Absolute measures of the completeness of the fossil record

Article Abstract:

Measuring the completeness of the fossil record is necessary to understand evolution over long periods. Quantitative and widely applicable absolute measures of completeness at two taxonomic levels are compared, for a wider sample of higher tax of marine animals than had been available previously. The probability of genus preservation per stratigraphic interval is estimated, depending mostly on the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic records.

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Quality of the fossil record through time

Article Abstract:

A database of 1,000 morphological and molecular cadograms was compiled and sorted into lineages arising in the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic or Cenozoic. Sample sizes and tree sizes were fairly uniform and the relative congruence of age and clade data showed no clear increase from most ancient to most recent. This provides a more convincing analytical tool, offering independent data on history.

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Ecosystem remodelling among vertebrates at the Permian-Triassic boundary in Russia

Article Abstract:

The mass extinction at the Permian-Triassic boundary, 251 million years ago is accepted as the most profound loss of life on record. Global data compilations indicate a loss of 50% of families or more, both in the sea and on land, and it scales to a loss of 80-96% loss of species, based on rarefaction analyses.

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