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Ecological Stability during the Late Paleozoic Cold Interval

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

Hermann W. Pfefferkorn,
Robert A. Gastaldo and
William A. DiMichele
Hermann W. Pfefferkorn
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6316 USA
Robert A. Gastaldo
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901-8858 USA
William A. DiMichele
Affiliation:
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560 USA
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Ecosystem Stability and taxonomic stasis are the opposite aspect in the history of life from ecosystem perturbation and reorganization, or extinction and origination. Naturally, change is more exciting than stasis, and change also is more useful in many ways as, for instance, in the development of biostratigraphic frameworks. Paleontological preference for geologically rapid change has gone so far that a fast evolving group of organisms has been used to create an orthostratigraphy (Orthochronologie of Schindewolf, 1950), which is claimed to be the “real” biostratigraphy. By implication, all other taxonomic groups are relegated to a secondary status of merely delivering “parastratigraphies,” which may be useful (locally or regionally), but are not the “real thing.” Ammonites, conodonts, foraminifera, and a few other taxa hold the distinction of being the “chosen” taxa, and it should be self-evident that only marine organisms qualify for this role. On the other hand, organisms on land always have been known to demonstrate coarser stratigraphic resolution. By implication, they might be more prone to ecosystem and taxonomic stasis over the long run. This, in itself, is an important observation.

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Research Article
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The Paleontological Society Papers , Volume 6: Phanerozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems , November 2000, pp. 63 - 78
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Copyright © 2000 by the Paleontological Society 

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