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Some Implications of Mass Extinction for the Evolution of Complex Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

J. John Sepkoski Jr.
J. John Sepkoski Jr.*
Affiliation:
Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, U.S.A.

Abstract

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Extinction has the destructive effect of eliminating established lineages from an evolutionary system and the constructive effect of vacating ecospace into which new lineages can evolve. Mass extinctions, which are times of unusually intense extinction, have been consistently followed by major radiations of new lineages. Extraterrestrial impacts associated with extinction events and a periodic recurrence of these events implicates an extraterrestrial forcing mechanism as the ultimate cause of mass extinction. This suggests that the extraplanetary environment has played an important, active role in the development of complex life on Earth.

Information

Type
Section IV. Universal Aspects of Biological Evolution
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 112: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life: Recent Developments , 1985 , pp. 223 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1985 

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