Biology 505: Extinction
Fall 2010
Instructor. Kenneth Gobalet
Office 205 Science 1
Phone 661 654-3038
Email: kgobalet@csub.edu
Required Book: Alvarez, W. 1997. T. rex and the Crater of Doom.
Reading List
Overview of Extinction
Baumbach, R.K. 2006. Phanerozoic biodiversity, mass extinctions. Annual Review
of Earth and Planetary Science 34:127-155.
Benton M.J. 1995. Diversification and extinction in the history of life. Science 268:5258.
Erwin D. 2006. A cacophony of causes. Pgs 17-76 in Extinction: How Life on Earth
Nearly Ended 250 million years ago.
Hoffman, P.F. et al. 1998. A Neoproterozoic snowball earth. Science 281: 1342-1346.
(Kerr, R.A. 2010. Snowball earth has melted back to a profound wintry mix. Science
237: 1186)
Jablonski, D. 1986. Background and mass extinctions: the alternation of
macroevolutionary regimes. Science 231: 129-133.
Martin, R.A., 2004. Origin and Evolution of Species. Pgs 29- in Missing Links,
Evolutionary Concepts and Transitions through Time.
Raup, D.M. and J. J. Sepkoski. 1982. Mass extinctions in the marine fossil record.
Science 215: 1501 -1502.
Raup, D.M. and J. J. Sepkoski. 1984. Periodicity of extinctions in the geologic past.
PNAS 81: 801-805.
Sepkoski, J.J. 1990. The taxonomic structure of periodic extinction. Geological Society
of America Special paper 247. Pgs 33-44.
Stanley, S. M. 1990. Delayed recovery and the spacing of major extinctions.
Paleobiology 16(4): 401-414.
Twitchett, R.J. 2006. The palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology and papaeoenvironmental
analysis of mass extinction events. PALAEO 232: 190-213.
Ecology/Extinction:
Berger, J., et al. 2001. Recolonizing carnivores and naïve prey: conservation lessons
from Pleistocene extinctions. Science 291: 1036-1039.
Brashares, J.S. 2010. Filtering Wildlife Science 329: 402-403.
Croll, D.A. et al 2005. Introduced predators transform subarctic islands from grassland to
tundra. Science 307:1959-1961.
Crooks, K.R. and M.E. Soule 1999. Mesopredator release and avifaunal extinctions in a
fragmented system. Nature 400: 563-566.
Donlon J. et al. 2006. Pleistocene rewilding: an optimistic agenda fro twenty-first century
conservation. American Naturalist 168(5): 660-681.
(Donlon, J. (commentary) 2005. Rewilding North America. Nature 436: 913-916)
Estes, J.A and J.F Palmisrano, 1974. Sea otters: their role in structuring nearshore
communities. Science 185: 1058-1060.
Estes, J.A. et al. 1998. Killer whale predation on sea otters linking oceanic and nearshore
ecosystems Science 282: 473-476.
Hairston, N.G. et al. 1960. Community structure, population control, and competition.
The American Naturalist XCIV (879): 421-425.
Heath, D.D. et al. 2003. Rapid evolution of egg size in captive salmon. Science
299: 1738-1740.
(Zimmer, C. 2003. Rapid evolution can foil even the best-laid plans. Science 300:875)
Jansen, D.H. and P.AS. Martin. 1982. Neotropical anachronisms: the fruits the
gomphotheres ate. Science 215: 19-27.
Johnson, N. et al. 2006. Rapid advance of spring arrival dates in long-distance migratory
Birds. Science 312: 1959-1961.
Morell, V. 2007. Aspens return to Yellowstone, with help from some wolves. Science
317: 438-439.
(Morell, V. 2008. Wolves at the door of a more dangerous world. Science 319: 890-892)
Palmer, T.M. 2008. Breakdown of an ant-plant mutualism follows the loss of large
herbivores from an African savanna. Science 319: 192-195.
(Leslie, M. 2008. The importance of being eaten. Science 319: 146-147)
Ripple, W.J. and R.L. Beschta 2005. Linking wolves and plants: Aldo Leopold on trophic
Cascades. Bioscience 55(7): 613-621.
Sharam, G.J. et al. 2009. Serengeti birds maintain forests by inhibiting seed predators.
Science 325: 51.
Terborgh, J. et al. 2001. Ecological meltdown in predator-free forest fragments. Science
294: 1923-1925.
K-T Extinction:
Alvarez, L.W. et al. 1980. Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction.
Science 208: 1095-1107.
Alvarez, W. 1997. T.rex and the Crater of Doom.
Briggs, J.C. 1991. A Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction? BioScience 41(9): 619-624.
Fastovsky, D.E. and P.M. Sheehan. 2005. The extinction of the dinosaurs in North
America. GSA Today 15(3): 4-10.
Feduccia, A. 1995. Explosive evolution of Tertiary birds and mammals. Science 267:637638.
Flannery, T. 2001. The Eternal Frontier: Ground Zero pgs 9-37.
Hallam, A. 1987. End Cretaceous mass extinction event: argument for terrestrial
causation. Science 238: 1237-1242.
Rampino, M.R. et al. 1988. Volcanic winters. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary
Science 16: 73-99.
Sagan, C. Nuclear Winter.
Schulte, et al. 2010. The Chicxulub asteroid impact and mass extinction at the
Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Science 327: 1214-1218.
(Schulte (letters). 2010. Cretaceous extinctions: multiple causes. Science 238: 973-976)
Sheehan, P.M. 1991. Sudden extinction of the dinosaurs: latest Cretaceous, upper Great
Plains, U.S.A. Science 254: 835-839.
End Permian Extinction:
Benton, M.J. and R.J. Twitchett 2003. How to kill (almost) all life: the end-Permian
extinction event. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18(7): 358-365.
Benton, M. J. 2008. When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of
all Time. Chapter 4: The concept that dared not speak its name.
Chapter 6: Diversity extinction and mass extinction.
Braynard, A. et al. 2009. Good genes and good luck: Ammonoid diversity and the end
Permian Mass Extinction. Science 325: 1118-1121.
(Marshall, C. R. and D. K. Jacobs. 2009. Flourishing after the end Permian mass
extinction. Science 325: 1079-1080)
Foote, M. 1999. Morphological diversity in the evolutionary radiation of Paleozoic and
post-Paleozoic crinoids. Paleobiology 23(2): 1-115. (supplement)
Huey, R.B. et al. 2005. Hypoxia, global warming, and terrestrial late Permian
extinctions. Science 308: 398-401.
Knoll, A.H. et al. 1996. Comparative earth history and late Permian mass extinction.
Science 273: 452-457.
Raup, D.M. 1979. Size of the Permo-Triassic bottleneck and its evolutionary
implications. Science 206: 217-218.
Pleistocene-Early Holocene Extinction:
Barnosky,A.D. et al. 2006. Assessing the causes of late Pleistocene extinction on the
continents. Science 306: 70-74.
Flannery, T, 2001. The Eternal Frontier: Laurentide pgs 146-169.
Hansen, D.M. and M. Galetti 2009. The forgotten megafuana. Science 324: 42-43.
Marshall, L.G. et al. 1982. Mammalian evolution and the great American interchange
Science 215: 1351-1357.
Martin, P.S. 2005. Twilight of the mammoths, ice age extinctions and the rewilding of
America: Discovering the Lost World pgs. 4-57.
Reed, C.A. 1970. Extinction of mammalian megafauna in the old world late
Quaternary. Bioscience 20: 284-288.
Australia
Dayton, L. 2001. Mass extinction pinned on ice age hunters. Science 292:1819
Johnson, C.N. 2005. The remaking of Australia’s ecology. Science 309: 255-256.
Miller, G.H. et al. 1999. Pleistocene extinction of Genyornis newtoni: human impact
Australian megafauna. Science 283: 205-208.
Miller, G.H. et al. 2005. Ecosystem collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a human role.
Science 309: 287-290.
Roberts R.G. et al. 2001. New ages for the last Australian megafauna: continent-wide
extinction about 46,000years ago. Science 292: 1888-1892.
Roberts, R.G. and B.W. Brook. 2010. And then there were none? Science 327: 420-422.
North America
Alroy J. et al. 2001. A multispecies overkill simulaion of the end-Pleistocene
magafaunal mass extinction. Science 292:1893-1896. (supplement)
Buffington, J.D. 1971. Competition and Pleistocene megafauna extinction. BioScience
21:167-170. (supplement)
Gill J. L. et al. 2009. Pleistocene megafaunal collapse, novel plant communities, and
enhanced fire regimes in North America. Science 326: 1100-1103.
(Johnson, C. 2009. Megafaunal decline and fall (reviews Gill et al 2009). Science 326:
1072-1073)
Grayson D.K. and D.J. Meltzer. 2002. Clovis hunting and large mammal extinction: a
critical review of the evidence. Journal of World Prehistory 16(4): 313-339.
Grayson D.K. and D.J. Meltzer. 2003. A requiem for North American overkill. Journal of
Archaeological Science 30(2003): 585-593.
Kennett, D.J et al. 2009. Nanodiamonds in the Younger Dryas boundary sediment layer.
Science 323: 94.
Waters, M.R. et al. 2007. Redefining the age of Clovis: implications for the peopling of
the Americas. Science 315: 1122-1126. (supplement)
Current Extinction
Baksin, Y. 1992. Africa’s troubled waters. BioScience 42(7): 476-481.
Barlow, G.W. 2000. The Cichlid Fishes: Fish at Risk.
Diamond, J. 1992. The Third Chimpanzee: The Second Cloud.
Kaufman, L. 1992. Catastrophic change in species-rich freshwater ecosystems.
Bioscience 42(11): 846-858.
Kiesecker, J.M. et al 2001. Complex causes of amphibian population declines. Nature
410: 681-684.
Leakey, R. 1995. Sixth Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad luck? Pgs. 59-71.
Leakey, R. 1995. Sixth Extinction. pgs 232-245.
Mann, C.C. 2006. 1491 New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus. Pgs.350362.
Pimm, S. et al. 2006. Human impacts on the rates of recent, present, and future bird
extinctions. PNAS 103 (29): 10941-10946.
Thomas J.A. et al. 2004. Comparative losses of British butterflies, birds and plants and
the global extinctions crisis Science 303: 1879-1881.
(Pennisi, E. 2004. Naturalists’ surveys show that British butterflies are going, going…
Science 303: 1747)
Fisheries
Baum, J.K. and R.A. Myers. 2004. Shifting baselines and the decline of pelagic shark in
the Gulf of Mexico. Ecology Letters 7:135-145.
Carpenter, K.E. et al. 2008. One-third of reef-building corals face elevated extinction risk
from climate change and local impacts. Science 321:560-563.
Coleman F. C. et al, 2004. The impact of United States recreational fisheries on marine
fish populations. Science 305: 1958-1960.
Diaz, R.J. et al. 2008. Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems.
Science 321: 926-929.
Dybas, C.L. 2005. Dead zones spreading in world oceans. Bioscience 55(7): 552-557.
Ellis, R. 2008. Tuna, a Love Story: Can we save the bluefin? Pgs 237-281.
Grimm, D. 2002. Sportfishers on the hook for dwindling U.S, fish stocks. Science
305: 1235.
Hughes, T.P. et al 2003. Climate change, human impacts, and the resilience of coral
reefs. Science 301: 929-933.
Hutchings, J.A. and J.D. Reynolds. 2004 Marine fish population collapses: consequences
for recovery and extinctions risk. Bioscience 54: 297-309.
Jackson, B.C. et al. 2001. Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal
ecosystems. Science 293: 629-638.
Kiessling, W. et al. 2010. Reefs as cradles of evolution and sources of biodiversity in the
Phanerozoic Science 327: 196-198
Kolbert, E. 2010. The Scales Fall (Books). New Yorker August 2, 2010 pgs 70-73.
Myers, R.A. et al. 2007. Cascading effects of the loss of apex predatory sharks from a
coastal ocean. Science 315: 1846-1850.
Myers R. A. and B. Worm. 2003. Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish
communities. Nature 423:280-283.
Myers and Worm 2003 Sea Web perspective on Nature article.
Pauly, D. 1995. Anecdotes and the shifting baseline syndrome of fisheries. TREE 10:430.
Pauly, D. et al. 2002. Fishing down aquatic food webs. American Scientist 88: 46-51.
Ward, P. and R. A. Myers. 2005. Shifts in open-ocean fish communities coinciding with
the commencement of commercial fishing. Ecology 86(4): 835-847.
Worm, B. et al. 2005. Global patterns of predator diversity in the open oceans. Science
1365: 1365-1368.
Worm, B. et al. 2006. Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services. Science
314: 787-790.
Worm, B. et al. 2009. Rebuilding global fisheries. Science 325:578-585.
Zeebe, R.E. et al. 2008. Carbon emissions and acidification. Science 321: 51-52.
Pacific Islands
Diamond, J. 2000. Enhanced: blitzkrieg against the moas. Science 287: 2170-2171.
Holdaway et al. 2000. Rapid extinctions of the Moas (Aves: Dinornithiformes): model,
test, and implications. Science 287: 2250-2254.
Olson, S.L. and H.F. James. 1982. Fossil birds from the Hawaiian Islands: evidence for
wholesale extinction by man before western contact. Science 217: 633-635.
Steadman, D.W. 1995. Extinction of birds on tropical Pacific islands. Pgs 33-49 in: Late
Quaternary Environments and Deep History: a Tribute to Paul S. Marin. D.S.
Steadman and J. I Mead Eds. The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota,
Inc, Scientific papers, Volume 3 Hot Springs South Dakota, 1995,
Steadman, D.W. 1995. Prehistoric extinctions of Pacific Island birds: biodiversity meets
zooarchaeology Science 267: 1123-1131.
Steadman, D.W. 1999. The prehistory of vertebrates, especially birds, on Tinian,
Aguiguan, and Rota, Northern Mariana Islands. Micronesica 31(2): 319-345.
Steadman, D.W. 2002. Everything you want to know and Moa: review of The Lost World
of the Moa, Prehistoric Life on New Zealand by Trevor H. Worthy and R. N.
Holdaway.
Steadman, D. W. et al. 2002. Rapid prehistoric extinctions of iguanas and birds in
Polynesia. PNAS 99:3673-3677.
Steadman, D.W. and P.S. Martin. 2003. The late quaternary extinction and future
resurrection of birds on Pacific islands. Earth-Science Reviews 61: 133-147.
Climate Change:
Breckage, B. et al. 2008. A rapid upward shift of a forest ecotone during 40 years of
warming in the Green Mountains of Vermont. PNAS 105(11): 4197-4202.
Bush, M.B. et al. 2004. 48,000 years of climate and forest change in a biodiversity hot
spot. Science 303: 827-829.
Clarke, G, et al. 2003. Superlakes, megafloods, and abrupt climate change. Science 301:
922-923.
Colwell, R.K. et al 2008. Global warming elevational range shifts, and lowland biotic
attrition in the wet tropics. Science 322: 258-261.
Demenocal, P.B. and E. R. cook 2005. Perspectives on Diamond’s Collapse How
Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Current Anthropology 46: S91-S99.
Diamond J. 1987. The worst mistake in the history of the human race .Discover. May 6466.
Feely, R.A. et al. 2004. Impact of anthropogenic CO2 on the CaCO3 system in the
oceans. Science 305: 362-366.
Flannery, T. 2005. The Weather Makers: The Unravelling World pgs 87-94.
Gilg, O. and N. G. Yoccoz. 2010. Explaining bird migration. Science 327; 276-277.
Gleich, P.H. et al. 2010. Climate change and the integrity of science. Science 328: 689690.
Grebmeier, J.M. et al. 2006. A major ecosystem shift in the northern Bering Sea.
Science 311: 1461-1464.
Guha, Ramachandra. 2006. How Much Should a Person Consume? Cptr 9
Moritz, C. et al. 2008. Impact of a century of climate change on small mammmal
communities in Yosemite National Park, USA Science 322: 261-264.
Parmesan, C. et al. 1999. Poleward shifts in geographic ranges of butterfly species
associated with regional warming. Nature 399: 579-583.
Parmesan, C. and G. Yohe. 2003. A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change
impacts across natural systems. Nature 421: 37-42.
Stine, S. 1994. Extreme and persistent drought in California and Patagonia during
mediaeval time. Nature 369: 546-549.
Svensen, H. et al. 2004. Release of methane from a volcanic basin as a mechanism for
initial Eocene global warming. Nature 429: 542-545.
Walther, G. et al. 2002. Ecological responses to recent climate change Nature 416: 389395.
Yu, S. et al. 2010. Freshwater outburst from Lake Superior as a trigger for the cold event
9300 years ago. Science 328: 1262-1266.
Recommended Books:
Alt, David. 2001. Glacial Lake Missoula and its Humongous Floods.
Barlow, George W. 2000. The Cichlid Fishes.
Bavington, Dean and Graeme Wynn 2010. Managed Annihilation: an Unnatural
History of the Cod Collapse.
Benton, Michael J. 2008. When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of
all Time.
Brown, Lester R. 2008. Plan B 3.0.
Chouinard, Yvon. 2006. Let my People go Surfing, the education of a reluctant
Businessman.
Clover, Charles. 2006. The End of the Line. How Overfishing is Changing the World and
What we Eat.
Diamond, Jared. 2005. Collapse, How Societies Chose to Fail or Succeed.
Ellis, Richard. 2008. Tuna, a Love Story.
Erwin, Douglas H. 1993. The Great Paleozoic Crisis.
Erwin, D. 2006, Extinction: How Life on Earth nearly ended 250 million years ago
Fagan, Brian. 2000. The Little Ice Age.
Fagan, B. 2008.The Great Warming: Climate Change & the Rise & Fall of Civilizations.
Flannery, Tim. 1994 The Future Eaters
Flannery, Tim. 2006. The Weathermakers.
Franklin, H. Bruce. 2007. The Most Important Fish in the Sea.
Greenberg, Paul. 2010. Four Fish: the Future of the Last Wild Food.
Guha, Ramachandra. 2006. How Much Should a Person Consume?
Harris, Michael. 1998. Lament for an Ocean.
Helvarg, David. 2010. Saved by the Sea: a Love Story with Fish.
Knecht, G. Bruce. 2006. Hooked, Pirates Poaching and the Perfect Fish.
Leakey, R. and R. Lewin 1995. The Sixth Extinction.
Mann, Charles C. 2006. 1491, New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus
Martin, Paul. S. 2005. Twilight of the Mammoths
McGhee, George R. 1996. The late Devonian Mass Extinction.
Montgomery, David R. 2003. King of Fish, the Thousand-Year Run of Salmon.
Montgomery, David R. 2007. Dirt, the Erosion of Civilizations.
Moorehead, Allan 1987. The Fatal Impact.
Palumbi, Stephen R. 2001. The Population Explosion, How Humans Cause Rapid
Evolutionary Change.
Pauly, Daniel. 2010. Five Easy Pieces: The Impact of Fisheries on Marine Ecosystems.
Roberts, Callum. 2007. The Unnatural History of the Sea.
Roberts, Paul. 2004. The End of Oil.
Steadman, David W. 2006. Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds.
Stolzenburg, William. 2008. Where the Wild Things Were.
Weber, Michael. L. 2002. From Abundance to Scarcity
Wells, Spencer. 2010. Pandora’s Seed; the Unforeseen Cost of Civilization.