Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T18:39:56.202Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Testing for a mass extinction without selecting taxa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Andrew R. Solow  and
Woollcott K. Smith
Andrew R. Solow
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543. E-mail: [email protected]
Woollcott K. Smith
Affiliation:
Statistics Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Statistical inference about mass extinction events is commonly based on the pattern of fossil finds among a group of taxa. An important issue for existing methods is the selection of taxa for inclusion in the analysis. A common approach is to select taxa on the basis of the stratigraphic height of their uppermost finds. This approach creates a bias in favor of detecting a mass extinction event. This paper describes and illustrates an approach that avoids this problem.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , Fall 2000 , pp. 647 - 650
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Cox, D. R., and Lewis, P. A. W. 1978. The statistical analysis of series of events. Chapman and Hall, London.Google Scholar
Efron, B., and Tibshirani, R. J. 1993. An introduction to the bootstrap. Chapman and Hall, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foote, M., and Raup, D. M. 1996. Fossil preservation and the stratigraphic ranges of taxa. Paleobiology 22:121–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macellari, C. E. 1986. Late Campanian-Maastrichtian ammonite fauna from Seymour Island (Antarctic Peninsula). Journal of Paleontology 60:1–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, C. R. 1990. Confidence intervals on stratigraphic ranges. Paleobiology 16:1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, C. R. 1995. Distinguishing between sudden and gradual extinctions in the fossil record: predicting the position of the Cretaceous-Tertiary iridium anomaly using the ammonite fossil record on Seymour Island, Antarctica. Geology 23:731–734.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, C. R. 1998. Determining stratigraphic ranges. Pp. 23–53in Donovan, S. K. and Paul, C. R. C., eds. The adequacy of the fossil record. Wiley, London.Google Scholar
Marshall, C. R., and Ward, P. D. 1996. Sudden and gradual molluscan extinctions in the latest Cretaceous in western European Tethys. Science 274:1360–1363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silvey, S. D. 1975. Statistical inference. Chapman and Hall, London.Google Scholar
Solow, A. R. 1996. Tests and confidence intervals for a common upper endpoint in fossil taxa. Paleobiology 22:406–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solow, A. R., and Smith, W. K. 1997. On fossil preservation and the stratigraphic ranges of taxa. Paleobiology 23:271–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Springer, M. S. 1990. The effect of random range truncation on patterns of evolution in the fossil record. Paleobiology 16:512–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, D., and Sadler, P. M. 1989. Classical confidence intervals and Bayesian probability estimates for ends of local taxon ranges. Mathematical Geology 21:411–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiss, R. E., and Marshall, C. R. 1999. The uncertainty in the true endpoint of a fossil's stratigraphic range when stratigraphic sections are sampled discretely. Mathematical Geology 31:435–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar