Ancient ecosystem response to 'big five' mass extinction
Thursday, October 1, 2015 - 15:20
in Paleontology & Archaeology
A new study explores one of the 'big five' mass extinctions, the Permian-Triassic event, revealing unexpected results about the types of animals that were most vulnerable to extinction, and the factors that might best predict community stability during times of great change. The authors say cutting-edge modeling techniques helped highlight the critical importance of understanding food webs (knowing 'who eats what') when trying to predict what communities look like before, during, and after a mass extinction.