DOES "LILLIPUT EFFECT" OF BRACHIOPODS EXIST IN SOUTH CHINA AFTER THE LATE ORDOVICIAN MASS EXTINCTION?
Article
Figures
Metrics
Preview PDF
Reference
Related
Cited by
Materials
Abstract:
In the immediate aftermath of mass extinction,organisms are typically much smaller than during pre-extinction times.This evolutionary phenomenon is named "Lilliput effect".For in-depth research,the effect is divided into two types:the special type,refers to the original definition of the effect which aims at species level,but it is too strict to prove;the general type,with some cases which related to higher taxa than species level.This study compares body size of the brachiopods from South China through the Ordovician mass extinction(late Katian,Hirnantian,earliest Rhuddanian three time intervals) at "generic","super familial" and "ordinal" levels.The result indicates that the body sizes of the lower taxa(generic level) are highly variable,which is different from the Lilliput effect from end Permian mass extinction because the intensity of the end Ordovician mass extinction is much less than the latter.The consistency of the variation in some higher taxa possibly suggests that the brachiopods from the same higher taxon have similar surviving strategies.
