2025-03-13 中国科学院(CAS)
<関連情報>
- https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/life/202503/t20250307_903282.shtml
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads5614
廃墟の中の避難所: ペルム紀末の大量絶滅を免れた失われた植物相の発掘 Refugium amidst ruins: Unearthing the lost flora that escaped the end-Permian mass extinction
Huiping Peng, Wan Yang, Mingli Wan, Jun Liu, and Feng Liu
Science Advances Published:12 Mar 2025
Abstract
Searching for land refugia becomes imperative for human survival during the hypothetical sixth mass extinction. Studying past comparable crises can offer insights, but there is no fossil evidence of diverse megafloral ecosystems surviving the largest Phanerozoic biodiversity crisis. Here, we investigated palynomorphs, plant, and tetrapod fossils from the Permian-Triassic South Taodonggou Section in Xinjiang, China. Our fossil records, calibrated by a high-resolution age model, reveal the presence of vibrant regional gymnospermous forests and fern fields, while marine organisms experienced mass extinction. This refugial vegetation was crucial for nourishing the substantial influx of surviving animals, thereby establishing a diverse terrestrial ecosystem approximately 75,000 years after the mass extinction. Our findings contradict the widely held belief that restoring terrestrial ecosystem functional diversity to pre-extinction levels would take millions of years. Our research indicates that moderate hydrological fluctuations throughout the crisis sustained this refugium, likely making it one of the sources for the rapid radiation of terrestrial life in the early Mesozoic.
