FOR 2332:  Temperature-related stresses as a unifying principle in ancient extinctions (TERSANE)

• Subject Area: Geosciences ; Biology
• Term: since 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 269895748

Anthropogenic global warming is regarded as a major threat to species and ecosystems worldwide. Predicting the biological impacts of future warming is thus of critical importance. The geological record provides several examples of mass extinctions and global ecosystem pertubations in which temperature-related stresses are thought to have played a substantial role. These catastrophic natural events are potential analogues for the consequences of anthropogenic warming but the Earth system processes during these times are still unexplored, especially in terms of their ultimate trigger and the extinction mechanisms. The Research Unit TERSANE aims at assessing the relative importance of warming-related stresses in ancient mass extinctions and at evaluating how these stresses emerged under non-anthropogenic conditions. An interdisciplinary set of projects will combine high-resolution geological field studies with meta-analyses and sophisticated analysis of fossil occurrence data on ancient (suspect) hyperthermal events to reveal the rate and magnitude of warming, their potential causes, their impact on marine life, and the mechanisms which led to ecologic change and extinction. Geochemistry, analytical paleobiology and physiology comprise our main toolkit, supplemented by biostratigraphy, sedimentology, and modelling.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Australia, Austria, France, Iran, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, USA

Projects

• Biotic consequences of temperature-related stresses across temporal scales (Applicants Kießling, Wolfgang ;  Pörtner, Hans-Otto )
• BivCRS2 - Time dependence of thermal tolerance in marine bivalves: extant fauna and implications for palaeo-analogues (Applicant Pörtner, Hans-Otto )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Kießling, Wolfgang )
• CoralTrace – A new approach to understanding climate-induced reef crises (Applicant Kießling, Wolfgang )
• Evolutionary and environmental history explaining temperature related extinctions in marine biota (PastKey) (Applicant Steinbauer, Manuel )
• Investigating the relationship between flood basalt volcanism, climate change and mass extinction using novel proxies for volcanism in marine sediments ('MagmaTrace') (Applicant Regelous, Marcel )
• Late Permian to Early Triassic palaeo-pCO2 and high latitude palaeotemperature (Applicant Joachimski, Michael M. )
• Nutrient Cycles during the Permian-Triassic transition (NUC) (Applicants Ilyina, Tatiana ;  Joachimski, Michael M. )
• Response of Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian-Toarcian) benthic marine faunas from south-western Europe to temperature-related stresses (EvoBiv) (Applicant Aberhan, Martin )
• Size reductions during hyperthermal events: early warnings of environmental deterioration or signs of extinction? (EarlyWarn) (Applicants Kießling, Wolfgang ;  Korn, Dieter )
• Spatial patterns of global diversity dynamics in warming scenarios (SPex) (Applicant Kocsis, Ádám Tibor )
• The role of hyperthermia in the end-Permian mass extinction (Applicant Korn, Dieter )
• The role of the thermal niche in past warming worlds (ThermNiche) (Applicant Aberhan, Martin )
• Tracing continental weathering during the Permo-Triassic extinction event (WET) (Applicant Kasemann, Simone A. )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Kießling