ScienceDaily (Oct. 23, 2012) — What
makes some ocean animals more prone to extinction than others? A new study of
marine fossils provides a clue.
An analysis of roughly 500
million years of fossil data for marine invertebrates reveals that ocean
animals with small geographic ranges have been consistently hard hit -- even
when populations are large, the authors report.
The oceans represent more than
70% of Earth's surface. But because monitoring data are harder to collect at
sea than on land, we know surprisingly little about the conservation status of
most marine animals. By using the fossil record to study how ocean extinctions
occurred in the past, we may be better able to predict species' vulnerability in
the future.
"If the patterns we
observed in the fossil record hold for species living today, our results
suggest that species with large populations but small ranges are at greater
risk of extinction than we might have expected," said study co-author Paul
Harnik of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.
Researchers have long assumed
that rare animals are more likely to die out. But "rare" could mean
multiple things.
The word "rare"
could be applied to species that have restricted geographic ranges, or small
populations, or that tolerate a narrow range of habitats, or any combination
thereof, the authors say.
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