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| Open Access
Mercury anomalies and the timing of biotic recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction
The association between Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) eruption volatiles and the end-Triassic mass extinction remains ambiguous. Here, the authors present mercury and palaeontological evidence from the same archive and show that significant biotic recovery did not begin until CAMP eruptions ceased.
- Alyson M. Thibodeau
- , Kathleen Ritterbush
- & Frank A. Corsetti
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Article
| Open Access
Decrease in coccolithophore calcification and CO2 since the middle Miocene
The impact of future and past carbonate chemistry changes on calcifying plankton is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that coccolithophore degree of calcification decreased significantly between 6 and 4 million years ago, in line with declining aqueous CO2concentrations.
- Clara T. Bolton
- , María T. Hernández-Sánchez
- & Heather M. Stoll
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Article
| Open Access
Eukaryotic opportunists dominate the deep-subsurface biosphere in South Africa
The extent of diversity in deep subsurface mines is not well documented. Here, Borgonie et al.report the discovery of Protozoa, Fungi, Platyhelminthes, Rotifera, Annelida and Arthropoda from 1.4 km below ground, and conclude that their population growth is limited by food rather than oxygen availability.
- G. Borgonie
- , B. Linage-Alvarez
- & E. Van Heerden
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Habitat changes and changing predatory habits in North American fossil canids
Changes in vegetation can influence the evolution of morphology and behaviour. Here the authors show an association between elbow-joint shape and habitat for North American canids over the past ∼37 million years, which suggests that climate change can influence the evolution of predatory behaviour.
- B. Figueirido
- , A. Martín-Serra
- & C. M. Janis
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Geographic range did not confer resilience to extinction in terrestrial vertebrates at the end-Triassic crisis
Rates of extinction vary through geological time. Here, the authors show that wider geographic range confers greater resilience to extinction in terrestrial vertebrates throughout the Triassic and Jurassic but geographic range is not associated with extinction resilience at the end-Triassic crisis.
- Alexander M. Dunhill
- & Matthew A. Wills
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Article
| Open Access
Ecological succession of a Jurassic shallow-water ichthyosaur fall
Little is known about Mesozoic marine reptile dead-falls. Here, the authors reconstruct the ecological succession of a Late Jurassic shallow-water ichthyosaur fall community and show that it fulfilled ecological roles similar to shallow whale falls and did not support specialized chemosynthetic communities.
- Silvia Danise
- , Richard J. Twitchett
- & Katie Matts
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Ediacaran matground ecology persisted into the earliest Cambrian
A transition from microbial-dominated Ediacara biota into modern ecosystems marks the beginning of the Cambrian. Here, Buatois et al.describe Ediacaran microbial mats in an early Cambrian formation in Canada suggesting that Ediacara biota persisted in the early Cambrian and abruptly disappeared later on.
- Luis A. Buatois
- , Guy M. Narbonne
- & Paul Myrow
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Fossil pollen records indicate that Patagonian desertification was not solely a consequence of Andean uplift
It is postulated that the Patagonian steppe evolved purely as a consequence of Andean uplift 15 million years ago, yet direct evidence is lacking. Palazzesi et al.present a bioclimatic analysis of pollen assemblages and show that Patagonian desertification began much more recently than previously thought.
- L. Palazzesi
- , V.D. Barreda
- & R. Ventura Santos
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Modern Antarctic acorn worms form tubes
Acorn worms, or enteropneusts, are a group of hemichordates whose modern representatives are thought to be tubeless. Here Halaynch et al. provide evidence for modern tube-forming acorn worms found in Antarctic benthic communities.
- Kenneth M. Halanych
- , Johanna T. Cannon
- & Craig R. Smith
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Human impacts drive a global topographic signature in tree cover
Humans have greatly altered the distribution of forests across the world. Here, the authors use estimates of tree cover from remote-sensing data to reveal that human impact has produced a strong tendency for forest remnants to persist primarily on sloped terrain.
- Brody Sandel
- & Jens-Christian Svenning
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A new Late Triasssic phytogeographical scenario in westernmost Gondwana
In the Late Triassic, southern Gondwanan flora is thought to have been dominated by endemic species mainly restricted to eastern areas with some mixing with northern species. In this study, pollen and spore assemblages from Argentina reveal the presence of these mixed flora in the westernmost Gondwana as well.
- Silvia N Césari
- & Carina E Colombi
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The oldest North American pachycephalosaurid and the hidden diversity of small-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs
Fossils of small dinosaurs are less common than their large-bodied counterparts, but whether this relates to preservational biases remains unclear. Evans et al.describe a new pachycephalosaur and provide the first evidence that small-bodied dinosaur diversity is strongly underestimated.
- David C. Evans
- , Ryan K. Schott
- & Michael J. Ryan
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Mutualistic mycorrhiza-like symbiosis in the most ancient group of land plants
Symbiotic fungi are thought to have assisted plants in their colonization of the land. In this study, it is shown that mycorrhizal fungi symbiosis with liverwort, a member of an ancient clade of land plants, promotes photosynthetic carbon uptake and growth, supporting the role of fungi in 'the greening of the Earth'.
- Claire P. Humphreys
- , Peter J. Franks
- & David J. Beerling
Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia