[News] Paleontologists Find Extinction Rates Higher in Open-Ocean Settings During Mass Extin

[Moontanman]

Paleontologists Find Extinction Rates Higher in Open-Ocean Settings During Mass Extinctions

ScienceDaily (Nov. 20, 2009) — For many years, paleobiological researchers interested in the history of biodiversity have focused on charting the many ups (evolutionary radiations) and downs (mass extinctions) that punctuate the history of life. Because the preserved record of marine (sea-dwelling) animals is unusually extensive in comparison, say, to that of terrestrial animals such as dinosaurs, it's been easier to accurately calibrate the diversity and extinction records of marine organisms.

 

Paleontologists find extinction rates higher in open-ocean settings during mass extinctions