Extinction on Earth: What Are the First Animals to Recover?

The largest place took place about 252 million years ago become extinct Permian-Triassic. Also called the Great Dying, for the violent cancellation of life on planet Earth Despite everything, life quickly recovered.

A scientific study shows that worms and shrimp, which feed on sediments, were the first to recover. They immediately reactivated in terms of population and biodiversity. Later also remains of animal activity such as ichnofossils or trace fossils.

We were able to examine fossil traces of 26 sections through the whole sequence of events, representing a pivotal 7 million years, showing the details in 400 sampling points, we finally reconstructed the recovery stages of all animals, including benthos, nekton, as well as these gentle burrowing animals in the ocean.

Michael Benton, paleontologist at the University of Bristol, UK

Such animals have no skeleton and therefore no tracks fossils they are essential to understanding the lives of these creatures.

Our traces of fossil data reveal the resilience of soft-bodied animals to high CO2 and warming. These ecosystem engineers may have played a role in the recovery of the benthic ecosystem after severe mass extinctions, which may have led to evolutionary innovations and radiation in the lower Triassic, for example.

Xueqian Feng, paleoecologist at China University of Geosciences

The research team looked at animal diversity, type inequality, ecosystem use and ecosystem engineering. The great extinction killed 80-90% of the marine life on planet Earth.

The reasons for the mass extinction are the change of the climatethe global warming and the increase in ocean acidification. The results of these studies will be useful to better understand the future events of the modern age. Understanding how animals came out of the Great Extinction can help us better understand their lives, even during the current global warming.