Life in the Triassic
The End Triassic extinction event occurred about 208 million years ago. At this time between 70% and 75% of all species, including 35% of all animal families, went extinct. Most …
Course: Extinctions: Past and Present
Recovery of ecosystems
Each extinction event has dire consequences for life on Earth but it also creates opportunity for new radiations and diversifications. In the previous week, we stressed the enormous impact of …
Plant and insect diversification
I ask veteran plant-palaeontologist, Emeritus Professor John Anderson, to reflect on how the End Permian extinction event wrought profound changes in the plant diversity of the time. The fossil records …
A crisis before the end of the Permian
I ask Dr Michael Day, a palaeontologist, to talk to us about the reptilian fauna of the Permian. South Africa is really well known for fossils from this time period, …
Reading rocks
I asked Dr Roger Smith, geologist and palaeontologist, about his 30 year career working on fossils in the Karoo basin of South Africa. Using biostratigraphy (a branch of geology looking …
Bringing life to its knees
The third mass extinction event was the one that brought life on Earth to its knees. It was the most severe extinction event, with over 90% of all marine species …
Life during the Permian
Just before the great End Permian extinction event, the world was dominated by a supercontinent (Pangaea) surrounded by a global ocean called Panthalassa. The Permian period lasted from 299 to …
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 …
Lessons from the past
We have seen how the End Permian extinction event was a significant influence on the development of life, and in determining which species survived and diversified. Although life was almost …
What can researchers tell us?
In each week, I will be interviewing palaeontologists and other scientists engaged in research about biodiversity – past and present. It is fascinating to see how new knowledge about the …
Radiation and extinction
The term radiation (or adaptive radiation) refers to the proliferation of species over a relatively short period of geological time. One of the most spectacular adaptive radiations is the one …
Fossils and the Geological Record
When organisms die, they soon decompose. The hard parts of animals such as shells, teeth and bones are more resilient, and there is a chance that under specific conditions they …
An abundance of bacteria
In my interview with microbiologist, Professor Ed Rybicki, he outlines how tiny micro-organisms, which were there in the very beginning of life on Earth, may have persisted until today. Many …
Welcome and introductions
I am Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, a paleobiologist based at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. I am fascinated by the amazing biodiversity of the present and of the past. …