These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Two episodes of microbial change coupled with Permo/Triassic faunal mass extinction.
    Author: Xie S, Pancost RD, Yin H, Wang H, Evershed RP.
    Journal: Nature; 2005 Mar 24; 434(7032):494-7. PubMed ID: 15791253.
    Abstract:
    Microbial expansion following faunal mass extinctions in Earth history can be studied by petrographic examination of microbialites (microbial crusts) or well-preserved organic-walled microbes. However, where preservation is poor, quantification of microbial communities can be problematic. We have circumvented this problem by adopting a lipid biomarker-based approach to evaluate microbial community changes across the Permo/Triassic (P/Tr) boundary at Meishan in South China. We present here a biomarker stratigraphic record showing episodic microbial changes coupled with a high-resolution record of invertebrate mass extinction. Variation in the microbial community structure is characterized by the 2-methylhopane (2-MHP) index (a ratio of the abundance of cyanobacterial biomarkers to more general bacterial biomarkers). Two episodes of faunal mass extinction were each preceded by minima in the 2-MHP index, followed by strong maxima, likely reflecting microbial responses to the catastrophic events that caused the extinction and initiated ecosystem changes. Hence, both cyanobacterial biomarker and invertebrate fossil records provide evidence for two episodes of biotic crisis across the P/Tr boundary.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]