Letter abstract
Nature Geoscience 1, 527 - 530 (2008)
Published online: 11 July 2008 | doi:10.1038/ngeo251
Subject Categories: Biogeochemistry | Palaeontology
Phanerozoic trends in skeletal mineralogy driven by mass extinctions
Wolfgang Kiessling1,2, Martin Aberhan1 & Loïc Villier2
Marine calcifying organisms that produce sediments and build reefs generally have skeletons and shells that are composed of either aragonite or calcite. Long-term changes in the estimated Mg/Ca ratios of sea water tend to correspond to changes in the prevailing mineralogy of these creatures1, 2. High Mg/Ca ratios are expected to favour the spread of aragonitic organisms, whereas calcitic taxa are thought to benefit from low Mg/Ca ratios3, 4, 5, 6. Here we test these patterns throughout the Phanerozoic eon and assess the relative impacts of changing ocean chemistry and mass extinctions on the evolutionary success of calcifying organisms. We find that mass extinctions are more important in regulating long-term patterns of skeletal mineralogy than the Mg/Ca ratios of the global oceans. Furthermore, selective recovery from mass extinctions is usually more important than selective extinction, in driving the Phanerozoic pattern of skeletal mineralogy. But even in the recovery phase there is no clear connection between changes in the dominance of aragonite or calcite and the Mg/Ca ratio of the oceans, thus providing further evidence for the complexity of biotic recoveries7.
- Museum für Naturkunde, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany
- FRE CNRS 2761 Géologie des Systèmes Carbonatés, Université de Provence, Bâtiment de Sciences Naturelles, Case 67, Place Victor Hugo, F-13331 Marseille cedex 3, France
Correspondence to: Wolfgang Kiessling1,2 e-mail: wolfgang.kiessling@museum.hu-berlin.de
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Palaeoceanography Seeing changes in a changing seaNature Geoscience News and Views (01 Aug 2008)
Diversity changes of marine organisms through the PhanerozoicNature News and Views (08 Oct 1981)
See all 9 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Temporal changes in allele frequency, genetic variation and inbreeding depression in small populations of the guppy, Poecilia reticulataHeredity Original Article
Aragonite in Permian ReefsNature Letters to Editor (26 May 1977)
See all 40 matches for Research
