Researchers uncover new clues to surviving extinction
Scientists are peeking into ancient oceans to unravel the complexities of mass extinctions, past and future. A new examination of Earth's largest extinction by scientists at the California Academy of Sciences and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee sheds light on how ecosystems are changed by such transformative events. The study, published today in Biology Letters, suggests that the extinction survivors shared many of the same ecological roles as their predecessors, with one catch—there was a surge in the number of individuals with modern traits like greater mobility, higher metabolism, and more diverse feeding habits. These hardy stand-outs did a better job of driving recovery, making ecological interactions more intense in the process: fish were more agile, diverse predators and marine invertebrates like mussels became more defensive. Insights into this system and its occupants can help guide modern conservation in identifying Earth's most resilient and best equipped species in the face of...