Cycles in fossil diversity

Robert A. Rohde and Richard A. Muller ()
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Robert A. Rohde: University of California
Richard A. Muller: University of California

Nature, 2005, vol. 434, issue 7030, 208-210

Abstract: The 62-million-year question With the posthumously published A Compendium of Fossil Marine Animal Genera, Jack Sepkoski initiated a new wave in palaeontology: the exploration of major patterns in the history of life as recorded by compilations of taxonomic data. This database, which records first and last stratigraphic appearances of over 36,000 marine genera, has been reanalysed in the light of the latest stratigraphic time scales, and a previously unrecognized 62-million-year cycle in the diversity of fossil genera emerges. As yet there is no explanation, but various models involving climate, environment, geological and astrophysical factors should provide testable predictions to help solve the mystery.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature03339

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