蜜桃视频 Paleontologist’s Fossil Finds Shed Light on Life after Permian Mass Extinction
November 5, 2021

A new article in the journal Nature co-authored by an 蜜桃视频 paleontologist details how life bounced back after the world’s most severe mass extinction event.
Over the last eight years, L.J. Krumenacker, ISU Geosciences adjunct professor and affiliate curator at the 蜜桃视频 Museum of Natural History, and his co-authors studied 250 million-year-old fossils found in Caribou and Bear Lake Counties in Southeast 蜜桃视频 as well as specimens from northeastern Nevada. What they discovered shows how fast - geologically speaking - life recovered after the Permian mass extinction. During the Permian mass extinction, more than 90 percent of species were lost.
鈥淚t took about 1.5 to 2 million years for this ecosystem to get going after the massive Permian/Triassic extinction,鈥 said Krumenacker. 鈥淭he fossils show how complex marine ecosystems established themselves soon after the extinction.鈥
Researchers found simple organisms like algae and shellfish, crustaceans, squid-like animals called cephalopods, and top-tier predators like fish and marine reptiles at the dig sites.
鈥淭he ecosystem resembles what we see in today鈥檚 oceans,鈥 Krumenacker said. 鈥淭here are all the levels of a complicated food chain, and this ecosystem shows abundant life.鈥
Now, the fossils will be housed and featured in the 鈥淭his is 蜜桃视频鈥 exhibit at the 蜜桃视频 Museum of Natural History in Pocatello.
鈥淭he wilderness of 蜜桃视频 records an abundance of world history that we are only now beginning to realize,鈥 said Leif Tapanila, Director of the 蜜桃视频 Museum of Natural History. 鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to curate these new fossils so that future generations of 蜜桃视频ans can make a personal connection with our shared history.鈥
To read the full article, visit .
For more information about the 蜜桃视频 Museum of Natural History, visit .
More on ISU鈥檚 Department of Geosciences can be found at .
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