Rapid recovery of life at ground zero of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction

Nature
Christopher M LoweryWilliam Zylberman

Abstract

The Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction eradicated 76% of species on Earth1,2. It was caused by the impact of an asteroid3,4 on the Yucatán carbonate platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago 5 , forming the Chicxulub impact crater6,7. After the mass extinction, the recovery of the global marine ecosystem-measured as primary productivity-was geographically heterogeneous 8 ; export production in the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic-western Tethys was slower than in most other regions8-11, taking 300 thousand years (kyr) to return to levels similar to those of the Late Cretaceous period. Delayed recovery of marine productivity closer to the crater implies an impact-related environmental control, such as toxic metal poisoning 12 , on recovery times. If no such geographic pattern exists, the best explanation for the observed heterogeneity is a combination of ecological factors-trophic interactions 13 , species incumbency and competitive exclusion by opportunists 14 -and 'chance'8,15,16. The question of whether the post-impact recovery of marine productivity was delayed closer to the crater has a bearing on the predictability of future patterns of recovery in anthropogenically perturbed ecosystems. If there is ...Continue Reading

References

Jun 25, 2002·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Ricard V SoléDouglas H Erwin
Sep 30, 2006·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Charles S Cockell
Jun 6, 1980·Science·L W AlvarezH V Michel
Nov 20, 2016·Science·Joanna V MorganWilliam Zylberman

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Citations

Jun 12, 2020·Science Advances·David A KringKosei E Yamaguchi
Sep 30, 2020·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Shelby L LyonsKatherine H Freeman
Apr 10, 2019·Nature Ecology & Evolution·Christopher M Lowery, Andrew J Fraass
Jul 1, 2020·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Alfio Alessandro ChiarenzaPeter A Allison
Sep 11, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Sean P S GulickUNKNOWN Expedition 364 Scientists
Sep 18, 2020·BMC Plant Biology·Jian-Guo GaoXiao-Ling Zhang
Aug 15, 2020·Frontiers in Microbiology·Alexander ZieglerBruno Pernet
Feb 26, 2021·Science Advances·Steven GoderisUNKNOWN IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 Scientists
Sep 17, 2020·Science Advances·David A KringKosei E Yamaguchi
Jun 24, 2021·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Heather BirchAndy Ridgwell
Jul 13, 2021·Frontiers in Microbiology·Charles S CockellUNKNOWN IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 Scientists

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
X-ray
environmental stress

Software Mentioned

WIN AXIL

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