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Article: Competition in slow motion: the unusual case of benthic marine communities in the wake of the end‐Permian mass extinction

Palaeontology - Vol. 58 Part 5 - Cover Image
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume: 58
Part: 5
Publication Date: September 2015
Page(s): 871 901
Author(s): Michael Hautmann, Borhan Bagherpour, Morgane Brosse, Åsa Frisk, Richard Hofmann, Aymon Baud, Alexander Nützel, Nicolas Goudemand, and Hugo Bucher
Addition Information

How to Cite

HAUTMANN, M., BAGHERPOUR, B., BROSSE, M., FRISK, &., HOFMANN, R., BAUD, A., NÜTZEL, A., GOUDEMAND, N., BUCHER, H. 2015. Competition in slow motion: the unusual case of benthic marine communities in the wake of the end‐Permian mass extinction. Palaeontology, 58, 5, 871-901. DOI: 10.1111/pala.12186

Author Information

  • Michael Hautmann - Universität Zürich Paläontologisches Institut und Museum Zürich Switzerland (Email: michael.hautmann@pim.uzh.ch)
  • Borhan Bagherpour - Universität Zürich Paläontologisches Institut und Museum Zürich Switzerland (Email: borhan.bagherpour@pim.uzh.ch)
  • Morgane Brosse - Universität Zürich Paläontologisches Institut und Museum Zürich Switzerland (Email: morgane.brosse@pim.uzh.ch)
  • Åsa Frisk - Universität Zürich Paläontologisches Institut und Museum Zürich Switzerland (Email: asa.frisk@pim.uzh.ch)
  • Åsa Frisk - Uppsala University Department of Earth Sciences Uppsala Sweden
  • Richard Hofmann - Universität Zürich Paläontologisches Institut und Museum Zürich Switzerland (Email: richard.hofmann@pim.uzh.ch)
  • Aymon Baud - Baud Geological Consultant Lausanne Switzerland (Email: aymon.baud@unil.ch)
  • Alexander Nützel - Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Paleontology & Geobiology GeoBio‐Center LMU SNSB‐Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie München Germany (Email: a.nuetzel@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
  • Nicolas Goudemand - Universität Zürich Paläontologisches Institut und Museum Zürich Switzerland (Email: nicolas.goudemand@pim.uzh.ch)
  • Hugo Bucher - Universität Zürich Paläontologisches Institut und Museum Zürich Switzerland (Email: hugo.fr.bucher@pim.uzh.ch)

Publication History

  • Issue published online: 28 August 2015
  • Article first published online: 01 January 1970
  • Manuscript Accepted: 16 June 2015
  • Manuscript Received: 13 March 2015

Funded By

Swiss NSF. Grant Numbers: 200021_132134, 200021‐149152/1

Online Version Hosted By

Wiley Online Library
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Abstract

Changes of community structure in response to competition usually take place on timescales that are much too short to be visible in the geological record. Here we report the notable exception of a benthic marine community in the wake of the end‐Permian mass extinction, which is associated with the microbial limestone facies of the earliest Triassic of South China. The newly reported fauna is well preserved and extraordinarily rich (30 benthic macroinvertebrate species, including the new species Astartella? stefaniae (Bivalvia) and Eucochlis obliquecostata (Gastropoda)) and stems from an environmentally stable setting providing favourable conditions for benthic organisms. Whereas changes in the taxonomic composition are negligible over the observed time interval of 10–100 ka, three ecological stages are identified, in which relative abundances of initially rare species continuously increased at the cost of previously dominant species. Concomitant with the changes of dominant species is an increase in faunal evenness and heterogeneity. In the absence of both environmental and taxonomic changes, we attribute this pattern to the long‐term effects of interspecific competition, which acted at an unusually slow pace because the number of competing species and potential immigrants was dramatically reduced by the end‐Permian mass extinction. We suggest that these non‐actualistic conditions led to decreased rates of niche differentiation and hence to the delayed rediversification of benthos that characterizes the aftermath of the greatest Phanerozoic mass extinction event. A hyperbolic diversification model is proposed, which accounts for the positive relationship between the intensity of interspecific competition and the rate of niche differentiation and resolves the conundrum of delayed rediversification at a time when niche space was largely vacated.

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