Paleobiology Database
Marine extinction risk shaped by trait–environment interactions over 500 million years
May 11, 2015Orzechowski, E.A., R. Lockwood, J.E. Byrnes, S.C. Anderson*, S. Finnegan, Z.V. Finkel, P.G. Harnik, D.R. Lindberg, L.H. Liow, H.K. Lotze, C.R. McClain, J.L. McGuire, A. O’Dea, J.M. Pandolfi, C. Simpson, D.P. Tittensor. Marine extinction risk shaped by trait-environment interactions over 500 million years. 2015. Global Change Biology. 21(10): 3595–3607. doi:...
Paleontological baselines for evaluating extinction risk in the modern oceans
April 17, 2015Seth Finnegan, Sean C. Anderson, Paul G. Harnik, Carl Simpson, Derek P. Tittensor, Jarrett E. Byrnes, Zoe V. Finkel, David R. Lindberg, Lee Hsiang Liow, Rowan Lockwood, Heike K. Lotze, Craig M. McClain, Jenny L. McGuire, Aaron O’Dea, John M. Pandolfi (2015) Paleontological baselines for evaluating extinction risk in the...
Differential niche dynamics among major marine invertebrate clades
April 16, 2015Hopkins, M., Simpson, C., and Kiessling, W., 2014. Differential niche dynamics among major marine invertebrate clades. Ecology Letters. 17(3):314-323. doi: 10.1111/ele.12232. pdf The degree to which organisms retain their environmental preferences is of utmost importance in predicting their fate in a world of rapid climate change. Notably, marine invertebrates frequently...
Equatorial decline of reef corals during the last Pleistocene interglacial
April 13, 2015Kiessling, W., Simpson, C., Beck, B., Mewis, H. & Pandolfi, J. 2012. Equatorial decline of reef corals during the last Pleistocene interglacial. PNAS. 109(52): 21378-21383. doi:10.1073/pnas.1214037110 pdf The Last Interglacial (LIG; ca. 125,000 y ago) resulted from rapid global warming and reached global mean temperatures exceeding those of today. The...
Add a timescale in base R graphics
April 12, 2015Timescales on figures are helpful It is a good idea to add geological timescales to plots that show patterns over the Phanerozic. Timescales help the reader orient themselves with the new and interesting data that we want to show them. They can see more detail and with this orientation it...
Long-term differences in extinction risk among the seven forms of rarity
April 12, 2015Harnik, P. G., Simpson, C., & Payne, J. L. 2012. Long-term differences in extinction risk among the seven forms of rarity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B - Biological Sciences. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.1902 pdf Rarity is widely used to predict the vulnerability of species to extinction. Species can be rare in markedly...
Extinctions in ancient and modern seas
April 11, 2015Harnik, P. G., Lotze, H., Anderson, S. C., Finkel, Z. V. Finnegan, S., Lindberg, D. L., Liow, L. H., Lockwood, R., McClain, C. M., McGuire, J. L., O’Dea, A., Pandolfi, J. M., Simpson, C., Tittensor, D. 2012. Extinctions in ancient and modern seas. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 27(11) 608-617....
Evolutionary diversification of reef corals--a comparison of the molecular and fossil records
April 7, 2015Simpson, C., Kiessling, W., Mewis, H., Baron-Szabo, R. C. & Müller, J. 2011. Evolutionary diversification of reef corals: a comparison of the molecular and fossil records. Evolution. 65(11) 3274–3284. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01365.x pdf Understanding historical patterns of diversity dynamics is of paramount importance for many evolutionary questions. The fossil record has...
The diversity of life through time
April 4, 2015Simpson, C. & Kiessling, W. 2010. The diversity of life through time. In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester. pdf Global diversity is the total number of taxa living in the present day or at any time in the geological past. Recon- structing the trajectory...
On the potential for ocean acidification to be a general cause of ancient reef crises
April 4, 2015Kiessling, W. & Simpson, C. 2011 On the potential for ocean acidification to be a general cause of ancient reef crises. Global Change Biology. 17(1): 56 - 67. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02204.x pdf Anthropogenic rise in the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere leads to global warming and acidification of the oceans....
The role of extinction in large-scale diversity-stability relationships
April 3, 2015Simpson, C. & Kiessling, W. 2010 The role of extinction in large-scale diversity-stability relationships. Proceedings of the Royal Society B - Biological Sciences 277(1686): 1451-1456. pdf More-diverse communities are thought to be ecologically stable because a greater number of ecological interactions among members allows for the increases in robustness and...
Reefs as Cradles of Evolution and Sources of Biodiversity in the Phanerozoic
April 3, 2015Kiessling, W., Simpson, C. & Foote, M. 2010 Reefs as Cradles of Evolution and Sources of Biodiversity in the Phanerozoic. Science 327(5962): 196-198. pdf Large-scale biodiversity gradients among environments and habitats are usually attributed to a complex array of ecological and evolutionary factors. We tested the evolutionary component of such...
Assessing the role of abundance in marine bivalve extinction over the post-Paleozoic
April 2, 2015Simpson, C. & Harnik, P. G. 2009 Assessing the role of abundance in marine bivalve extinction over the post-Paleozoic. Paleobiology 35(4): 631–647. pdf Abundance is one of the primary factors believed to influence extinction yet little is known about its relationship to extinction rates over geologic time. Using data from...
Phanerozoic trends in the global diversity of marine invertebrates
April 1, 2015Alroy, J., Aberhan, M., Bottjer, D., Foote, M., Fürsich, F. T., Harries, P. J., Hendy, A. J. W., Holland, S., Ivany, L. C., Kiessling, W., Kosnik, M. A., Marshall, C. R., McGowan, A. J., Miller, A., Olszewski, T. D., Patzkowsky, M., Peters, S. E., Villier, L., Wagner, P., Bonuso, N.,...