Effects of past global change on life / Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources, National Research Council.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

National Research Council (U.S.). Board on Earth Sciences and Resources.

Series:

Studies in geophysics.

Studies in geophysics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Paleoecology.

Paleoclimatology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (266 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, 1995.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

What can we expect as global change progresses? Will there be thresholds that trigger sudden shifts in environmental conditions--or that cause catastrophic destruction of life? Effects of Past Global Change on Life explores what earth scientists are learning about the impact of large-scale environmental changes on ancient life--and how these findings may help us resolve today's environmental controversies. Leading authorities discuss historical climate trends and what can be learned from the mass extinctions and other critical periods about the rise and fall of plant and animal species in response to global change. The volume develops a picture of how environmental change has closed some evolutionary doors while opening others--including profound effects on the early members of the human family. An expert panel offers specific recommendations on expanding research and improving investigative tools--and targets historical periods and geological and biological patterns with the most promise of shedding light on future developments. This readable and informative book will be of special interest to professionals in the earth sciences and the environmental community as well as concerned policymakers.

Contents:

Effects of Past Global Change on Life

Copyright

Studies in Geophysics

Preface

Contents

Effects of Past Global Change on Life

Overview and Recommendations

OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION

METHODS

SHIFTS BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL STATES

Periodic Cycles

Nonperiodic Cycles

The Eocene-Oligocene Transition

The Younger Dryas Cooling

The Terminal Ordovician Transition

Unidirectional Shifts

RATES OF TRANSITION

Sudden Shifts and Gradual Trends

The Nature of Thresholds

PATTERNS OF BIOTIC RESPONSE

Migration

Extinction

Evolutionary Turnover

Delayed Recovery

RECOMMENDATIONS

REFERENCES

Background

1 Oxygen and Proterozoic Evolution: An Update

ABSTRACT

THE EARLY PROTEROZOIC EON

Geochemical Evidence for Atmospheric Change

Paleontological Evidence for Evolutionary Innovation

Biological Reasons for Linkage

Summary of the Paleoproterozoic Earth

THE END OF THE PROTEROZOIC EON

Paleontological Data

Biological Reasons for Linkage to Environmental Change

Geochemical Data

Summary of the Latest Proterozoic Record

CONCLUSIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

2 Impact of Late Ordovician Glaciation-Deglaciation on Marine Life

DATA SUMMARIES

THE TIME FRAME

THE PALEOGEOGRAPHIC FRAMEWORK

GEOCHEMICAL EVIDENCE OF DEEP OCEAN VENTILATION

PATTERNS IN EXTINCTION AND RERADIATION

Graptolites

Shelly Faunas

ENVIRONMENTAL-ORGANISMAL CHANGES: A SUMMARY

3 Global Change Leading to Biodiversity Crisis in a Greenhouse World: The Cenomanian-Turonian (Cretaceous) Mass Extinction

HIGH-RESOLUTION APPROACH TO DOCUMENTING ANCIENT ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

THE CENOMANIAN-TURONIAN (C-T) MASS EXTINCTION-AN ANCIENT GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY CRISIS IN A CHAOTIC GREENHOUSE WORLD.

A CASE HISTORY: THE PUEBLO, COLORADO, C-T BOUNDARY SECTION

ESTABLISHING A CHRONOLOGY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DECLINE AND MASS EXTINCTION ACROSS THE C-T BOUNDARY

A TIMETABLE FOR CENOMANIAN-TURONIAN MASS EXTINCTION

INTERPRETATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

Appendix

RATES, PATTERNS, AND TIMING OF THE C-T MASS EXTINCTION AND ASSOCIATED ENVIRONMENTAL PERTURBATIONS (SEE FIGURE 3.6)

Late Cenomanian Background Conditions

Late Cenomanian Mass Extinction

Highest Cenomanian Events

Basal Turonian Events

Final Phases Of The C-T Mass Extinction

Early Recovery Interval

End Of Sampling Interval

4 Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) Mass Extinction: Effect of Global Change on Calcareous Microplankton

HOW COMPLETE ARE K/T BOUNDARY SECTIONS?

SPECIES RESPONSE TO K/T DISTURBANCE

Planktic Foraminifera

Calcareous Nannoplankton

POPULATION RESPONSE TO K/T DISTURBANCE

El Kef, Tunisia

Caravaca, Spain

Brazos, Texas

DSDP Site 528, South Atlantic

ODP Site 738C, Indian Antarctic Ocean

MAGNITUDE OF K/T DISTURBANCE

ARE SPECIFIC HABITATS SELECTIVELY DESTROYED?

DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY

5 Terminal Paleocene Mass Extinction in the Deep Sea: Association with Global Warming

TERMINAL PALEOCENE MASS EXTINCTION IN THE DEEP SEA

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MASS EXTINCTION AND OCEANIC WARMING

CAUSE OF MASS EXTINCTION IN DEEP SEA

CAUSE OF OCEANOGRAPHIC AND CLIMATE CHANGE

WHY THE EARLY PALEOGENE?

IMPLICATIONS AND SUMMARY

6 Tropical Climate Stability and Implications for the Distribution of Life

OXYGEN ISOTOPIC RECORDS OF LOW LATITUDE TEMPERATURES

ARGUMENTS FOR TROPICAL TEMPERATURE STABILITY.

MODEL-DERIVED TROPICAL TEMPERATURES

EVIDENCE FOR TROPICAL SALINITY DIFFERENCES

SUMMARY OF TROPICAL CLIMATE EXTREMES

CLIMATE TOLERANCES OF TROPICAL ORGANISMS

A MID-CRETACEOUS CASE STUDY

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

7 Neogene Ice Age in the North Atlantic Region: Climatic Changes, Biotic Effects, and Forcing Factors

CLIMATIC EVENTS

Responses Prior to the Late Pliocene

The Pliocene Prior to 2.5 Ma

The First Pulse, 3.2 to 3.1 Ma

Onset of the Ice Age at 2.5 to 2.4 Ma

BIOTIC CONSEQUENCES

Terrestrial Biotas

Africa

Europe

Eastern North America

Marine Biotas

FORCING OF LATE CENOZOIC CLIMATIC CHANGES

Tectonic Forcing of Climate (pre-2.5 Ma)

Closure of the Straits of Panamanian Isthmus

Plateau Uplift

Sea-Floor Spreading and CO2

Chemical Weathering and CO2

Ice-Sheet Forcing of Climatic Change

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

8 The Response of Hierarchially Structured Ecosystems to Long-Term Climatic Change: A Case Study using Tropical Peat Swamps…

LATE CARBONIFEROUS WETLANDS

Eco-Taxonomic Patterns

Peat Swamps

Clastic Wetlands

COAL SWAMPS AS HIERARCHICALLY ORGANIZED SYSTEMS

Organization of Coal-Swamp Ecosystems

Resolution at 100- to 104-yr Time Scales: Habitats and Species Assemblages

Resolution at the 103- to 105-yr Time Scale: Landscape Patterns

Resolution at the 105- to 107-yr Time Scale: Interseam Patterns

Coal-Swamp Species and Ecomorphs

Major Intraswamp Habitats

PATTERNS OF CHANGE IN COAL-SWAMP COMMUNITIES DURING THE PENNSYLVANIAN PERIOD

Objectives

Changes at the Landscape Level

Changes in the Habitat Composition of Landscapes

Changes in the Species-Level Composition of Habitats

CLIMATE CHANGE AND CAUSATION

Evidence for Climatic Variability.

Relationships of Climatic Patterns to Vegetational Patterns

SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS

Hierarchical Organization

Ecosystem Persistence

Long-Term Species Replacement Dynamics: Evolutionary Implications

9 The Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic History of Vegetation and Climate at Northern and Southern High Latitudes: A Comparison

PALEOGEOGRAPHIC FRAMEWORK

SUMMARY OF HIGH-LATITUDE VEGETATIONAL CHANGES

Northern Cretaceous

Albian-Cenomanian and Arrival of Angiosperms

Turonian-Coniacian-Santonian

Campanian-Maastrichtian

Southern Cretaceous

Albian-Cenomanian and Early Angiosperms

Northern Cenozoic

Paleocene

Eocene

Oligocene-Miocene-Pliocene

Southern Cenozoic

COMPARISON OF NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN HIGH-LATITUDE VEGETATION

Cretaceous Evolutionary Trends

Northern and Southern Floras: Deciduous Versus Evergreen

Cenozoic Vegetational Changes

Possible Future Changes

10 The Impact of Climatic Changes on the Development of the Australian Flora

UNIQUENESS OF THE AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM

GEOLOGICAL AND PLATE TECTONIC SETTING

MODERN VEGETATION OF AUSTRALIA

FACTORS AFFECTING VEGETATION AND TAXON-BASED CHANGES

MAJOR TERTIARY CLIMATIC CHANGES

PLANT MEGAFOSSIL EVIDENCE FOR CLIMATIC CHANGE

DISCUSSION

11 Global Climatic Influence on Cenozoic Land Mammal Faunas

LAND MAMMAL FAUNAS AND THEIR RESPONSE TO CLIMATIC CHANGE

Chronofaunas and Turnover Pulses

Importance of Immigrants

Recognition of Land Mammal Biomes

MAMMALIAN FAUNAL SUCCESSION IN NORTH AMERICA

Paleocene Chronofauna: Tropical Forest.

Eocene Chronofauna: Subtropical Forest

White River Chronofauna: Woodland Savanna

Runningwater Chronofauna: Transitional Savanna

Sheep Creek Chronofauna: Park Savanna

Clarendonian Chronofauna: Grassland Savanna

Early Pliocene: Spread of Steppe

Late Pliocene and Pleistocene: Further Continentality and Provincialism

RESULTS

Mammal Turnover on Other Continents

European Land Mammal Record

Chinese Land Mammal Record

Indian Land Mammal Record

African Land Mammal Record

Oxygen Isotopes and Mammal Immigrations

12 Biotic Responses to Temperature and Salinity Changes During Last Deglaciation, Gulf of Mexico

Ecology of Modern Planktonic Foraminifera

The Last Deglaciation

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

14C Chronology

Stable Isotopic Records

Faunal Response to Temperature and Salinity Changes in the Gulf of Mexico

13 Pollen Records of Late Quaternary Vegetation Change: Plant Community Rearrangements and Evolution Implications

SENSITIVITY OF POLLEN DATA TO VEGETATION PATTERNS

MAPS OF CHANGING TAXON DISTRIBUTION THROUGH TIME

IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIES AND EVOLUTION

TIME AND SPACE SCALES OF VEGETATIONAL AND TAXONOMIC UNITS

SPACE-TIME PERSPECTIVE

14 Climatic Forcing and the Origin of the Human Genus

DEVELOPMENT IN APES, HUMANS, AND AUSTRALOPITHECINES

THE LIFE OF GRACILE AUSTRALOPITHECINES

Arboreal Traits

The Arboreal Imperative

THE NATURE OF EARLY HOMO

CLIMATIC FORCING

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786610193547

9780309176811

0309176816

9781280193545

1280193549

9780309552615

0309552613

9780585030678

0585030677

OCLC:

42854432