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Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Aug 18; 112(33):10298-303.PN

Abstract

The end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biotic crisis in the Phanerozoic, was accompanied by climate change and expansion of oceanic anoxic zones. The partitioning of sulfur among different exogenic reservoirs by biological and physical processes was of importance for this biodiversity crisis, but the exact role of bioessential sulfur in the mass extinction is still unclear. Here we show that globally increased production of organic matter affected the seawater sulfate sulfur and oxygen isotope signature that has been recorded in carbonate rock spanning the Permian-Triassic boundary. A bifurcating temporal trend is observed for the strata spanning the marine mass extinction with carbonate-associated sulfate sulfur and oxygen isotope excursions toward decreased and increased values, respectively. By coupling these results to a box model, we show that increased marine productivity and successive enhanced microbial sulfate reduction is the most likely scenario to explain these temporal trends. The new data demonstrate that worldwide expansion of euxinic and anoxic zones are symptoms of increased biological carbon recycling in the marine realm initiated by global warming. The spatial distribution of sulfidic water column conditions in shallow seafloor environments is dictated by the severity and geographic patterns of nutrient fluxes and serves as an adequate model to explain the scale of the marine biodiversity crisis. Our results provide evidence that the major biodiversity crises in Earth's history do not necessarily implicate an ocean stripped of (most) life but rather the demise of certain eukaryotic organisms, leading to a decline in species richness.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Schobben M
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, D-10115 Berlin, Germany; schobbenmartin@gmail.com.
Stebbins A
School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125;
Ghaderi A
Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, 9177948974 Mashhad, Iran;
Strauss H
Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany;
Korn D
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, D-10115 Berlin, Germany;
Korte C
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, DK-1350, Copenhagen, Denmark.

MeSH

AnimalsAnthozoaBiodiversityCalcium CarbonateCarbonCarbon CycleClimateClimate ChangeEcosystemEnvironmentExtinction, BiologicalFeedbackFossilsGeographyInvertebratesOceans and SeasOxygenSeawaterSulfatesSulfidesSulfurWeather

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Language

eng

PubMed ID

26240323

Citation

Schobben, Martin, et al. "Flourishing Ocean Drives the end-Permian Marine Mass Extinction." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 112, no. 33, 2015, pp. 10298-303.
Schobben M, Stebbins A, Ghaderi A, et al. Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015;112(33):10298-303.
Schobben, M., Stebbins, A., Ghaderi, A., Strauss, H., Korn, D., & Korte, C. (2015). Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(33), 10298-303. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1503755112
Schobben M, et al. Flourishing Ocean Drives the end-Permian Marine Mass Extinction. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Aug 18;112(33):10298-303. PubMed PMID: 26240323.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction. AU - Schobben,Martin, AU - Stebbins,Alan, AU - Ghaderi,Abbas, AU - Strauss,Harald, AU - Korn,Dieter, AU - Korte,Christoph, Y1 - 2015/08/03/ PY - 2015/8/5/entrez PY - 2015/8/5/pubmed PY - 2016/4/30/medline KW - end-Permian mass extinction KW - primary productivity KW - sulfur cycle SP - 10298 EP - 303 JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America JO - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A VL - 112 IS - 33 N2 - The end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biotic crisis in the Phanerozoic, was accompanied by climate change and expansion of oceanic anoxic zones. The partitioning of sulfur among different exogenic reservoirs by biological and physical processes was of importance for this biodiversity crisis, but the exact role of bioessential sulfur in the mass extinction is still unclear. Here we show that globally increased production of organic matter affected the seawater sulfate sulfur and oxygen isotope signature that has been recorded in carbonate rock spanning the Permian-Triassic boundary. A bifurcating temporal trend is observed for the strata spanning the marine mass extinction with carbonate-associated sulfate sulfur and oxygen isotope excursions toward decreased and increased values, respectively. By coupling these results to a box model, we show that increased marine productivity and successive enhanced microbial sulfate reduction is the most likely scenario to explain these temporal trends. The new data demonstrate that worldwide expansion of euxinic and anoxic zones are symptoms of increased biological carbon recycling in the marine realm initiated by global warming. The spatial distribution of sulfidic water column conditions in shallow seafloor environments is dictated by the severity and geographic patterns of nutrient fluxes and serves as an adequate model to explain the scale of the marine biodiversity crisis. Our results provide evidence that the major biodiversity crises in Earth's history do not necessarily implicate an ocean stripped of (most) life but rather the demise of certain eukaryotic organisms, leading to a decline in species richness. SN - 1091-6490 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/26240323/Flourishing_ocean_drives_the_end_Permian_marine_mass_extinction_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -