Before and After the End Permian Extinction Event

The End Permian extinction event that we are looking at this week happened 252 million years ago. This was the third and largest mass extinction event, and almost wiped out life on earth. After the extinction event, recovery led to further reptile diversifications, which among others eventually give rise to the ancestors of mammals, pterosaurs, and dinosaurs (the latter later give rise to birds). This talk begins by describing how the development of the cleidoic (or amniotic) egg (the type of egg which reptiles and birds lay), was absolutely critical in facilitating the dominance of reptiles during the Permian.

In this week I will chat with postdoctoral researcher, Michael Day about the Guadalupian extinction event, which predated the End Permian extinction event by 8 million years. After this, I will talk with palaeontologist/geologist Roger Smith, about the extraordinary mammal-like reptiles from South Africa, and how they were affected by the End Permian extinction event. Lastly, palaeobotanist, John Anderson, will talk to us about his research into the plant (and insect) biodiversity that straddles the Permian-Triassic boundary.