Biodiversity crisis

The Late Devonian was a time of profound evolutionary and environmental change associated with the Frasnian-Famennian Biodiversity Crisis, including reduction in speciation rates, increased extinction rates, rampant species invasions, and ecosystem restructuring (Sepkoski, 1986 McGhee, 1996 Droser et al., 2000). The biodiversity crisis may have lasted as long as three million years with a final pulse of more severe extinction in the last few hundred thousand years of the Frasnian. To unravel the faunal dynamics of this complex crisis, it is critical to understand both the spatial and temporal patterns associated with biodiversity decline. 

The combination of biotic overturn, geographic expansion, tectonic activity, and substantial fossil and sedimentary record make the Late Devonian of Eastern North America an excellent interval in which to implement GIS methods, assess their accuracy, and employ these methods to decipher the faunal dynamics of a key event in Earth s history. The case study presented below uses range reconstructions constrained by GIS or phylogenetic frameworks to address specific aspects of the Late Devonian Biodiversity Crisis. 

Stigall, A.L. (2006b) Faunal dynamics of the Late Devonian Biodiversity Crisis A complex interplay of speciation, extinction, and biogeographic change. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 38 xx. 

Stigall, A.L. (2010). Speciation decline during the Late Devonian Biodiversity Crisis related to species invasions. PLoS ONE, 5(12) el5584. 

Stigall Rode, A.L. and Lieberman, B.S. (2005b) Using environmental niche modelling to study the Late Devonian biodiversity crisis. In Understanding Late Devonian and Permian-Triassic Biotic and Climatic Events Towards an Integrated Approach (eds. D.J. Over, J.R. Morrow, and PB. Wignall), Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 93-178. 

A flurry of recent taxonomic initiatives, such as the Encyclopedia of life project and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, have exemplified one of the most crucial issues facing systematists today the question of how best to supply basic taxonomic information to those who need it most. This issue is of growing concern because the worldwide biodiversity crisis demands immediate conservation action based upon scientific evidence, which in turn relies upon accurate species-level identifications. This chapter describes a UK Darwin Initiative-funded project. Building capacity for forest inventory in the Republic of Congo, which aims to supply such information to stakeholders in the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville). 

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