Data from: Impact of the Late Triassic mass extinction on functional diversity and composition of marine ecosystems

Mass extinctions have profoundly influenced the history of life, not only through the death of species but also through changes in ecosystem function and structure. Importantly, these events allow us the opportunity to study ecological dynamics under levels of environmental stress for which there are no recent analogues. Here, we examine the impact and selectivity of the Late Triassic mass extinction event on the functional diversity and functional composition of the global marine ecosystem, and test whether post-extinction communities in the Early Jurassic represent a regime shift away from pre-extinction communities in the Late Triassic. Our analyses show that, despite severe taxonomic losses, there is no unequivocal loss of global functional diversity associated with the extinction. Even though no functional groups were lost, the extinction event was, however, highly selective against some modes of life, in particular sessile suspension feeders. Although taxa with heavily calcified skeletons suffered higher extinction than other taxa, lightly calcified taxa also appear to have been selected against. The extinction appears to have invigorated the already ongoing faunal turnover associated with the Mesozoic Marine Revolution. The ecological effects of the Late Triassic mass extinction were preferentially felt in the tropical latitudes, especially amongst reefs, and it took until the Middle Jurassic for reef ecosystems to fully recover to pre-extinction levels.

生物大灭绝深刻塑造了生命演化历程，其影响不仅体现为物种消亡，更在于对生态系统功能与结构的改变。尤为关键的是，此类灭绝事件为我们提供了研究无现代类比的极端环境胁迫下生态动力学的契机。本研究聚焦晚三叠世生物大灭绝事件对全球海洋生态系统功能多样性与功能组成的影响及其选择性，并检验早侏罗世灭绝后群落是否相较于晚三叠世灭绝前群落发生了生态系统状态转换。分析结果显示，尽管本次灭绝造成了严重的分类学多样性损失，但并未伴随明确的全球功能多样性丧失。尽管未发生任何功能群的灭绝，但本次灭绝事件对部分生活方式具有极强的选择性，尤以固着滤食生物为甚。尽管具有重度钙化骨骼的类群灭绝率高于其他类群，但轻度钙化类群同样呈现出被选择性淘汰的趋势。本次大灭绝似乎进一步推动了业已启动的、与中生代海洋革命（Mesozoic Marine Revolution）相关的动物群更替进程。晚三叠世生物大灭绝的生态效应优先影响了热带纬度区域，尤以珊瑚礁生态系统为甚；直至中侏罗世，珊瑚礁生态系统才完全恢复至灭绝前的水平。