China-led study uncovers grim warning from Earth’s ‘Great Dying’

Scientists said their research shows today’s biodiversity crisis could reach a tipping point, leading to ecosystem collapse

The researchers found stronger species initially survived but eventually food webs broke down, creating chain reactions

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A recreation of the sea floor during the Permian period, before the mass extinction 252 million years ago known as the “Great Dying”. Photo: University of Michigan Museum of Natural History

Published: 8:30pm, 21 Mar 2023

A Chinese-led study of Earth’s most devastating mass extinction event suggests that today’s biodiversity crisis could be just the beginning of an ecosystem collapse.

The scientists, from China, the US and Britain, found the “Great Dying” of 252 million years ago began with the disappearance of more than half of the world’s marine species, followed by total ecosystem collapse 61,000 years later.

The findings imply that “in major catastrophes, a biodiversity crash may be the harbinger of a more devastating ecosystem collapse”, they wrote in a paper published in February by the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology.

The scientists, from the California Academy of Sciences, the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), and the University of Bristol, said their study sheds light on today’s biodiversity crisis, with the planet losing species at a faster rate than at any other time in its history.

Massive swathes of life on Earth, including more than 80 per cent of marine species, were wiped out in the “Great Dying” – also called the Permian-Triassic mass extinction.

The event is generally believed to have been caused by volcanic eruptions and consequent intense global warming. The heated oceans also became more acidic and eventually there was not enough oxygen for marine animals to survive.

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