Although mass extinctions probably account for the disappearance of less than 5% of all extinct species, the evolutionary opportunities they have created have had a disproportionate effect on the history of life. Theoretical considerations and simulations have suggested that the empty niches created by a mass extinction should refill rapidly after extinction ameliorates. Under logistic models, this biotic rebound should be exponential, slowing as the environmental carrying capacity is approached. Empirical studies reveal a more complex dynamic, including positive feedback and exponential growth phase during recoveries. Far from a model of refilling ecospace, mass extinctions appear to cause a collapse of ecospace, which must be rebuilt during the recovery. Other generalities include the absence of a clear correlation between the magnitude of extinction and the pace of recovery, or the resulting ecological and evolutionary disruption; the presence of a survival interval, with few originations, immediately following an extinction and preceding the recovery phase; and the presence of many lineages which persist through an extinction event only to disappear during the subsequent recovery. Several recoveries encompass numerous missing lineages, groups which are found before the extinction, then later in the recovery, but are missing during the initial survival-recovery phase. The limited biogeographic studies of recoveries suggest considerable variability between regions.

Lessons from the Past: Biotic Recoveries from Mass Extinctions

Evolution and escalation, an ecological history of life

Evolution and Escalation

A well-supported phylogeny of the Neritopsina, a gastropod superorder archaic in origin, radiated ecologically and diverse in morphology, is reconstructed based on partial 28S rRNA sequences. The result (Neritopsidae (Hydrocenidae (Helicinidae + Neritiliidae) (Neritidae + Phenacolepadidae))) is highly congruent with the fossil records and the character distribution of reproductive tracts in extant taxa. We suggest that the Neritopsina originated in subtidal shallow waters, invaded the land and became fully terrestrial at least three times in different clades, by the extinct Dawsonellidae in the Late Palaeozoic and by the Helicinidae and Hydrocenidae in the Mesozoic. Invasion of fresh- and brackish waters is prevalent among the Neritopsina as the Jurassic and freshwater ancestory is most probable for helicinids. The Phenacolepadidae, a group exclusively inhabiting dysoxic environments, colonized deep-sea hydrothermal vents and seeps in the Late Cretaceous or Early Cenozoic. Submarine caves have served as refuges for the archaic Neritopsidae since the Early to Middle Cenozoic, and the marine neritopsine slug Titiscania represents a highly specialized but relatively recent offshoot of this family. The Neritiliidae is another clade to be found utilizing submarine caves as shelter by the Oligocene; once adapted to the completely dark environment, but some neritiliids have immigrated to surface freshwater habitats.

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Major adaptive radiation in neritopsine gastropods estimated from 28S rRNA sequences and fossil records

/pdf/predation-in-the-marine-fossil-record-studies-data-1dor328v6z.pdf

Predation in the marine fossil record: Studies, data, recognition, environmental factors, and behavior

http://www.iiserkol.ac.in/~devapriya/Bardhan%20et%20al,%202012.pdf

Record of intense predatory drilling from Upper Jurassic bivalves of Kutch, India: Implications for the history of biotic interaction

Naticid drilling predation on gastropod assemblages across the K–T boundary in Rajahmundry, India: New evidence for escalation hypothesis

The Late Bathonian gastropod fauna of Kutch, western India-a new assemblage

Evidence of intense naticid drilling predation occurs on turritelline prey from a turritelline-dominated assemblage (TDA) which lies below the K-T boundary sections in Rajahmundry, India. Previously, it was believed that drilling frequency (DF) on turritelline taxa was low during the Cretaceous. Data from the study area indicates that the Cenozoic level of predation on turritelline taxa already occurred by the Late Cretaceous in the study area. The paleobiogeography of naticid predation is extended from the western world to India, which was located in the southern hemisphere during the Cretaceous. In addition to the high drilling frequency, the Indian fossil record shows that many aspects of naticid behavior; for example, size and site stereotypy, which are characteristic features of Cenozoic predators, were also established by the Late Cretaceous. These data support previous views that the Mesozoic Marine Revolution had minimal influence on morphological change in Late Cretaceous turritelline gastropods and that turritelline gastropods may have developed behavioral and/or physiological antipredatory adaptations. TDAs in general may indicate tremendous fecundity that may act as a buffer against high juvenile mortality due to predation.

Intense Naticid Drilling Predation on Turritelline Gastropods from Below the K-T Boundary at Rajahmundry, India.

Mesozoic gastropod assemblages currently emerged from Kutch, western India constitute one of the most diverse communities known during the Bathonian–Oxfordian worldwide. The present paper describes part of the Jurassic gastropod faunas of the family Pleurotomariidae from Kutch, comprising ten species belonging to three genera, of which eight species are new. They are: Bathrotomaria reticulata (Sowerby), B. waageni sp. nov., B. calloviana sp. nov., B. buddhai sp. nov., B. prasantai sp. nov., B. dhosaensis sp. nov., B. tewarii (Maithani); Leptomaria daityai sp. nov.; L. asurai sp. nov. and Obornella wuerttembergensis (Sieberer). The assemblage shows a strong Tethyan affinity at generic level, but has a distinctly endemic species content, and thus merits a distinct subprovince within the Indo-Madagascan Faunal Province. The genus Pleurotomaria is discussed in historical perspective and shown to be Mesozoic genus. The six species of Bathrotomaria described herein are considered to have evolved from t...

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Shiladri S. Das

Papers

Record of intense predatory drilling from Upper Jurassic bivalves of Kutch, India: Implications for the history of biotic interaction

Naticid drilling predation on gastropod assemblages across the K–T boundary in Rajahmundry, India: New evidence for escalation hypothesis

The Late Bathonian gastropod fauna of Kutch, western India-a new assemblage

Intense Naticid Drilling Predation on Turritelline Gastropods from Below the K-T Boundary at Rajahmundry, India.

A new pleurotomariid gastropod assemblage from the Jurassic sequence of Kutch, western India