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Fossil green sulfur bacteria reveal the cause of mass extinctions
Article By:
Whiteside, Jessica H. Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southhampton, Southhampton, United Kingdom.
Grice, Kliti Western Australia Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Department of Chemistry, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
Last reviewed:2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.YB160509
Tantalizing evidence has emerged indicating that ocean acidification and deoxygenation may have played major roles in several of the mass extinction events that have punctuated the history of life on Earth. These conditions prevailed during greenhouse (hothouse) climates in Earth's past, similar to projected trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). As such, these past periods serve as partial analogs for inferring the ecological consequences of future global scenarios. See also: Climate history; Climate modification; Extinction (biology); Global climate change; Greenhouse effect; Mass extinctions; New insights on ocean acidification; Paleobiodiversity; Paleoecology; Paleontology
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