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Patterns of generic extinction in the fossil record

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

David M. Raup and
George E. Boyajian
David M. Raup
Affiliation:
Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
George E. Boyajian
Affiliation:
Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
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Abstract

Analysis of the stratigraphic records of 19,897 fossil genera indicates that most classes and orders show largely congruent rises and falls in extinction intensity throughout the Phanerozoic. Even an ecologically homogeneous sample of reef genera shows the same basic extinction profile. The most likely explanation for the congruence is that extinction is physically rather than biologically driven and that it is dominated by the effects of geographically widespread environmental perturbations influencing most habitats. Significant departures from the congruence are uncommon but important because they indicate physiological or habitat selectivity. The similarity of the extinction records of reef organisms and the marine biota as a whole confirms that reefs and other faunas are responding to the same history of environmental stress.

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Articles
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Paleobiology , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , Spring 1988, pp. 109 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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