Extreme ecosystem instability suppressed tropical dinosaur dominance for 30 million years

Jessica H. Whiteside, Sofie Lindström, Randall B. Irmis, Ian J. Glasspool, Morgan F. Schaller, Maria Dunlavey, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Nathan D. Smith, Alan H. Turner

    Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftArtikelForskningpeer review

    69 Citationer (Scopus)

    Resumé

    A major unresolved aspect of the rise of dinosaurs is why early dinosaurs and their relatives were rare and species-poor at low paleolatitudes throughout the Late Triassic Period, a pattern persisting 30 million years after their origin and 10-15 million years after they became abundant and speciose at higher latitudes. New palynological, wildfire, organic carbon isotope, and atmospheric pCO 2data from early dinosaur-bearing strata of low paleolatitudes in western North America show that large, high-frequency, tightly correlated variations in δ 13C org and palynomorph ecotypes occurred within a context of elevated and increasing pCO 2 and pervasive wildfires. Whereas pseudosuchian archosaur-dominated communities were able to persist in these same regions under rapidly fluctuating extreme climatic conditions until the end-Triassic, large-bodied, fast-growing tachymetabolic dinosaurian herbivores requiring greater resources were unable to adapt to unstable high CO 2 environmental conditions of the Late Triassic.

    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    Sider (fra-til)7909-7913
    Antal sider5
    TidsskriftProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    Vol/bind112
    Udgave nummer26
    DOI
    StatusUdgivet - 30 jun. 2015

    Programområde

    • Programområde 3: Energiressourcer

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