98 Linking Biodiversity Loss to Environmental Stressors Through Integrated Approaches

Biodiversity crises serve as natural experiments to explore extinction selectivity and ecosystem restructuring. We highlight studies using model-data comparisons to link biodiversity loss with environmental stressors by integrating paleobiology, geochemistry, ecophysiology, and Earth system modeling.

Monday, 20 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 304A

Assessing thermal stress during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction through ostracods from the Southern Alps (Italy)

Paper number: 98-14
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:10 AM – 11:25 AM

Authors

  • Mónica Alejandra Gómez Correa Presenting Author
    Department of Earth System Sciences, University of Hamburg, Hamburg
  • Anja Frank
    Department of Earth System Sciences, University of Hamburg, Hamburg
  • Michael Wiedenbeck
    Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam
  • Jana Gliwa
    Institute of Geological Sciences, Palaeontology Section, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin
  • Dieter Korn
    Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin
  • Herwig Prinoth
    Museum Ladin, San Martin de Tor / St. Martin in Thurn/ San Martino in Badia
  • Evelyn Kustatscher
    Sammlungs- und Forschungszentrum, Tiroler Landesmuseen, Hall in Tirol
  • William Foster
    Department of Earth System Sciences, University of Hamburg, Hamburg

Abstract

The Permian-Triassic mass extinction, which occurred approximately 252 million years ago, was the Earth's most severe known biotic crisis. During the extinction period, environmental changes, such as thermal stress, deoxygenation, and ocean acidification, are hypothesized to have played crucial roles in driving the crisis. Among the affected taxa, ostracods were abundant, diverse and widely distributed microfossils across the extinction. Their fossil record provides valuable insights into marine ecosystem responses to such severe environmental changes and helps identify the primary drivers of this catastrophic extinction. Ostracod carapaces are composed of low-Mg calcite, a stable and reliable archive of seawater conditions. This study uses secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to analyze the geochemical signals preserved in ostracod carapaces from Permian-Triassic carbonate ramp successions in the Southern Alps, Italy. We measured δ18Oostracod as a proxy for paleotemperature and δ13Costracod to assess perturbations in the carbon cycle. Our results reveal that the δ13Costracod data record a decreasing trend in δ13Ccarbonate of abiotic carbonate typical for the end Permian, but with a consistent negative offset likely caused by vital effects. Further, the recorded δ18Oostracod values decrease across the investigated interval, suggesting a gradual increase in sea surface temperatures, which agrees with previously measured δ18Oostracod data from other localities. These findings highlight the value of ostracod geochemistry as an indicator of temperature change. Further analyses of these microfossils have the potential to enhance our understanding of marine ecosystem responses to temperature changes in the past, present and future.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412004

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