No mass extinction for land plants at the Permian–Triassic transition

2019/01/23 by Hendrik Nowak, Elke Schneebeli‐Hermann, Evelyn Kustatscher · 1 voice · 5 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils #Plant Diversity and Evolution

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-07945-w

openalex publication_date 2019/01/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The most severe mass extinction among animals took place in the latest Permian (ca. 252 million years ago). Due to scarce and impoverished fossil floras from the earliest Triassic, the common perception has been that land plants likewise suffered a mass extinction, but doubts remained. Here we use global occurrence data of both plant macro- and microfossils to analyse plant biodiversity development across the Permian-Triassic boundary. We show that the plant fossil record is strongly biased and that evidence for a mass extinction among plants in the latest Permian is not robust. The taxonomic diversities of gymnosperm macrofossils and of the pollen produced by this group are particularly incongruent. Our results indicate that gymnosperm macrofossils are considerably undersampled for the Early Triassic, which creates the impression of increased gymnosperm extinction in the latest Permian.

Citations

• The plant fossil record reflects just two great extinction events
• Coverage‐based rarefaction and extrapolation: standardizing samples by completeness rather than size

Cited by

• Age-controlled south polar floral trends show a staggered Early Triassic gymnosperm recovery following the end-Permian event
• CAM photosynthesis may have conferred an advantage during the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event
• Dying in the Sun: Direct evidence for elevated UV-B radiation at the end-Permian mass extinction
• The rise of angiosperms pushed conifers to decline during global cooling
• Permian–Triassic extinction event [wikipedia]

Discussions

• There’s been more research since then. Nowak et al have argued that the end of the Permian wasn’t a plant extinction event either. As a result Barras asks: “Should we label an event a “mass extinction [bsky, 0 points, 1 comments]