Biodiversity in the extreme world of Pangea

"The modern-day latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is a keystone ecological pattern based on the decrease in biodiversity from the equatorial to polar regions. Understanding the processes that generate the LDG is critical for predicting the loss of biodiversity as a result of climate change. The fossil record provides a unique record on the evolution and dynamics of LDGs and suggests that the modern-day distribution of biodiversity has not been consistent over the past 500 million years.

One period of Earth history where LDGs may have been significantly different to the present is during the late Palaeozoic to early Mesozoic, when the continents were arranged in a single landmass called Pangea. The Permian-Jurassic represents a turbulent period of Earth history with fluctuating extreme icehouse-greenhouse conditions and frequent large-scale volcanic events, resulting in four major mass extinction events. The aim of this project is to document how extreme climatic fluctuations and mass extinctions through the Permian-Jurassic influenced LDGs, and to examine which latitudes were most vulnerable to biodiversity loss under extreme climatic stress (e.g., such as the superhot world of the earliest Triassic). Such investigations will shed new light on the underlying mechanisms producing latitudinal diversity gradients.

The student will build a spatiotemporal fossil database, concentrating on tetrapods, marine vertebrates and plants, from a variety of sources (including the Paleobiology Database, the scientific literature, and museum collections) ranging from the Permian-Early Cretaceous. This database will then be used to test the following hypotheses: (1) Pangean LDGs differ from modern LDGs because of harsh, low-latitude conditions; (2) the breakup of Pangea during the Jurassic initiated the establishment of the modern LDG; (3) LDG dynamics are sensitive to high temperature-driven mass extinctions, with preferential extinction occurring at low latitudes; (4) fossil LDGs can be recreated using climate-constrained LDG simulations.

This interdisciplinary project will provide the successful PhD candidate with highly valued and sought-after tools for investigating past climates and macroevolutionary processes. The student will gain experience and expertise in database construction, fossil specimen taxonomy, statistical and spatial modelling, and climate modelling. This skillset will equip the student with the necessary expertise to carry out their own programme of innovative scientific research. The student will benefit from working and collaborating with dynamic scientists in the multidisciplinary Palaeo@Leeds group (Aze, Gill, Gregoire, Haywood, Ivanovic, Little, Lloyd, März, Newton). There will be opportunities to present results at major, international conferences, e.g. IPC, GSA, PalAss, and attend residential summer-schools (e.g. in Australia, USA, UK) and in-house workshops and courses."

http://www.nercdtp.leeds.ac.uk/projects/index.php?id=455