From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology
Refugium amidst ruins: Unearthing the lost flora that escaped the
end-Permian mass extinction
Abstract
Searching for land refugia becomes imperative for human survival during
the hypothetical sixth mass extinction. Studying past comparable crises
can offer insights, but there is no fossil evidence of diverse
megafloral ecosystems surviving the largest Phanerozoic biodiversity
crisis. Here, we investigated palynomorphs, plant, and tetrapod fossils
from the Permian-Triassic South Taodonggou Section in Xinjiang, China.
Our fossil records, calibrated by a high-resolution age model, reveal
the presence of vibrant regional gymnospermous forests and fern fields,
while marine organisms experienced mass extinction. This refugial
vegetation was crucial for nourishing the substantial influx of
surviving animals, thereby establishing a diverse terrestrial ecosystem approximately 75,000 years after the mass extinction. Our findings
contradict the widely held belief that restoring terrestrial ecosystem functional diversity to pre-extinction levels would take millions of
years. Our research indicates that moderate hydrological fluctuations throughout the crisis sustained this refugium, likely making it one of
the sources for the rapid radiation of terrestrial life in the early
Mesozoic.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads5614
It turns out that there was at least one place some organisms could have hunkered down and survived the most devastating mass extinction known. (Actually, the poisoning of the atmosphere with oxygen may have been
even worse.)
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