New research today reveals that wildfires may have been a key contributor to the total collapse of land ecosystems during the Earth’s worst mass extinction event over 250 million years ago.
New research today reveals that wildfires may have been a key contributor to the total collapse of land ecosystems during the Earth’s worst mass extinction event over 250 million years ago.
Researchers at UCC and the Swedish Museum of Natural History examined the end-Permian mass extinction (252 million years ago) that eliminated almost every species on Earth, with entire ecosystems collapsing. The researchers discovered a sharp spike in wildfire activity from this most devastating of mass extinctions. Promoted by rapid greenhouse gas emissions from volcanoes, extreme warming and drying led to wildfires across vast regions that were previously permanently wet. Instead of capturing carbon from the atmosphere, these wetlands became major sources of atmospheric carbon, enhancing the sharp warming trend. The research is published in PALAIOS today.
“Sifting through the fossil plant records of eastern Australia and Antarctica, we found high abundances of burnt, or charcoalified, plants throughout the late Permian Period. From this high baseline, charcoal abundances reached a prominent peak right at the top of the last Permian coal beds, indicating a major but short-lived increase in wildfires. This was followed by low charcoal for the next three million years of the Early Triassic Period. It was an end-Permian burnout, followed by an Early Triassic depression.” – Lead author Dr Chris Mays of the UCC School of BEES and the ERI.
Read more at University College Cork
Photo Credit: Ylvers via Pixabay
