TABLE 9.1The Effect on Different Measures of Diversity for Marine Organisms During the Five Canonical Mass Extinction Episodes of the Phanerozoic

DiversityOrdovicianDevonianPermianTriassicCretaceous
Taxic60/26%57/22%82/52%53/22%47/16%
Phylogenetic??High?? Medium
MorphologicHighMediumHigh?? Medium
FunctionalMediumHighHighLowMedium
ArchitecturalMediumHighHighMediumLow
Behavioral??HighMediumMedium
DevelopmentalLow?Medium??

NOTES: Taxic diversity drops are shown for genera and families from Sepkoski (1996). Estimates of loss of phylogenetic diversity are based on the loss of major clades, as documented by phylogenetic analyses; morphologic disparity is assessed within particular clades, and the loss of major clades; functional diversity is assessed based on published paleoecological studies. Loss of architectural diversity is measured by changes in reef volume and the diversity of reef ecosystems (Wood, 1999; Flügel and Kiessling, 2002). Changes in behavioral diversity were assessed by changes in the complexity of trace fossil assemblages. Developmental diversity was assessed as described. Question marks indicate an absence of sufficient data.

From: 9, Extinction as the Loss of Evolutionary History

Cover of In the Light of Evolution
In the Light of Evolution: Volume II: Biodiversity and Extinction.
National Research Council (US); Avise JC, Hubbell SP, Ayala FJ, editors.
Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2008.
Copyright 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

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