's biosphere.
View details for PubMedID 29674591
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A model for the decrease in amplitude of carbon isotope excursions across the Phanerozoic
American Journal of Science
2017; 317: 641-676
View details for DOI 10.2475/06.2017.01
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Size bias in the documentation of marine biodiversity
OIKOS
2024
View details for DOI 10.1111/oik.10828
View details for Web of Science ID 001337571200001
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Metazoan-algal benthic automicritic slope boundstone: The Triassic Great Bank of Guizhou carbonate platform, Xiliang margin, China
AAPG BULLETIN
2024; 108 (10): 1851-1884
View details for DOI 10.1306/06112422064
View details for Web of Science ID 001328084900001
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Body-size reductions in dacryoconarid tentaculitoids during Devonian warming
GEOSPHERE
2024
View details for DOI 10.1130/GES02759.1/6953450/ges02759
View details for Web of Science ID 001335367400001
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Body-size reductions in dacryoconarid tentaculitoids during Late Devonian warming
GEOSPHERE
2024
View details for DOI 10.1130/GES02759.1
View details for Web of Science ID 001331557900001
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Navigating uncertainty in maximum body size in marine metazoans.
Ecology and evolution
2024; 14 (6): e11506
Abstract
Body size is a fundamental biological trait shaping ecological interactions, evolutionary processes, and our understanding of the structure and dynamics of marine communities on a global scale. Accurately defining a species' body size, despite the ease of measurement, poses significant challenges due to varied methodologies, tool usage, and subjectivity among researchers, resulting in multiple, often discrepant size estimates. These discrepancies, stemming from diverse measurement approaches and inherent variability, could substantially impact the reliability and precision of ecological and evolutionary studies reliant on body size data across extensive species datasets. This study examines the variation in reported maximum body sizes across 69,570 individual measurements of maximum size, ranging from <0.2mum to >45m, for 27,271 species of marine metazoans. The research aims to investigate how reported maximum size variations within species relate to organism size, taxonomy, habitat, and the presence of skeletal structures. The investigation particularly focuses on understanding why discrepancies in maximum size estimates arise and their potential implications for broader ecological and evolutionary studies relying on body size data. Variation in reported maximum sizes is zero for 38% of species, and low for most species, although it exceeds two orders of magnitude for some species. The likelihood of zero variation in maximum size decreased with more measurements and increased in larger species, though this varied across phyla and habitats. Pelagic organisms consistently had low maximum size range values, while small species with unspecified habitats had the highest variation. Variations in maximum size within a species were notably smaller than interspecific variation at higher taxonomic levels. Significant variation in maximum size estimates exists within marine species, and partially explained by organism size, taxonomic group, and habitat. Variation in maximum size could be reduced by standardized measurement protocols and improved meta-data. Despite the variation, egregious errors in published maximum size measurements are rare, and their impact on comparative macroecological and macroevolutionary research is likely minimal.
View details for DOI 10.1002/ece3.11506
View details for PubMedID 38840585
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Phanerozoic co-evolution of O2-CO2 and ocean habitability.
National science review
2024; 11 (6): nwae099
Abstract
This perspective reviews how atmospheric compositions, animals and marine algae evolved together to determine global ocean habitability during the past 500 million years.
View details for DOI 10.1093/nsr/nwae099
View details for PubMedID 38915915
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11194836
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Carbonate factory response through the MECO (Middle Eocene Climate Optimum) event: Insight from the Apulia Carbonate Platform, Gargano Promontory, Italy
SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGY
2024; 461
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2023.106575
View details for Web of Science ID 001174420000001
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Reduced strength and increased variability of extinction selectivity during mass extinctions.
Royal Society open science
2023; 10 (9): 230795
Abstract
Two of the traits most often observed to correlate with extinction risk in marine animals are geographical range and body size. However, the relative effects of these two traits on extinction risk have not been investigated systematically for either background times or during mass extinctions. To close this knowledge gap, we measure and compare extinction selectivity of geographical range and body size of genera within five classes of benthic marine animals across the Phanerozoic using capture-mark-recapture models. During background intervals, narrow geographical range is strongly associated with greater extinction probability, whereas smaller body size is more weakly associated with greater extinction probability. During mass extinctions, the association between geographical range and extinction probability is reduced in every class and fully eliminated in some, whereas the association between body size and extinction probability varies in strength and direction across classes. While geographical range is universally the stronger predictor of survival during background intervals, variation among classes during mass extinction suggests a fundamental shift in extinction processes during these global catastrophes.
View details for DOI 10.1098/rsos.230795
View details for PubMedID 37771968
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10523066
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Prolonged and gradual recovery of metazoan-algal reefs following the end-Permian mass extinction
GEOLOGY
2023
View details for DOI 10.1130/G51058.1
View details for Web of Science ID 001052678600001
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Linking host plants to damage types in the fossil record of insect herbivory
PALEOBIOLOGY
2023; 49 (2): 232-258
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2022.35
View details for Web of Science ID 000994268600004
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Macroevolutionary patterns in vertebrate clades over the last 200 million years: the interaction among body size, metabolism and environment
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2023: S294
View details for Web of Science ID 000948800900826
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Macroevolutionary patterns in vertebrate clades over the last 200 million years: the interaction among body size, metabolism and environment
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2023: S293-S294
View details for Web of Science ID 000948800900825
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Hierarchical multi-label taxonomic classification of carbonate skeletal grains with deep learning
SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGY
2023; 443
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2022.106298
View details for Web of Science ID 000907764200001
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Illusion of flight? Absence, evidence and the age of winged insects
BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
2022
View details for DOI 10.1093/biolinnean/blac137
View details for Web of Science ID 000899821500001
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Marine Ooid Sizes Record Phanerozoic Seawater Carbonate Chemistry
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
2022; 49 (22)
View details for DOI 10.1029/2022GL100800
View details for Web of Science ID 000889480300001
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Reduction in animal abundance and oxygen availability during and after the end-Triassic mass extinction.
Geobiology
2022
Abstract
The end-Triassic biodiversity crisis was one of the most severe mass extinctions in the history of animal life. However, the extent to which the loss of taxonomic diversity was coupled with a reduction in organismal abundance remains to be quantified. Further, the temporal relationship between organismal abundance and local marine redox conditions is lacking in carbonate sections. To address these questions, we measured skeletal grain abundance in shallow-marine limestones by point counting 293 thin sections from four stratigraphic sections across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in the Lombardy Basin and Apennine Platform of western Tethys. Skeletal abundance decreased abruptly across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in all stratigraphic sections. The abundance of skeletal organisms remained low throughout the lower-middle Hettangian strata and began to rebound during the late Hettangian and early Sinemurian. A two-way ANOVA indicates that sample age (p < .01, η2 = 0.30) explains more of the variation in skeletal abundance than the depositional environment or paleobathymetry (p < .01, η2 = 0.15). Measured I/Ca ratios, a proxy for local shallow-marine redox conditions, show this same pattern with the lowest I/Ca ratios occurring in the early Hettangian. The close correspondence between oceanic water column oxygen levels and skeletal abundance indicates a connection between redox conditions and benthic organismal abundance across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. These findings indicate that the end-Triassic mass extinction reduced not only the biodiversity but also the carrying capacity for skeletal organisms in early Hettangian ecosystems, adding to evidence that mass extinction of species generally leads to mass rarity among survivors.
View details for DOI 10.1111/gbi.12533
View details for PubMedID 36329603
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GUADALUPIAN CARBON ISOTOPE STRATIGRAPHY INDICATES EXTENDED INTERVAL OF CARBON CYCLE STABILITY
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE
2022; 322 (9): 1019-1046
View details for DOI 10.2475/09.2022.01
View details for Web of Science ID 001125818400001
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Breathless through Time: Oxygen and Animals across Earth's History
BIOLOGICAL BULLETIN
2022
View details for DOI 10.1086/721754
View details for Web of Science ID 000864473500001
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Unraveling overprinted formation mechanisms of massive dolostone in the Lower Triassic sequence of an isolated carbonate platform in Nanpanjiang Basin, south China
SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGY
2022; 440
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2022.106240
View details for Web of Science ID 000888850600001
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Quantitative evaluation of the roles of ocean chemistry and climate on ooid size across the Phanerozoic: Global versus local controls
SEDIMENTOLOGY
2022
View details for DOI 10.1111/sed.12998
View details for Web of Science ID 000797610500001
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Generating and testing hypotheses about the fossil record of insect herbivory with a theoretical ecospace
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
2022; 297
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2021.104564
View details for Web of Science ID 000751832000005
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Duration and Intensity of End-Permian Marine Anoxia
GEOCHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS GEOSYSTEMS
2022; 23 (1)
View details for DOI 10.1029/2021GC010130
View details for Web of Science ID 000751308100013
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First record of shark microremains from the Lower Khartam Member, Khuff Formation: an Upper Permian origin of the genus Lissodus, or a new placement of the Permo/Triassic boundary in Saudi Arabia?
STRATIGRAPHY
2022; 19 (3): 179-186
View details for DOI 10.29041/strat.19.3.02
View details for Web of Science ID 000865429300002
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Triassic Foraminifera from the Great Bank of Guizhou, Nanpanjiang Basin, south China: taxonomic account, biostratigraphy, and implications for recovery from end-Permian mass extinction
JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY
2021; 95: 1-53
View details for DOI 10.1017/jpa.2021.10
View details for Web of Science ID 000733929700002
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A global ecological signal of extinction risk in terrestrial vertebrates.
Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
2021
Abstract
To determine the distribution and causes of extinction threat across functional groups of terrestrial vertebrates, we assembled a dataset on ecological traits for 18,016 species and tested, with phylogenetic comparative methods, which categories of habitat association, mode of locomotion, and feeding mode best predict extinction risk. We found that cave-dwelling amphibians, arboreal quadrupedal mammals (all of which are primates), aerial and scavenging birds, and pedal (i.e., walking) squamates are all disproportionately threatened with extinction. Across all threatened vertebrate species in the study, agriculture, followed by logging, and then invasive species and disease are the most common risk factors and the most endangered species show simultaneous risk from multiple threat types. If left unabated, the disproportionate loss of species with certain functional traits, combined with increasing anthropogenic pressures, is likely to disrupt ecosystem functions globally. A shift in focus from species- to trait-centric conservation practices will allow for the protection of at-risk functional diversity from regional to global scales. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
View details for DOI 10.1111/cobi.13852
View details for PubMedID 34668599
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Ecological Filtering and Exaptation in the Evolution of Marine Snakes
AMERICAN NATURALIST
2021
View details for DOI 10.1086/716015
View details for Web of Science ID 000687313300001
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Lepidoptera demonstrate the relevance of Murray's Law to circulatory systems with tidal flow.
BMC biology
2021; 19 (1): 204
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Murray's Law, which describes the branching architecture of bifurcating tubes, predicts the morphology of vessels in many amniotes and plants. Here, we use insects to explore the universality of Murray's Law and to evaluate its predictive power for the wing venation of Lepidoptera, one of the most diverse insect orders. Lepidoptera are particularly relevant to the universality of Murray's Law because their wing veins have tidal, or oscillatory, flow of air and hemolymph. We examined over one thousand wings representing 667 species of Lepidoptera.RESULTS: We found that veins with a diameter above approximately 50 microns conform to Murray's Law, with veins below 50 microns in diameter becoming less and less likely to conform to Murray's Law as they narrow. The minute veins that are most likely to deviate from Murray's Law are also the most likely to have atrophied, which prevents efficient fluid transport regardless of branching architecture. However, the veins of many taxa continue to branch distally to the areas where they atrophied, and these too conform to Murray's Law at larger diameters (e.g., Sesiidae).CONCLUSIONS: This finding suggests that conformity to Murray's Law in larger taxa may reflect requirements for structural support as much as fluid transport, or may indicate that selective pressures for fluid transport are stronger during the pupal stage-during wing development prior to vein atrophy-than the adult stage. Our results increase the taxonomic scope of Murray's Law and provide greater clarity about the relevance of body size.
View details for DOI 10.1186/s12915-021-01130-0
View details for PubMedID 34526028
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The role of carbonate factories and sea water chemistry on basin-wide ramp to high-relief carbonate platform evolution: Triassic, Nanpanjiang Basin, South China
DEPOSITIONAL RECORD
2021
View details for DOI 10.1002/dep2.166
View details for Web of Science ID 000695039600001
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Proliferation of Chondrodonta as a proxy of environmental instability at the onset of OAE1a: Insights from shallow-water limestones of the Apulia Carbonate Platform
SEDIMENTOLOGY
2021
View details for DOI 10.1111/sed.12887
View details for Web of Science ID 000664228000001
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Implications of giant ooids for the carbonate chemistry of Early Triassic seawater
GEOLOGY
2021; 49 (2): 156–61
View details for DOI 10.1130/G47655.1
View details for Web of Science ID 000613644100009
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Biotic and Abiotic Controls on the Phanerozoic History of Marine Animal Biodiversity
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND SYSTEMATICS, VOL 52, 2021
2021; 52: 269-289
View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012021-035131
View details for Web of Science ID 000719562400013
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Mass extinctions alter extinction and origination dynamics with respect to body size
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B
2021; 288: 1–8
View details for DOI 10.1098/rspb.2021.1681
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Fully automated carbonate petrography using deep convolutional neural networks
MARINE AND PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
2020; 122
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2020.104687
View details for Web of Science ID 000581551200056
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A GENERAL MODEL FOR GROWTH TRAJECTORIES OF LINEAR CARBONATE PLATFORMS
JOURNAL OF SEDIMENTARY RESEARCH
2020; 90 (9): 1139–55
View details for DOI 10.2110/jsr.2020.55
View details for Web of Science ID 000595068100008
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Geochemical, biostratigraphic, and high-resolution geochronological constraints on the waning stage of Emeishan Large Igneous Province
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN
2020; 132 (9-10): 1969–86
View details for DOI 10.1130/B35464.1
View details for Web of Science ID 000565754100011
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The evolution of complex life and the stabilization of the Earth system.
Interface focus
2020; 10 (4): 20190106
Abstract
The half-billion-year history of animal evolution is characterized by decreasing rates of background extinction. Earth's increasing habitability for animals could result from several processes: (i) a decrease in the intensity of interactions among species that lead to extinctions; (ii) a decrease in the prevalence or intensity of geological triggers such as flood basalt eruptions and bolide impacts; (iii) a decrease in the sensitivity of animals to environmental disturbance; or (iv) an increase in the strength of stabilizing feedbacks within the climate system and biogeochemical cycles. There is no evidence that the prevalence or intensity of interactions among species or geological extinction triggers have decreased over time. There is, however, evidence from palaeontology, geochemistry and comparative physiology that animals have become more resilient to an environmental change and that the evolution of complex life has, on the whole, strengthened stabilizing feedbacks in the climate system. The differential success of certain phyla and classes appears to result, at least in part, from the anatomical solutions to the evolution of macroscopic size that were arrived at largely during Ediacaran and Cambrian time. Larger-bodied animals, enabled by increased anatomical complexity, were increasingly able to mix the marine sediment and water columns, thus promoting stability in biogeochemical cycles. In addition, body plans that also facilitated ecological differentiation have tended to be associated with lower rates of extinction. In this sense, Cambrian solutions to Cambrian problems have had a lasting impact on the trajectory of complex life and, in turn, fundamental properties of the Earth system.
View details for DOI 10.1098/rsfs.2019.0106
View details for PubMedID 32642051
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7333899
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The evolution of complex life and the stabilization of the Earth system
INTERFACE FOCUS
2020; 10 (4)
View details for DOI 10.1098/rsfs.2019.0106
View details for Web of Science ID 000542128100003
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Respiratory medium and circulatory anatomy constrain size evolution in marine macrofauna
PALEOBIOLOGY
2020; 46 (3): 288–303
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2020.16
View details for Web of Science ID 000566760700002
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End-Guadalupian extinction of larger fusulinids in central Iran and implications for the global biotic crisis
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
2020; 550
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109743
View details for Web of Science ID 000536187800003
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Controls on carbonate platform architecture and reef recovery across the Palaeozoic to Mesozoic transition: A high-resolution analysis of the Great Bank of Guizhou
SEDIMENTOLOGY
2020
View details for DOI 10.1111/sed.12741
View details for Web of Science ID 000546386300001
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Giant sector-collapse structures (scalloped margins) of the Yangtze Platform and Great Bank of Guizhou, China: Implications for genesis of collapsed carbonate platform margin systems
SEDIMENTOLOGY
2020
View details for DOI 10.1111/sed.12740
View details for Web of Science ID 000534636500001
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Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to heterogeneity are complementary: Response to comments on "Evaluating the influences of temperature, primary production, and evolutionary history on bivalve growth rates"
PALEOBIOLOGY
2020; 46 (2): 275–77
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2020.20
View details for Web of Science ID 000537776200009
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Refined foraminiferal biostratigraphy of upper Wordian, Capitanian, and Wuchiapingian strata in Hambast Valley, Abadeh region (Iran), and paleobiogeographic implications
GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
2020
View details for DOI 10.1002/gj.3798
View details for Web of Science ID 000562313200001
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Body size, sampling completeness, and extinction risk in the marine fossil record
PALEOBIOLOGY
2020; 46 (1): 23–40
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2019.43
View details for Web of Science ID 000516019300002
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A framework for the integrated analysis of the magnitude, selectivity, and biotic effects of extinction and origination
PALEOBIOLOGY
2020; 46 (1): 1–22
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2019.35
View details for Web of Science ID 000516019300001
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Physiological constraints on body size distributions in crocodyliformes.
Evolution; international journal of organic evolution
2020
Abstract
At least twenty-six species of crocodylian populate the globe today, but this richness represents a minute fraction of the diversity and disparity of Crocodyliformes. Fossil forms are far more varied, spanning from erect, fully terrestrial species to flippered, fully marine species. To quantify the influence of a marine habitat on the directionality, rate, and variance of evolution of body size in Crocodyliformes and thereby identify underlying selective pressures, we compiled a database of body sizes for 264 fossil and modern species of crocodyliform covering terrestrial, semi-aquatic, and marine habitats. We find increases in body size coupled with increases in strength of selection and decreases in variance following invasions of marine habitats but not of semi-aquatic habitats. A model combining constraints from thermoregulation and lung capacity provides a physiological explanation for the larger minimum and average sizes of marine species. It appears that constraints on maximum size are shared across Crocodyliformes, perhaps through factors such as the allometric scaling of feeding rate versus basal metabolism with body size. These findings suggest that broad-scale patterns of body size evolution and the shapes of body size distributions within higher taxa are often determined more by physiological constraints than by ecological interactions or environmental fluctuations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
View details for DOI 10.1111/evo.13901
View details for PubMedID 31943148
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Approximate graph spectral decomposition with the Variational Quantum Eigensolver
2020 SPIE Quantum Information Science, Sensing, and Computation XII
2020
View details for DOI 10.1117/12.2542854
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Interactions between sediment production and transport in the geometry of carbonate platforms: Insights from forward modeling of the Great Bank of Guizhou (Early to Middle Triassic), south China
Marine and Petroleum Geology
2020; 118
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2020.104416
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A Cretaceous peak in family-level insect diversity estimated with mark-recapture methodology.
Proceedings. Biological sciences
2019; 286 (1917): 20192054
Abstract
The history of insects' taxonomic diversity is poorly understood. The two most common methods for estimating taxonomic diversity in deep time yield conflicting results: the 'range through' method suggests a steady, nearly monotonic increase in family-level diversity, whereas 'shareholder quorum subsampling' suggests a highly volatile taxonomic history with family-level mass extinctions occurring repeatedly, even at the midpoints of geological periods. The only feature shared by these two diversity curves is a steep increase in standing diversity during the Early Cretaceous. This apparent diversification event occurs primarily during the Aptian, the pre-Cenozoic interval with the most described insect occurrences, raising the possibility that this feature of the diversity curves reflects preservation and sampling biases rather than insect evolution and extinction. Here, the capture-mark-recapture (CMR) approach is used to estimate insects' family-level diversity. This method accounts for the incompleteness of the insect fossil record as well as uneven sampling among time intervals. The CMR diversity curve shows extinctions at the Permian/Triassic and Cretaceous/Palaeogene boundaries but does not contain any mass extinctions within geological periods. This curve also includes a steep increase in diversity during the Aptian, which appears not to be an artefact of sampling or preservation bias because this increase still appears when time bins are standardized by the number of occurrences they contain rather than by the amount of time that they span. The Early Cretaceous increase in family-level diversity predates the rise of angiosperms by many millions of years and can be better attributed to the diversification of parasitic and especially parasitoid insect lineages.
View details for DOI 10.1098/rspb.2019.2054
View details for PubMedID 31847775
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Evaluating the influences of temperature, primary production, and evolutionary history on bivalve growth rates
PALEOBIOLOGY
2019; 45 (3): 405–20
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2019.20
View details for Web of Science ID 000482047300002
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Greater vulnerability to warming of marine versus terrestrial ectotherms
NATURE
2019; 569 (7754): 108-+
View details for DOI 10.1038/s41586-019-1132-4
View details for Web of Science ID 000466523700042
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The accelerating influence of humans on mammalian macroecological patterns over the late Quaternary
QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS
2019; 211: 1–16
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.02.031
View details for Web of Science ID 000466454300001
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Malware Containment in Cloud
2019 IEEE International Conference on Trust, Privacy and Security in Intelligent Systems and Applications (TPS-ISA)
2019
View details for DOI 10.1109/TPS-ISA48467.2019.00036
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Towards Deep Federated Defenses Against Malware in Cloud Ecosystems
2019 IEEE International Conference on Trust, Privacy and Security in Intelligent Systems and Applications (TPS-ISA)
2019
View details for DOI 10.1109/TPS-ISA48467.2019.00020
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Temperature-dependent hypoxia explains biogeography and severity of end-Permian marine mass extinction
SCIENCE
2018; 362 (6419): 1130-+
View details for DOI 10.1126/science.aat1327
View details for Web of Science ID 000455471900001
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Energetic tradeoffs control the size distribution of aquatic mammals.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
2018; 115 (16): 4194-4199
Abstract
Four extant lineages of mammals have invaded and diversified in the water: Sirenia, Cetacea, Pinnipedia, and Lutrinae. Most of these aquatic clades are larger bodied, on average, than their closest land-dwelling relatives, but the extent to which potential ecological, biomechanical, and physiological controls contributed to this pattern remains untested quantitatively. Here, we use previously published data on the body masses of 3,859 living and 2,999 fossil mammal species to examine the evolutionary trajectories of body size in aquatic mammals through both comparative phylogenetic analysis and examination of the fossil record. Both methods indicate that the evolution of an aquatic lifestyle is driving three of the four extant aquatic mammal clades toward a size attractor at ∼500 kg. The existence of this body size attractor and the relatively rapid selection toward, and limited deviation from, this attractor rule out most hypothesized drivers of size increase. These three independent body size increases and a shared aquatic optimum size are consistent with control by differences in the scaling of energetic intake and cost functions with body size between the terrestrial and aquatic realms. Under this energetic model, thermoregulatory costs constrain minimum size, whereas limitations on feeding efficiency constrain maximum size. The optimum size occurs at an intermediate value where thermoregulatory costs are low but feeding efficiency remains high. Rather than being released from size pressures, water-dwelling mammals are driven and confined to larger body sizes by the strict energetic demands of the aquatic medium.
View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1712629115
View details for PubMedID 29581289
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5910812
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Convergent body size evolution of Crocodyliformes upon entering the aquatic realm
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2018: E321
View details for Web of Science ID 000429309604026
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Estimating Global Extinction Threat Levels in Butterflies
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2018: E91
View details for Web of Science ID 000429309601123
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Phanerozoic pO2 and the early evolution of terrestrial animals.
Proceedings. Biological sciences
2018; 285 (1871)
Abstract
Concurrent gaps in the Late Devonian/Mississippian fossil records of insects and tetrapods (i.e. Romer's Gap) have been attributed to physiological suppression by low atmospheric pO2 Here, updated stable isotope inputs inform a reconstruction of Phanerozoic oxygen levels that contradicts the low oxygen hypothesis (and contradicts the purported role of oxygen in the evolution of gigantic insects during the late Palaeozoic), but reconciles isotope-based calculations with other proxies, like charcoal. Furthermore, statistical analysis demonstrates that the gap between the first Devonian insect and earliest diverse insect assemblages of the Pennsylvanian (Bashkirian Stage) requires no special explanation if insects were neither diverse nor abundant prior to the evolution of wings. Rather than tracking physiological constraint, the fossil record may accurately record the transformative evolutionary impact of insect flight.
View details for DOI 10.1098/rspb.2017.2631
View details for PubMedID 29367401
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5805952
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Phanerozoic pO2 and the early evolution of terrestrial animals
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
2018; 285
View details for DOI 10.1098/rspb.2017.2631
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Is biodiversity energy-limited or unbounded? A test in fossil and modern bivalves
Paleobiology
2018
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2018.4
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Global perturbation of the marine calcium cycle during the Permian-Triassic transition
Geological Society of America Bulletin
2018
View details for DOI 10.1130/B31818.1
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Hierarchical complexity and the size limits of life.
Proceedings. Biological sciences
2017; 284 (1857)
Abstract
Over the past 3.8 billion years, the maximum size of life has increased by approximately 18 orders of magnitude. Much of this increase is associated with two major evolutionary innovations: the evolution of eukaryotes from prokaryotic cells approximately 1.9 billion years ago (Ga), and multicellular life diversifying from unicellular ancestors approximately 0.6 Ga. However, the quantitative relationship between organismal size and structural complexity remains poorly documented. We assessed this relationship using a comprehensive dataset that includes organismal size and level of biological complexity for 11 172 extant genera. We find that the distributions of sizes within complexity levels are unimodal, whereas the aggregate distribution is multimodal. Moreover, both the mean size and the range of size occupied increases with each additional level of complexity. Increases in size range are non-symmetric: the maximum organismal size increases more than the minimum. The majority of the observed increase in organismal size over the history of life on the Earth is accounted for by two discrete jumps in complexity rather than evolutionary trends within levels of complexity. Our results provide quantitative support for an evolutionary expansion away from a minimal size constraint and suggest a fundamental rescaling of the constraints on minimal and maximal size as biological complexity increases.
View details for DOI 10.1098/rspb.2017.1039
View details for PubMedID 28637850
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5489738
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The Late Permian to Late Triassic Great Bank of Guizhou: An isolated carbonate platform in the Nanpanjiang Basin of Guizhou Province, China
AAPG BULLETIN
2017; 101 (4): 553-562
View details for DOI 10.1306/011817DIG17034
View details for Web of Science ID 000396839300015
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Uranium isotope evidence for temporary ocean oxygenation in the aftermath of the Sturtian Snowball Earth
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
2017; 458: 282-292
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.10.043
View details for Web of Science ID 000392685100027
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Hierarchical complexity and the size limits of life
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
2017; 284
Abstract
Over the past 3.8 billion years, the maximum size of life has increased by approximately 18 orders of magnitude. Much of this increase is associated with two major evolutionary innovations: the evolution of eukaryotes from prokaryotic cells approximately 1.9 billion years ago (Ga), and multicellular life diversifying from unicellular ancestors approximately 0.6 Ga. However, the quantitative relationship between organismal size and structural complexity remains poorly documented. We assessed this relationship using a comprehensive dataset that includes organismal size and level of biological complexity for 11 172 extant genera. We find that the distributions of sizes within complexity levels are unimodal, whereas the aggregate distribution is multimodal. Moreover, both the mean size and the range of size occupied increases with each additional level of complexity. Increases in size range are non-symmetric: the maximum organismal size increases more than the minimum. The majority of the observed increase in organismal size over the history of life on the Earth is accounted for by two discrete jumps in complexity rather than evolutionary trends within levels of complexity. Our results provide quantitative support for an evolutionary expansion away from a minimal size constraint and suggest a fundamental rescaling of the constraints on minimal and maximal size as biological complexity increases.
View details for DOI 10.1098/rspb.2017.1039
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5489738
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The influence of diagenesis, mineralogy, and seawater changes on calcium isotope variations in Lower-Middle Triassic carbonate rocks
Chemical Geology
2017; 471: 13-37
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2017.09.006
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Origin and early evolution of Involutinida in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction: Praetriadodiscus n. gen., and two new species
Revue de Micropaléontologie
2017; 60: 573-584
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.revmic.2017.10.002
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Uranium isotope evidence for an expansion of marine anoxia during the end-Triassic extinction
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
2017; 18
View details for DOI 10.1002/2017GC006941
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Ecophenotypic responses of benthic foraminifera to oxygen availability along an oxygen gradient in the California Borderland
Marine Ecology
2017; 38
View details for DOI 10.1111/maec.12430
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Additive effects of acidification and mineralogy on calcium isotopes in Triassic/Jurassic boundary limestones
GEOCHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS GEOSYSTEMS
2017; 18 (1): 113-124
View details for DOI 10.1002/2016GC006724
View details for Web of Science ID 000395186600007
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Physicochemical controls on biogeographic variation of benthic foraminiferal test size and shape
PALEOBIOLOGY
2016; 42 (4): 595-611
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2016.7
View details for Web of Science ID 000387966000003
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Extinction intensity, selectivity and their combined macroevolutionary influence in the fossil record.
Biology letters
2016; 12 (10)
Abstract
The macroevolutionary effects of extinction derive from both intensity of taxonomic losses and selectivity of losses with respect to ecology, physiology and/or higher taxonomy. Increasingly, palaeontologists are using logistic regression to quantify extinction selectivity because the selectivity metric is independent of extinction intensity and multiple predictor variables can be assessed simultaneously. We illustrate the use of logistic regression with an analysis of physiological buffering capacity and extinction risk in the Phanerozoic marine fossil record. We propose the geometric mean of extinction intensity and selectivity as a metric for the influence of extinction events. The end-Permian mass extinction had the largest influence on the physiological composition of the fauna owing to its combination of high intensity and strong selectivity. In addition to providing a quantitative measure of influence to compare among past events, this approach provides an avenue for quantifying the risk posed by the emerging biodiversity crisis that goes beyond a simple projection of taxonomic losses.
View details for PubMedID 27729483
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Extinction intensity, selectivity and their combined macroevolutionary influence in the fossil record
BIOLOGY LETTERS
2016; 12 (10)
View details for DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0202
View details for Web of Science ID 000389636800002
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Ecological selectivity of the emerging mass extinction in the oceans.
Science
2016; 353 (6305): 1284-1286
Abstract
To better predict the ecological and evolutionary effects of the emerging biodiversity crisis in the modern oceans, we compared the association between extinction threat and ecological traits in modern marine animals to associations observed during past extinction events using a database of 2497 marine vertebrate and mollusc genera. We find that extinction threat in the modern oceans is strongly associated with large body size, whereas past extinction events were either nonselective or preferentially removed smaller-bodied taxa. Pelagic animals were victimized more than benthic animals during previous mass extinctions but are not preferentially threatened in the modern ocean. The differential importance of large-bodied animals to ecosystem function portends greater future ecological disruption than that caused by similar levels of taxonomic loss in past mass extinction events.
View details for DOI 10.1126/science.aaf2416
View details for PubMedID 27629258
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The influence of the biological pump on ocean chemistry: implications for long-term trends in marine redox chemistry, the global carbon cycle, and marine animal ecosystems
GEOBIOLOGY
2016; 14 (3): 207-219
Abstract
The net export of organic matter from the surface ocean and its respiration at depth create vertical gradients in nutrient and oxygen availability that play a primary role in structuring marine ecosystems. Changes in the properties of this 'biological pump' have been hypothesized to account for important shifts in marine ecosystem structure, including the Cambrian explosion. However, the influence of variation in the behavior of the biological pump on ocean biogeochemistry remains poorly quantified, preventing any detailed exploration of how changes in the biological pump over geological time may have shaped long-term shifts in ocean chemistry, biogeochemical cycling, and ecosystem structure. Here, we use a 3-dimensional Earth system model of intermediate complexity to quantitatively explore the effects of the biological pump on marine chemistry. We find that when respiration of sinking organic matter is efficient, due to slower sinking or higher respiration rates, anoxia tends to be more prevalent and to occur in shallower waters. Consequently, the Phanerozoic trend toward less bottom-water anoxia in continental shelf settings can potentially be explained by a change in the spatial dynamics of nutrient cycling rather than by any change in the ocean phosphate inventory. The model results further suggest that the Phanerozoic decline in the prevalence ocean anoxia is, in part, a consequence of the evolution of larger phytoplankton, many of which produce mineralized tests. We hypothesize that the Phanerozoic trend toward greater animal abundance and metabolic demand was driven more by increased oxygen concentrations in shelf environments than by greater food (nutrient) availability. In fact, a lower-than-modern ocean phosphate inventory in our closed system model is unable to account for the Paleozoic prevalence of bottom-water anoxia. Overall, these model simulations suggest that the changing spatial distribution of photosynthesis and respiration in the oceans has exerted a first-order control on Earth system evolution across Phanerozoic time.
View details for DOI 10.1111/gbi.12176
View details for Web of Science ID 000374061000001
View details for PubMedID 26928862
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Marine anoxia and delayed Earth system recovery after the end-Permian extinction.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
2016; 113 (9): 2360-2365
Abstract
Delayed Earth system recovery following the end-Permian mass extinction is often attributed to severe ocean anoxia. However, the extent and duration of Early Triassic anoxia remains poorly constrained. Here we use paired records of uranium concentrations ([U]) and (238)U/(235)U isotopic compositions (δ(238)U) of Upper Permian-Upper Triassic marine limestones from China and Turkey to quantify variations in global seafloor redox conditions. We observe abrupt decreases in [U] and δ(238)U across the end-Permian extinction horizon, from ∼3 ppm and -0.15‰ to ∼0.3 ppm and -0.77‰, followed by a gradual return to preextinction values over the subsequent 5 million years. These trends imply a factor of 100 increase in the extent of seafloor anoxia and suggest the presence of a shallow oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) that inhibited the recovery of benthic animal diversity and marine ecosystem function. We hypothesize that in the Early Triassic oceans-characterized by prolonged shallow anoxia that may have impinged onto continental shelves-global biogeochemical cycles and marine ecosystem structure became more sensitive to variation in the position of the OMZ. Under this hypothesis, the Middle Triassic decline in bottom water anoxia, stabilization of biogeochemical cycles, and diversification of marine animals together reflect the development of a deeper and less extensive OMZ, which regulated Earth system recovery following the end-Permian catastrophe.
View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1515080113
View details for PubMedID 26884155
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4780601
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REPLY: PERMIAN-TRIASSIC MICROBIALITE AND DISSOLUTION SURFACE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS ON THE GENESIS OF MARINE MICROBIALITES AND DISSOLUTION SURFACE ASSOCIATED WITH THE END-PERMIAN MASS EXTINCTION: NEW SECTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM THE NANPANJIANG BASIN, SOUTH CHINA
PALAIOS
2016; 31 (3): 118–21
View details for DOI 10.2110/palo.2016.016
View details for Web of Science ID 000376597000007
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Modelling the impact of pulsed CAMP volcanism on pCO(2) and delta C-13 across the Triassic-Jurassic transition
GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE
2016; 153 (2): 252-270
View details for DOI 10.1017/S0016756815000126
View details for Web of Science ID 000371089000005
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Comparative size evolution of marine clades from the Late Permian through Middle Triassic
PALEOBIOLOGY
2016; 42 (1): 127-142
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2015.36
View details for Web of Science ID 000371470800008
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Body Size Evolution Across the Geozoic
ANNUAL REVIEW OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, VOL 44
2016; 44: 523-553
View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev-earth-060115-012147
View details for Web of Science ID 000379329700020
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Patterns of basin fill in Triassic turbidites of the Nanpanjiang basin: implications for regional tectonics and impacts on carbonate-platform evolution
BASIN RESEARCH
2015; 27 (5): 587-612
View details for DOI 10.1111/bre.12090
View details for Web of Science ID 000362688700001
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An integrated biostratigraphy (conodonts and foraminifers) and chronostratigraphy (paleomagnetic reversals, magnetic susceptibility, elemental chemistry, carbon isotopes and geochronology) for the Permian-Upper Triassic strata of Guandao section, Nanpanjiang Basin, south China
JOURNAL OF ASIAN EARTH SCIENCES
2015; 108: 117-135
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jseaes.2015.04.030
View details for Web of Science ID 000358101100009
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TAPHONOMIC BIAS OF SELECTIVE SILICIFICATION REVEALED BY PAIRED PETROGRAPHIC AND INSOLUBLE RESIDUE ANALYSIS
PALAIOS
2015; 30 (8): 620-626
View details for DOI 10.2110/palo.2014.105
View details for Web of Science ID 000369994700002
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ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS ON THE GENESIS OF MARINE MICROBIALITES AND DISSOLUTION SURFACE ASSOCIATED WITH THE END-PERMIAN MASS EXTINCTION: NEW SECTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM THE NANPANJIANG BASIN, SOUTH CHINA
PALAIOS
2015; 30 (7): 529-552
View details for DOI 10.2110/palo.2014.088
View details for Web of Science ID 000359017600003
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Phanerozoic trends in brachiopod body size from synoptic data
PALEOBIOLOGY
2015; 41 (3): 491-501
View details for DOI 10.1017/pab.2015.12
View details for Web of Science ID 000356099100009
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DROWNING OF THE TRIASSIC YANGTZE PLATFORM, SOUTH CHINA, BY TECTONIC SUBSIDENCE INTO TOXIC DEEP WATERS OF AN ANOXIC BASIN
JOURNAL OF SEDIMENTARY RESEARCH
2015; 85 (5): 419-444
View details for DOI 10.2110/jsr.2015.32
View details for Web of Science ID 000356016900001
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Normal giants? Temporal and latitudinal shifts of Palaeozoic marine invertebrate gigantism and global change
LETHAIA
2015; 48 (2): 267-288
View details for DOI 10.1111/let.12104
View details for Web of Science ID 000351736600011
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Limited role of functional differentiation in early diversification of animals
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
2015; 6
Abstract
The origin of most animal phyla and classes during the Cambrian explosion has been hypothesized to represent an 'early burst' of evolutionary exploration of functional ecological possibilities. However, the ecological history of marine animals has yet to be fully quantified, preventing an assessment of the early-burst model for functional ecology. Here we use ecological assignments for 18,621 marine animal genera to assess the relative timing of functional differentiation versus taxonomic diversification from the Cambrian to the present day. We find that functional diversity increased more slowly than would be expected given the history of taxonomic diversity. Contrary to previous inferences of rapid ecological differentiation from the early appearances of all well-fossilized phyla and classes, explicit coding of functional characteristics demonstrates that Cambrian genera occupied comparatively few modes of life. Functional diversity increased in the Ordovician and, especially, during the recoveries from the end-Permian and end-Cretaceous mass extinctions. Permanent shifts in the relationship between functional and taxonomic diversity following the era-bounding extinctions indicates a critical role for these biotic crises in coupling taxonomic and functional diversity.
View details for DOI 10.1038/ncomms7455
View details for Web of Science ID 000352634600008
View details for PubMedID 25737406
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Animal evolution. Cope's rule in the evolution of marine animals.
Science
2015; 347 (6224): 867-870
Abstract
Cope's rule proposes that animal lineages evolve toward larger body size over time. To test this hypothesis across all marine animals, we compiled a data set of body sizes for 17,208 genera of marine animals spanning the past 542 million years. Mean biovolume across genera has increased by a factor of 150 since the Cambrian, whereas minimum biovolume has decreased by less than a factor of 10, and maximum biovolume has increased by more than a factor of 100,000. Neutral drift from a small initial value cannot explain this pattern. Instead, most of the size increase reflects differential diversification across classes, indicating that the pattern does not reflect a simple scaling-up of widespread and persistent selection for larger size within populations.
View details for DOI 10.1126/science.1260065
View details for PubMedID 25700517
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Cope's rule in the evolution of marine animals
SCIENCE
2015; 347 (6224): 867-870
Abstract
Cope's rule proposes that animal lineages evolve toward larger body size over time. To test this hypothesis across all marine animals, we compiled a data set of body sizes for 17,208 genera of marine animals spanning the past 542 million years. Mean biovolume across genera has increased by a factor of 150 since the Cambrian, whereas minimum biovolume has decreased by less than a factor of 10, and maximum biovolume has increased by more than a factor of 100,000. Neutral drift from a small initial value cannot explain this pattern. Instead, most of the size increase reflects differential diversification across classes, indicating that the pattern does not reflect a simple scaling-up of widespread and persistent selection for larger size within populations.
View details for DOI 10.1126/science.1260065
View details for Web of Science ID 000349761100042
- Ocean anoxia during the Permian-Triassic transition and links to volcanism Volcanism and global environmental change Cambridge University Press. 2015: 275–290
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Oceanic anoxia during the Permian-Triassic transition and links to volcanism
VOLCANISM AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
2015: 275–90
View details for Web of Science ID 000359981400019
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Limited role of functional differentiation in early diversification of animals.
Nature communications
2015; 6: 6455-?
Abstract
The origin of most animal phyla and classes during the Cambrian explosion has been hypothesized to represent an 'early burst' of evolutionary exploration of functional ecological possibilities. However, the ecological history of marine animals has yet to be fully quantified, preventing an assessment of the early-burst model for functional ecology. Here we use ecological assignments for 18,621 marine animal genera to assess the relative timing of functional differentiation versus taxonomic diversification from the Cambrian to the present day. We find that functional diversity increased more slowly than would be expected given the history of taxonomic diversity. Contrary to previous inferences of rapid ecological differentiation from the early appearances of all well-fossilized phyla and classes, explicit coding of functional characteristics demonstrates that Cambrian genera occupied comparatively few modes of life. Functional diversity increased in the Ordovician and, especially, during the recoveries from the end-Permian and end-Cretaceous mass extinctions. Permanent shifts in the relationship between functional and taxonomic diversity following the era-bounding extinctions indicates a critical role for these biotic crises in coupling taxonomic and functional diversity.
View details for DOI 10.1038/ncomms7455
View details for PubMedID 25737406
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The end-Triassic negative delta C-13 excursion: A lithologic test
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
2014; 412: 177-186
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.07.027
View details for Web of Science ID 000342711800015
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Phylogenetic signal in extinction selectivity in Devonian terebratulide brachiopods
PALEOBIOLOGY
2014; 40 (4): 675-692
View details for DOI 10.1666/14006
View details for Web of Science ID 000342967200010
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Constraining the cause of the end-Guadalupian extinction with coupled records of carbon and calcium isotopes
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
2014; 396: 201-212
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.04.014
View details for Web of Science ID 000336819900020
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Metabolic dominance of bivalves predates brachiopod diversity decline by more than 150 million years.
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society
2014; 281 (1783): 20133122-?
Abstract
Brachiopods and bivalves feed in similar ways and have occupied the same environments through geological time, but brachiopods were far more diverse and abundant in the Palaeozoic whereas bivalves dominate the post-Palaeozoic, suggesting a transition in ecological dominance 250 Ma. However, diversity and abundance data alone may not adequately describe key changes in ecosystem function, such as metabolic activity. Here, we use newly compiled body size data for 6066 genera of bivalves and brachiopods to calculate metabolic rates and revisit this question from the perspective of energy use, finding that bivalves already accounted for a larger share of metabolic activity in Palaeozoic oceans. We also find that the metabolic activity of bivalves has increased by more than two orders of magnitude over this interval, whereas brachiopod metabolic activity has declined by more than 50%. Consequently, the increase in bivalve energy metabolism must have occurred via the acquisition of new food resources rather than through the displacement of brachiopods. The canonical view of a mid-Phanerozoic transition from brachiopod to bivalve dominance results from a focus on taxonomic diversity and numerical abundance as measures of ecological importance. From a metabolic perspective, the oceans have always belonged to the clams.
View details for DOI 10.1098/rspb.2013.3122
View details for PubMedID 24671970
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3996599
- Triassic tank: platform margin and slope architecture in space and time, Nanpanjiang Basin, south China. In Deposits, Architecture, and Controls of Carbonate Margin, Slope, and Basinal Settings, eds. Verwer K, Playton TE, and Harris PM. SEPM Special Publication 2014; 105: 84-113
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Basin filling patterns of turbidites in the Nanpanjiang Basin of south China: implications for tectonics and impacts on carbonate platform evolution
BASIN RESEARCH
2014
View details for DOI 10.1111/bre.12090
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CONSTRAINTS ON THE ADULT-OFFSPRING SIZE RELATIONSHIP IN PROTISTS
EVOLUTION
2013; 67 (12): 3537-3544
Abstract
The relationship between adult and offspring size is an important aspect of reproductive strategy. Although this filial relationship has been extensively examined in plants and animals, we currently lack comparable data for protists, whose strategies may differ due to the distinct ecological and physiological constraints on single-celled organisms. Here, we report measurements of adult and offspring sizes in 3888 species and subspecies of foraminifera, a class of large marine protists. Foraminifera exhibit a wide range of reproductive strategies; species of similar adult size may have offspring whose sizes vary 100-fold. Yet, a robust pattern emerges. The minimum (5th percentile), median, and maximum (95th percentile) offspring sizes exhibit a consistent pattern of increase with adult size independent of environmental change and taxonomic variation over the past 400 million years. The consistency of this pattern may arise from evolutionary optimization of the offspring size-fecundity trade-off and/or from cell-biological constraints that limit the range of reproductive strategies available to single-celled organisms. When compared with plants and animals, foraminifera extend the evidence that offspring size covaries with adult size across an additional five orders of magnitude in organism size.
View details for DOI 10.1111/evo.12210
View details for Web of Science ID 000327572400013
View details for PubMedID 24299406
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High-resolution delta C-13(carb) chemostratigraphy from latest Guadalupian through earliest Triassic in South China and Iran
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
2013; 375: 156-165
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.05.020
View details for Web of Science ID 000324847300014
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MICROBES, MUD AND METHANE: CAUSE AND CONSEQUENCE OF RECURRENT EARLY JURASSIC ANOXIA FOLLOWING THE END-TRIASSIC MASS EXTINCTION
PALAEONTOLOGY
2013; 56 (4): 685-709
View details for DOI 10.1111/pala.12034
View details for Web of Science ID 000321832100002
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A SHIFT IN THE LONG-TERM MODE OF FORAMINIFERAN SIZE EVOLUTION CAUSED BY THE END-PERMIAN MASS EXTINCTION
EVOLUTION
2013; 67 (3): 816-827
Abstract
Size is among the most important traits of any organism, yet the factors that control its evolution remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigate controls on the evolution of organismal size using a newly compiled database of nearly 25,000 foraminiferan species and subspecies spanning the past 400 million years. We find a transition in the pattern of foraminiferan size evolution from correlation with atmospheric pO2 during the Paleozoic (400-250 million years ago) to long-term stasis during the post-Paleozoic (250 million years ago to present). Thus, a dramatic shift in the evolutionary mode coincides with the most severe biotic catastrophe of the Phanerozoic (543 million years ago to present). Paleozoic tracking of pO2 was confined to Order Fusulinida, whereas Paleozoic lagenides, miliolids, and textulariids were best described by the stasis model. Stasis continued to best describe miliolids and textulariids during post-Paleozoic time, whereas random walk was the best supported mode for the other diverse orders. The shift in evolutionary dynamics thus appears to have resulted primarily from the selective elimination of fusulinids at the end of the Permian Period. These findings illustrate the potential for mass extinction to alter macroevolutionary dynamics for hundreds of millions of years.
View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01807.x
View details for Web of Science ID 000315894800018
View details for PubMedID 23461330
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Constraints on Early Triassic carbon cycle dynamics from paired organic and inorganic carbon isotope records
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
2013; 361: 429-435
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2012.10.035
View details for Web of Science ID 000314907000042
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Triassic tank: platform margin and slope architecture in space and time, Nanpanjiang Basin, south China
in Deposits, Architecture, and Controls of Carbonate Margin, Slope, and Basinal Settings, eds. Verwer K, Playton TE, and Harris PM. SEPM Special Publication 105
2013: 84-113
View details for DOI 10.2110/sepmsp.105.10
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Long-term differences in extinction risk among the seven forms of rarity
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
2012; 279 (1749): 4969-4976
Abstract
Rarity is widely used to predict the vulnerability of species to extinction. Species can be rare in markedly different ways, but the relative impacts of these different forms of rarity on extinction risk are poorly known and cannot be determined through observations of species that are not yet extinct. The fossil record provides a valuable archive with which we can directly determine which aspects of rarity lead to the greatest risk. Previous palaeontological analyses confirm that rarity is associated with extinction risk, but the relative contributions of different types of rarity to extinction risk remain unknown because their impacts have never been examined simultaneously. Here, we analyse a global database of fossil marine animals spanning the past 500 million years, examining differential extinction with respect to multiple rarity types within each geological stage. We observe systematic differences in extinction risk over time among marine genera classified according to their rarity. Geographic range played a primary role in determining extinction, and habitat breadth a secondary role, whereas local abundance had little effect. These results suggest that current reductions in geographic range size will lead to pronounced increases in long-term extinction risk even if local populations are relatively large at present.
View details for DOI 10.1098/rspb.2012.1902
View details for Web of Science ID 000310999000015
View details for PubMedID 23097507
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3497235
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A LACK OF ATTRIBUTION: CLOSING THE CITATION GAP THROUGH A REFORM OF CITATION AND INDEXING PRACTICES
TAXON
2012; 61 (6): 1349-1351
View details for Web of Science ID 000312677300028
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Within- and among-genus components of size evolution during mass extinction, recovery, and background intervals: a case study of Late Permian through Late Triassic foraminifera
PALEOBIOLOGY
2012; 38 (4): 627-643
View details for DOI 10.5061/dryad.3rp1p
View details for Web of Science ID 000309197500008
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Carbon cycle dynamics following the end-Triassic mass extinction: Constraints from paired delta C-13(carb) and delta C-13(org) records
GEOCHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS GEOSYSTEMS
2012; 13
View details for DOI 10.1029/2012GC004150
View details for Web of Science ID 000309134300001
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LATE PALEOZOIC FUSULINOIDEAN GIGANTISM DRIVEN BY ATMOSPHERIC HYPEROXIA
EVOLUTION
2012; 66 (9): 2929-2939
Abstract
Atmospheric hyperoxia, with pO(2) in excess of 30%, has long been hypothesized to account for late Paleozoic (360-250 million years ago) gigantism in numerous higher taxa. However, this hypothesis has not been evaluated statistically because comprehensive size data have not been compiled previously at sufficient temporal resolution to permit quantitative analysis. In this study, we test the hyperoxia-gigantism hypothesis by examining the fossil record of fusulinoidean foraminifers, a dramatic example of protistan gigantism with some individuals exceeding 10 cm in length and exceeding their relatives by six orders of magnitude in biovolume. We assembled and examined comprehensive regional and global, species-level datasets containing 270 and 1823 species, respectively. A statistical model of size evolution forced by atmospheric pO(2) is conclusively favored over alternative models based on random walks or a constant tendency toward size increase. Moreover, the ratios of volume to surface area in the largest fusulinoideans are consistent in magnitude and trend with a mathematical model based on oxygen transport limitation. We further validate the hyperoxia-gigantism model through an examination of modern foraminiferal species living along a measured gradient in oxygen concentration. These findings provide the first quantitative confirmation of a direct connection between Paleozoic gigantism and atmospheric hyperoxia.
View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01626.x
View details for Web of Science ID 000308405100020
View details for PubMedID 22946813
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Evidence for end-Permian ocean acidification from calcium isotopes in biogenic apatite
GEOLOGY
2012; 40 (8): 743-746
View details for DOI 10.1130/G33048.1
View details for Web of Science ID 000307093100018
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Lower Triassic oolites of the Nanpanjiang Basin, south China: Facies architecture, giant ooids, and diagenesis-Implications for hydrocarbon reservoirs
AAPG BULLETIN
2012; 96 (8): 1389-1414
View details for DOI 10.1306/01231211148
View details for Web of Science ID 000307151100001
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Size-Frequency Distributions along a Latitudinal Gradient in Middle Permian Fusulinoideans
PLOS ONE
2012; 7 (6)
Abstract
Geographic gradients in body size within and among living species are commonly used to identify controls on the long-term evolution of organism size. However, the persistence of these gradients over evolutionary time remains largely unknown because ancient biogeographic variation in organism size is poorly documented. Middle Permian fusulinoidean foraminifera are ideal for investigating the temporal persistence of geographic gradients in organism size because they were diverse and abundant along a broad range of paleo-latitudes during this interval (~275-260 million years ago). In this study, we determined the sizes of Middle Permian fusulinoidean fossils from three different paleo-latitudinal zones in order to examine the relationship between the size of foraminifers and regional environment. We recovered the following results: keriothecal fusulinoideans are substantially larger than nonkeriothecal fusulinoideans; fusulinoideans from the equatorial zone are typically larger than those from the north and south transitional zones; neoschwagerinid specimens within a single species are generally larger in the equatorial zone than those in both transitional zones; and the nonkeriothecal fusulinoideans Staffellidae and Schubertellidae have smaller size in the north transitional zone. Fusulinoidean foraminifers differ from most other marine taxa in exhibiting larger sizes closer to the equator, contrary to Bergmann's rule. Meridional variation in seasonality, water temperature, nutrient availability, and carbonate saturation level are all likely to have favored or enabled larger sizes in equatorial regions. Temporal variation in atmospheric oxygen concentrations have been shown to account for temporal variation in fusulinoidean size during Carboniferous and Permian time, but oxygen availability appears unlikely to explain biogeographic variation in fusulinoidean sizes, because dissolved oxygen concentrations in seawater typically increase away from the equator due to declining seawater temperatures. Consequently, our findings highlight the fact that spatial gradients in organism size are not always controlled by the same factors that govern temporal trends within the same clade.
View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0038603
View details for Web of Science ID 000305351700053
View details for PubMedID 22685590
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3369838
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Factors controlling carbonate platform asymmetry: Preliminary results from the Great Bank of Guizhou, an isolated Permian-Triassic Platform in the Nanpanjiang Basin, south China
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
2012; 315: 158-171
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.11.023
View details for Web of Science ID 000300269200014
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End-Permian Mass Extinction in the Oceans: An Ancient Analog for the Twenty-First Century?
ANNUAL REVIEW OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, VOL 40
2012; 40: 89-111
View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev-earth-042711-105329
View details for Web of Science ID 000307961500006
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Acidification, anoxia, and extinction: A multiple logistic regression analysis of extinction selectivity during the Middle and Late Permian
GEOLOGY
2011; 39 (11): 1059-1062
View details for DOI 10.1130/G32230.1
View details for Web of Science ID 000296607600019
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Local and global abundance associated with extinction risk in late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic gastropods
PALEOBIOLOGY
2011; 37 (4): 616-632
View details for DOI 10.5061/dryad.8330
View details for Web of Science ID 000294881200006
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Early and Middle Triassic trends in diversity, evenness, and size of foraminifers on a carbonate platform in south China: implications for tempo and mode of biotic recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction
PALEOBIOLOGY
2011; 37 (3): 409-425
View details for Web of Science ID 000292342200005
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THE GEOZOIC SUPEREON
PALAIOS
2011; 26 (5-6): 251-255
View details for DOI 10.2110/palo.2011.S03
View details for Web of Science ID 000292342800001
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Escargots through time: an energetic comparison of marine gastropod assemblages before and after the Mesozoic Marine Revolution
PALEOBIOLOGY
2011; 37 (2): 252-269
View details for Web of Science ID 000289132500005
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delta C-13 evidence that high primary productivity delayed recovery from end-Permian mass extinction
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
2011; 302 (3-4): 378-384
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.12.033
View details for Web of Science ID 000287614900012
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The evolutionary consequences of oxygenic photosynthesis: a body size perspective
PHOTOSYNTHESIS RESEARCH
2011; 107 (1): 37-57
Abstract
The high concentration of molecular oxygen in Earth's atmosphere is arguably the most conspicuous and geologically important signature of life. Earth's early atmosphere lacked oxygen; accumulation began after the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis in cyanobacteria around 3.0-2.5 billion years ago (Gya). Concentrations of oxygen have since varied, first reaching near-modern values ~600 million years ago (Mya). These fluctuations have been hypothesized to constrain many biological patterns, among them the evolution of body size. Here, we review the state of knowledge relating oxygen availability to body size. Laboratory studies increasingly illuminate the mechanisms by which organisms can adapt physiologically to the variation in oxygen availability, but the extent to which these findings can be extrapolated to evolutionary timescales remains poorly understood. Experiments confirm that animal size is limited by experimental hypoxia, but show that plant vegetative growth is enhanced due to reduced photorespiration at lower O(2):CO(2). Field studies of size distributions across extant higher taxa and individual species in the modern provide qualitative support for a correlation between animal and protist size and oxygen availability, but few allow prediction of maximum or mean size from oxygen concentrations in unstudied regions. There is qualitative support for a link between oxygen availability and body size from the fossil record of protists and animals, but there have been few quantitative analyses confirming or refuting this impression. As oxygen transport limits the thickness or volume-to-surface area ratio-rather than mass or volume-predictions of maximum possible size cannot be constructed simply from metabolic rate and oxygen availability. Thus, it remains difficult to confirm that the largest representatives of fossil or living taxa are limited by oxygen transport rather than other factors. Despite the challenges of integrating findings from experiments on model organisms, comparative observations across living species, and fossil specimens spanning millions to billions of years, numerous tractable avenues of research could greatly improve quantitative constraints on the role of oxygen in the macroevolutionary history of organismal size.
View details for DOI 10.1007/s11120-010-9593-1
View details for Web of Science ID 000286199300004
View details for PubMedID 20821265
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Calcium isotope constraints on the end-Permian mass extinction
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
2010; 107 (19): 8543-8548
Abstract
The end-Permian mass extinction horizon is marked by an abrupt shift in style of carbonate sedimentation and a negative excursion in the carbon isotope (delta(13)C) composition of carbonate minerals. Several extinction scenarios consistent with these observations have been put forward. Secular variation in the calcium isotope (delta(44/40)Ca) composition of marine sediments provides a tool for distinguishing among these possibilities and thereby constraining the causes of mass extinction. Here we report delta(44/40)Ca across the Permian-Triassic boundary from marine limestone in south China. The delta(44/40)Ca exhibits a transient negative excursion of approximately 0.3 per thousand over a few hundred thousand years or less, which we interpret to reflect a change in the global delta(44/40)Ca composition of seawater. CO(2)-driven ocean acidification best explains the coincidence of the delta(44/40)Ca excursion with negative excursions in the delta(13)C of carbonates and organic matter and the preferential extinction of heavily calcified marine animals. Calcium isotope constraints on carbon cycle calculations suggest that the average delta(13)C of CO(2) released was heavier than -28 per thousand and more likely near -15 per thousand; these values indicate a source containing substantial amounts of mantle- or carbonate-derived carbon. Collectively, the results point toward Siberian Trap volcanism as the trigger of mass extinction.
View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.0914065107
View details for Web of Science ID 000277591200012
View details for PubMedID 20421502
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2889361
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Erosional truncation of uppermost Permian shallow-marine carbonates and implications for Permian-Triassic boundary events: Reply
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN
2009; 121 (5-6): 957-959
View details for DOI 10.1130/B26588.1
View details for Web of Science ID 000265592200019
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Two-phase increase in the maximum size of life over 3.5 billion years reflects biological innovation and environmental opportunity
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
2009; 106 (1): 24-27
Abstract
The maximum size of organisms has increased enormously since the initial appearance of life >3.5 billion years ago (Gya), but the pattern and timing of this size increase is poorly known. Consequently, controls underlying the size spectrum of the global biota have been difficult to evaluate. Our period-level compilation of the largest known fossil organisms demonstrates that maximum size increased by 16 orders of magnitude since life first appeared in the fossil record. The great majority of the increase is accounted for by 2 discrete steps of approximately equal magnitude: the first in the middle of the Paleoproterozoic Era (approximately 1.9 Gya) and the second during the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic eras (0.6-0.45 Gya). Each size step required a major innovation in organismal complexity--first the eukaryotic cell and later eukaryotic multicellularity. These size steps coincide with, or slightly postdate, increases in the concentration of atmospheric oxygen, suggesting latent evolutionary potential was realized soon after environmental limitations were removed.
View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.0806314106
View details for Web of Science ID 000262263900008
View details for PubMedID 19106296
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2607246
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EARLY TRIASSIC MICROBIAL SPHEROIDS IN THE VIRGIN LIMESTONE MEMBER OF THE MOENKOPI FORMATION, NEVADA, USA
PALAIOS
2009; 24 (1-2): 131-136
View details for DOI 10.2110/palo.2007.p07-094r
View details for Web of Science ID 000263446000013
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The Red Queen revisited: reevaluating the age selectivity of Phanerozoic marine genus extinctions
PALEOBIOLOGY
2008; 34 (3): 318-341
View details for Web of Science ID 000258212400002
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Carbon cycle perturbation and stabilization in the wake of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary mass-extinction event
GEOCHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS GEOSYSTEMS
2008; 9
View details for DOI 10.1029/2007GC001914
View details for Web of Science ID 000255201000003
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Record of the end-Permian extinction and Triassic biotic recovery in the Chongzuo-Pingguo platform, southern Nanpanjiang basin, Guangxi, south China
Symposium on Early Triassic Chronostratigraphy and Biotic Recovery
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. 2007: 200–217
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.palaeo.2006.11.044
View details for Web of Science ID 000249269900016
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Erosional truncation of uppermost Permian shallow-marine carbonates and implications for Permian-Triassic boundary events
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN
2007; 119 (7-8): 771-784
View details for DOI 10.1130/B26091.1
View details for Web of Science ID 000247896000001
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The effect of geographic range on extinction risk during background and mass extinction
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
2007; 104 (25): 10506-10511
Abstract
Wide geographic range is generally thought to buffer taxa against extinction, but the strength of this effect has not been investigated for the great majority of the fossil record. Although the majority of genus extinctions have occurred between major mass extinctions, little is known about extinction selectivity regimes during these "background" intervals. Consequently, the question of whether selectivity regimes differ between background and mass extinctions is largely unresolved. Using logistic regression, we evaluated the selectivity of genus survivorship with respect to geographic range by using a global database of fossil benthic marine invertebrates spanning the Cambrian through the Neogene periods, an interval of approximately 500 My. Our results show that wide geographic range has been significantly and positively associated with survivorship for the great majority of Phanerozoic time. Moreover, the significant association between geographic range and survivorship remains after controlling for differences in species richness and abundance among genera. However, mass extinctions and several second-order extinction events exhibit less geographic range selectivity than predicted by range alone. Widespread environmental disturbance can explain the reduced association between geographic range and extinction risk by simultaneously affecting genera with similar ecological and physiological characteristics on global scales. Although factors other than geographic range have certainly affected extinction risk during many intervals, geographic range is likely the most consistently significant predictor of extinction risk in the marine fossil record.
View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.0701257104
View details for Web of Science ID 000247500000038
View details for PubMedID 17563357
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC1890565
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End-Permian mass extinction of lagenide foraminifers in the Southern Alps (Northern Italy)
JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY
2007; 81 (3): 415-434
View details for Web of Science ID 000246240700001
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Paleophysiology and end-Permian mass extinction
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
2007; 256 (3-4): 295-313
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.02.018
View details for Web of Science ID 000247061300001
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Evidence for recurrent Early Triassic massive volcanism from quantitative interpretation of carbon isotope fluctuations
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
2007; 256 (1-2): 264-277
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.01.034
View details for Web of Science ID 000246051000023
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Placunopsis bioherms: The first metazoan buildups following the end-Permian mass extinction
PALAIOS
2007; 22 (1): 17-23
View details for DOI 10.2110/palo.2005.p05-050r
View details for Web of Science ID 000248060800003
- Life in Triassic Oceans: Links between planktonic and benthic recovery and radiation Evolution of Primary Producers in the Sea edited by Falkowski, P., Knoll, A. H. Academic Press, Amsterdam. 2007: 165–189
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Timing of recovery from the end-Permian extinction: Geochronologic and biostratigraphic constraints from south China
GEOLOGY
2006; 34 (12): 1053-1056
View details for Web of Science ID 000242630000016
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Environmental and biological controls on the initiation and growth of a Middle Triassic (Anisian) reef complex on the Great Bank of Guizhou, Guizhou Province, China
PALAIOS
2006; 21 (4): 325-343
View details for DOI 10.2110/palo.2005.P05-58e
View details for Web of Science ID 000239530900003
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Controls on marine animal biomass through geological time
GEOBIOLOGY
2006; 4 (1): 1-10
View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1472-4669.2006.00060.x
View details for Web of Science ID 000207172100001
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The pattern and timing of biotic recovery from the end-Permian extinction on the Great Bank of Guizhou, Guizhou province, China
PALAIOS
2006; 21 (1): 63-85
View details for DOI 10.2110/palo.2005.p05-12p
View details for Web of Science ID 000235207300006
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Evolutionary dynamics of gastropod size across the end-Permian extinction and through the Triassic recovery interval
PALEOBIOLOGY
2005; 31 (2): 269-290
View details for Web of Science ID 000229914800006
- Field Excursion 2: Permian-Triassic boundary and a Lower-Middle Triassic boundary sequence on the Great Bank of Guizhou, Nanpanjiang basin, southern Guizhou Province Albertiana 2005; 33: 167-184
- Permian and Triassic depositional history of the Yangtze platform and Great Bank of Guizhou in the Nanpanjiang basin of Guizhou and Guangxi, South China Albertiana 2005; 33: 147-166
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Large perturbations of the carbon cycle during recovery from the end-Permian extinction
SCIENCE
2004; 305 (5683): 506-509
Abstract
High-resolution carbon isotope measurements of multiple stratigraphic sections in south China demonstrate that the pronounced carbon isotopic excursion at the Permian-Triassic boundary was not an isolated event but the first in a series of large fluctuations that continued throughout the Early Triassic before ending abruptly early in the Middle Triassic. The unusual behavior of the carbon cycle coincides with the delayed recovery from end-Permian extinction recorded by fossils, suggesting a direct relationship between Earth system function and biological rediversification in the aftermath of Earth's most devastating mass extinction.
View details for Web of Science ID 000222828900036
View details for PubMedID 15273391
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Lower Cretaceous Alisitos Formation at Punta San Isidro: Coastal sedimentation and volcanism
CIENCIAS MARINAS
2004; 30 (2): 365-380
View details for Web of Science ID 000221976100010
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Permian-Triassic boundary sections from shallow-marine carbonate platforms of the Nanpanjiang Basin, south China: Implications for oceanic conditions associated with the end-Permian extinction and its aftermath
PALAIOS
2003; 18 (2): 138-152
View details for Web of Science ID 000182202600005
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Applicability and resolving power of statistical tests for simultaneous extinction events in the fossil record
PALEOBIOLOGY
2003; 29 (1): 37-51
View details for Web of Science ID 000180922000012