A palaeobotanical perspective on the great end-Permian biotic crisis

Mass extinctions are crucial to understanding changes in biodiversity through time. However, it is still disputed whether extinction dynamics in the marine and terrestrial biotas followed comparable trajectories. For instance, while marine realms have suffered five strong depletions in diversity, the so-called ‘Big Five’ mass extinctions, only the end-Permian event appears to have also resulted in a major abrupt reduction in continental...