The impact of mass extinctions

In the years since Snowbird an explosive growth of research on the patterns, causes, and consequences of extinction was seen. The fossil record of extinction is better known, stratigraphic sections were scrutinized in great detail, and additional markers of environmental change were discovered in the rock record. However flawed, the fossil record is the only record that exists of natural extinction. Compilations from the primary literature contain a faint periodic signal: the extinctions of the past 250 my may be regulary spaced. The reality of the periodicity remains a subject for debate. The implications of periodicity are so profound that the debate is sure to continue. The greater precision from stratigraphic sections spanning extinction events has yet to resolve controversies concerning the rates at which extinctions occurred. Some sections seem to record sudden terminations, while others suggest gradual or steplike environmental deterioration. Unfortunately, the manner in which the strata record extinctions and compile stratigraphic ranges makes a strictly literal reading of the fossil record inadvisable. Much progress was made in the study of mass extinctions. The issues are more sharply defined but they are not fully resolved. Scenarios should look back to the phenomena they purport to explain - not just an iridium-rich layer, but the complex fabric of a mass extinction

Comment on Rojas-Bracho and Colleagues (2019): Unsubstantiated Claims Can Lead to Tragic Conservation Outcomes

The vaquita’s decline is a tragic story indeed. However, the lack of action to prevent the extinction of this species is not due to unsubstantiated claims and scientific uncertainty

Vaquita Face Extinction from Bycatch. Comment on Manjarrez-Bringas, N. et al., Lessons for Sustainable Development: Marine Mammal Conservation Policies and Its Social and Economic Effects.

We are among the scientists who have documented the environmental and ecological changes to the Upper Gulf of California following the reduction in the Colorado River’s flow. We object to any suggestion that our research supports Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusion that the decline in the Colorado River’s flow is the reason for the decline in the population of the endangered vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus). Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusions are incongruent with their own data, their logic is untenable, their analyses fail to consider current illegal fishing practices, and their recommendations are unjustified and misdirected. Vaquita face extinction because of bycatch, not because of the lack of river flow

Quantitative analyses of molluscan communities and taphocoenoses of Bahia la Choya (Gulf of California, Sonora, Mexico)

Volume: 18Start Page: 79End Page: 8

The origin and interpretation of Bahia la Choya (Northern Gulf of California) taphocoenoses: implications for paleoenvironmental analysis

Volume: 18Start Page: 165End Page: 18

Restoration flows for the Colorado River estuary, México: estimates from oxygen isotopes in the bivalve mollusk Mulinia coloradoensis (Mactridae: Bivalvia)

Because of competing demands for freshwater, restoration of estuaries requires estimates of inflows to sustain key species. In this study we estimated the pre-dam salinities of the Colorado River estuary by using oxygen isotopes in subfossil shells of the bivalve mollusk Mulinia coloradoensis. Since the construction of upstream dams and water diversions, average salinity in the estuary has increased to 38 practical salinity units (psu) and the population of M. coloradoensis has decreased by ~90%. In the pre-dam estuary, specimens grew when salinity ranged from 22 to 33 psu at the mouth of the river while populations 40 km distant grew at salinities from 30 to 38 psu. The river flow needed to reduce salinities at the mouth of the river to those recorded in the most distant localities (40 km from river’s mouth) ranges from 120 to 290 m3 s−1. If these flows were sustained for a year, they would total 7–16 % of the river’s annual average historical flow (~1.8 × 1010 m3)

Fossil clam shells reveal unintended carbon cycling consequences of Colorado River management

Water management that alters riverine ecosystem processes has strongly influenced deltas and the people who depend on them, but a full accounting of the trade-offs is still emerging. Using palaeoecological data, we document a surprising biogeochemical consequence of water management in the Colorado River basin. Complete allocation and consumptive use of the river's flow has altered the downstream estuarine ecosystem, including the abundance and composition of the mollusc community, an important component in estuarine carbon cycling. In particular, population declines in the endemic Colorado delta clam, Mulinia coloradoensis, from 50-125 individuals m(-2) in the pre-dam era to three individualsm-2 today, have likely resulted in a reduction, on the order of 5900-15 000 tCyr(-1) (4.1-10.6 mol Cm-2 yr(-1)), in the net carbon emissions associated with molluscs. Although this reduction is large within the estuarine system, it is small in comparison with annual global carbon emissions. Nonetheless, this finding highlights the need for further research into the effects of dams, diversions and reservoirs on the biogeochemistry of deltas and estuaries worldwide, underscoring a present need for integrated water and carbon planning.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]