Asteroids & Dinosaurs: Why Sea Life Survived
- The latest analysis of living or extinct species due to the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs has revealed an unexpected pattern.
- This was revealed through a joint study conducted by The University of Chicago (United States), the Smithsonian Institution, and the London Natural History Museum.
- this study created a fossil and removal catalog, and also composing a picture of the marine ecosystem before and after the mass extinction 66 million years ago.
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Unexpected Ecosystem Resilience After Dinosaur Extinction Challenges Existing Theories
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The latest analysis of living or extinct species due to the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs has revealed an unexpected pattern. This pattern is considered contrary to the theory that applies to the survival of post-mass extinction life.
This was revealed through a joint study conducted by The University of Chicago (United States), the Smithsonian Institution, and the London Natural History Museum.
this study created a fossil and removal catalog, and also composing a picture of the marine ecosystem before and after the mass extinction 66 million years ago. In the early stages, scientists found that three-quarters of all species were extinct.
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But, it turns out that the ecological reciprocity between living things and the environment was not lost.This result, according to scientists, is statistically improbable.
“This is a very interesting and slightly troubling finding. How the ecosystem recovered from mass extinction is still a big question for this field, considering that we are heading in that direction,” said Professor of Geophysical Sciences Distinguished Service at the University of Chicago and study author, David Jablonski, as quoted on the official University of Chicago page.
Something Unfeasible
In the history of the Earth, there have already been five mass extinctions – catastrophic events where the majority of species went extinct due to global change. Scientists predict the earth is approaching a sixth mass extinction.
Therefore,they are very interested in understanding how ecosystems can recover from such events. Of the five mass extinctions, Jablonski and the team chose to examine the most recent one.
The event, known as the end of the Cretaceous period, resulted in the extinction of more than three-quarters of all species, including species like Tyrannosaurus Rex and most dinosaurs.
The study begins with a focus on shellfish, oysters, and othre marine mollusks. Their hard and abundant shells are easily fossilized.
Thanks to this, today’s researchers can study the past. The Jablonski team tried to document the ecosystem picture before and after the extinction as completely as possible.
Carefully, the scientists built a picture of the global ecological landscape.