The 'Age of Fishes' began with mass death, fossil database reveals
Phys.org••general
Key Points:
- Around 445 million years ago, the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (LOME) wiped out about 85% of marine species due to rapid climate shifts and ocean changes, profoundly altering life on Earth.
- Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology demonstrated that this extinction event directly led to a significant increase in jawed vertebrate (gnathostome) biodiversity, marking their rise to dominance.
- By analyzing 200 years of fossil data, the team identified isolated refugia where jawed fishes evolved and diversified before spreading globally, highlighting the role of geographic isolation in vertebrate evolution.
- The study suggests that jawed vertebrates filled ecological niches left vacant by extinct species, supporting a "diversity
