Polar biota

The available fossil record of terrestrial animals and plants documenting terminal Cretaceous extinctions is much smaller than that recording changes in the marine biota. Lack of precise resolution in methods of temporal correlation prohibits direct testing of hypotheses that extinctions in marine and terrestrial environments were globally contemporaneous on a biologically significant time scale graduated in months or years. Some evidence suggests they were not. Complex patterns of extinction and survival among terrestrial vertebrates, different geologically short-term patterns of extinction of animals in adjacent flood plain and river valley environments, apparent asynchrony of extinctions of terrestrial animals and plants, and global patterns of floral change all argue against a single, catastrophic causal factor. Terminal Cretaceous extinctions within the terrestrial biota appear to have occurred over a geologically short but biologically lengthy period and to be the results of multiple, interrelated changes in physical and biological factors.

@incollection{clemens1982patterns,
    author = "Clemens, William A.",
    title = "Patterns of extinction and survival of the terrestrial biota during the Cretaceous/Tertiary transition",
    year = "1982",
    booktitle = "Geological Implications of Impacts of Large Asteroids and Comets on the Earth",
    abstract = "The available fossil record of terrestrial animals and plants documenting terminal Cretaceous extinctions is much smaller than that recording changes in the marine biota. Lack of precise resolution in methods of temporal correlation prohibits direct testing of hypotheses that extinctions in marine and terrestrial environments were globally contemporaneous on a biologically significant time scale graduated in months or years. Some evidence suggests they were not. Complex patterns of extinction and survival among terrestrial vertebrates, different geologically short-term patterns of extinction of animals in adjacent flood plain and river valley environments, apparent asynchrony of extinctions of terrestrial animals and plants, and global patterns of floral change all argue against a single, catastrophic causal factor. Terminal Cretaceous extinctions within the terrestrial biota appear to have occurred over a geologically short but biologically lengthy period and to be the results of multiple, interrelated changes in physical and biological factors.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/spe190-p407",
    doi = "10.1130/spe190-p407",
    pages = "407-414"
}

@article{axelrod1984an,
    author = "Axelrod, Daniel I.",
    title = "An interpretation of Cretaceous and tertiary biota in polar regions",
    year = "1984",
    journal = "Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(84)90037-3",
    doi = "10.1016/0031-0182(84)90037-3",
    number = "2",
    pages = "105-147",
    volume = "45"
}

@misc{axelrod1984an1,
    author = "Axelrod, D. I",
    title = "An interpretation of Cretaceous and Tertiary biota in polar regions",
    year = "1984",
    howpublished = "Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 45, p. 105-147",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Axelrod, D. I., 1984, An interpretation of Cretaceous and Tertiary biota in polar regions: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 45, p. 105-147.}"
}

@article{axelrod1985reply,
    author = "Axelrod, Daniel I.",
    title = "Reply to comments on Cretaceous climatic equability in polar regions",
    year = "1985",
    journal = "Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(85)90062-8",
    doi = "10.1016/0031-0182(85)90062-8",
    number = "3-4",
    pages = "357-359",
    volume = "49"
}

@article{williams1985comments,
    author = "Williams, G.E. and Douglas, J.G.",
    title = "Comments on Cretaceous climatic equability in polar regions",
    year = "1985",
    journal = "Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(85)90061-6",
    doi = "10.1016/0031-0182(85)90061-6",
    number = "3-4",
    pages = "355-357",
    volume = "49"
}

@article{palma1986environmental,
    author = "Palma, Ricardo M.",
    title = "Environmental interpretation of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary formations of northwest Argentina",
    year = "1986",
    journal = "Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie, Teil I",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1127/zbl\_geol\_pal\_1/1985/1986/1337",
    doi = "10.1127/zbl\_geol\_pal\_1/1985/1986/1337",
    number = "9-10",
    pages = "1337-1350",
    volume = "1985"
}

The currently available fossil record suggests, 1) biogeographic differentiation of the Late Cretaceous terrestrial biota and, 2) distinctly different patterns of evolution of terrestrial faunas and floras across the Cretaceous\Tertiary boundary. Discovery in Alaska of dinosaurs and mammals that lived at Late Cretaceous northern high latitudes provides evidence that many groups of terrestrial vertebrates had extensive geographic ranges and faunas were biogeographically differentiated. The Alaskan dinosaurs, represented by individuals that range in size from hatchlings to adults, might have been migratory forms living at high latitudes only during the summer months. In contrast, the small mammals probably were not migratory. Although recent discoveries are expanding our knowledge of the evolution of the terrestrial biota, the fossil record of terrestrial vertebrates during the Cretaceous\Tertiary transition is still heavily biased in favor of the northern Western Interior of North America. Here evolutionary change of the terrestrial fauna did not just involve extinction of lineages, some already decreasing in taxonomic diversity, and survival of many others. Shifts in biogeographic range and immigration of new groups played a significant role in remodeling the terrestrial fauna. The paleobotanical record is more extensive but also is biased with the most detailed record coming from the Western Interior where floral change is characterized as “massive” or “catastrophic” in scope. These conflicting evolutionary patterns are well founded being based on analysis of substantial fossil records. A new program of research directed toward resolution of the apparent paradox tests the hypothesis that at the end of the Cretaceous the terrestrial biota was biogeographically heterogeneous and evolutionary patterns of faunal and floral change in the Western Interior cannot be taken as globally representative.

@article{clemens1992biogeographic,
    author = "Clemens, William A.",
    title = "Biogeographic and evolutionary patterns of change in the terrestrial biota across the Cretaceous\Tertiary boundary",
    year = "1992",
    journal = "The Paleontological Society Special Publications",
    abstract = "The currently available fossil record suggests, 1) biogeographic differentiation of the Late Cretaceous terrestrial biota and, 2) distinctly different patterns of evolution of terrestrial faunas and floras across the Cretaceous\Tertiary boundary. Discovery in Alaska of dinosaurs and mammals that lived at Late Cretaceous northern high latitudes provides evidence that many groups of terrestrial vertebrates had extensive geographic ranges and faunas were biogeographically differentiated. The Alaskan dinosaurs, represented by individuals that range in size from hatchlings to adults, might have been migratory forms living at high latitudes only during the summer months. In contrast, the small mammals probably were not migratory. Although recent discoveries are expanding our knowledge of the evolution of the terrestrial biota, the fossil record of terrestrial vertebrates during the Cretaceous\Tertiary transition is still heavily biased in favor of the northern Western Interior of North America. Here evolutionary change of the terrestrial fauna did not just involve extinction of lineages, some already decreasing in taxonomic diversity, and survival of many others. Shifts in biogeographic range and immigration of new groups played a significant role in remodeling the terrestrial fauna. The paleobotanical record is more extensive but also is biased with the most detailed record coming from the Western Interior where floral change is characterized as “massive” or “catastrophic” in scope. These conflicting evolutionary patterns are well founded being based on analysis of substantial fossil records. A new program of research directed toward resolution of the apparent paradox tests the hypothesis that at the end of the Cretaceous the terrestrial biota was biogeographically heterogeneous and evolutionary patterns of faunal and floral change in the Western Interior cannot be taken as globally representative.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s2475262200006201",
    doi = "10.1017/s2475262200006201",
    pages = "60-60",
    volume = "6"
}

@inproceedings{andwang2017cretaceous,
    author = "Wang, Bo",
    title = "CRETACEOUS BURMESE AMBER BIOTA",
    year = "2017",
    booktitle = "Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2017am-298336",
    doi = "10.1130/abs/2017am-298336"
}

@incollection{crossref2022polar,
    title = "Polar Regions",
    year = "2022",
    booktitle = "The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157964.005",
    doi = "10.1017/9781009157964.005",
    pages = "203-320"
}

@incollection{crossref2023polar,
    title = "Polar Regions",
    year = "2023",
    booktitle = "Climate Change 2022 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009325844.023",
    doi = "10.1017/9781009325844.023",
    pages = "2319-2368"
}