Arctic fossils reveal complex and diverse Early Triassic marine vertebrate communities

Summary author: Walter Beckwith

2025-11-13

(Press-News.org) Just a few million years after the end-Permian mass extinction event (EPME), aquatic reptiles and other vertebrates had recovered to form thriving and diverse oceanic ecosystems, according to a study of an Early Triassic-age fossil site in the Arctic. The findings challenge previous assumptions of a slow and gradual establishment of mid-Triassic marine communities and suggest that vertebrate evolution paralleled the rapid resurgence of invertebrate life in the Early Triassic. The EPME, which occurred roughly 251.9 million years ago (Ma), wiped out upwards of 90% of all marine species on Earth. It has long been thought that recovery of ocean ecosystems following this event was slow, taking over eight million years. However, recent evidence indicates that, for some communities, such as invertebrates and bony fish, populations rebounded much more quickly than previously believed. The establishment and diversification of marine tetrapod communities – which first emerged in post-EPME oceans – is far less understood and is still considered to have been a long, gradual process with staged ecological complexification.

Here, Aubrey Roberts and colleagues describe new findings from the Grippia Bonebed (GBB), a mid-Early Triassic (~249 Ma) fossil site on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. According to Roberts et al., the GBB fossil assemblage is notably rich, containing tens of thousands of fossils from an array of oceanic vertebrate species, and represents the earliest known marine tetrapod community from a stratigraphically constrained deposit. Using large-scale taxonomic comparisons and diversity analyses of the GBB fauna, the authors identified a highly diverse and complex marine community, composed of aquatic reptiles and amphibians, including apex-predator ichthyosaurs, smaller ichthyopterygians, durophagous ichthyosauriforms, semi-aquatic archosauromorphs, euryhaline temnospondyls, as well as a variety of fish species, all occupying multiple trophic levels. The findings suggest that many marine tetrapod lineages had already diversified and adapted to oceanic life soon after – or even before – the EPME.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Ancient DNA shows dogs joined human migrations and trade

2025-11-13

As human groups migrated and settled across Holocene Eurasia, dogs often traveled with them, researchers report in a new genomic study – and sometimes dogs were traded among populations. The study reveals the integral role these animals played in culture and exchange. For at least the last 11,000 years, dogs and humans have lived side-by-side. However, the true antiquity of their association with humans remains elusive. Some evidence suggests that major dog lineages in different parts of the world appear to have diversified thousands of years earlier, suggesting that these dogs may have traveled with humans as they colonized different parts of Europe, ...

Magnetically guided microrobots for targeted drug delivery

2025-11-13

A magnetically guided microrobotics system is capable of navigating the body’s intricate passageways and vasculature to deliver drugs with pinpoint accuracy, according to a new study. The novel system could enable safer, targeted drug treatments that minimize unwanted side effects. Systemic drug treatments often cause unwanted side effects due to off-target exposure and account for nearly one-third of failures in clinical trials, illustrating the need for precise, targeted drug delivery strategies. To address this, researchers have worked to develop magnetic micro- and nanorobots designed to deliver drugs directly to diseased tissues. Advances in materials ...

Microrobots finding their way

2025-11-13

Every year, 12 million people worldwide suffer a stroke; many die or are permanently impaired. Currently, drugs are administered to dissolve the thrombus that blocks the blood vessel. These drugs spread throughout the entire body, meaning a high dose must be administered to ensure that the necessary amount reaches the thrombus. This can cause serious side effects, such as internal bleeding. Since medicines are often only needed in specific areas of the body, medical research has long been searching for a way to use microrobots to deliver pharmaceuticals to where they need to be: in the case of a stroke, directly to the stroke-related thrombus. Now, a ...

‘Beautiful energy sandwich’ could power next-generation solar and lighting

2025-11-13

Researchers have achieved a new level of control over the atomic structure of a family of materials known as halide perovskites, creating a finely tuned ‘energy sandwich’ that could transform how solar cells, LEDs and lasers are made. Due to their remarkable ability to absorb and emit light, and because they are cheaper and can be configured to convert more of the solar spectrum into energy than silicon, perovskites have long been touted as a potential replacement for silicon in solar cells, LEDs and quantum technologies. However, their instability and durability has, so far, largely limited perovskite devices to the laboratory. ...

Which came first: The sponge or the comb jelly? HHMI scientists weigh in

2025-11-13

In the world of phylogenetics, there’s team sponge and team comb jelly. Which creature roots the animal tree of life — the simple sponge or the more complex comb jelly — has stirred fierce debate among phylogeneticists, researchers who study evolutionary history. Scientists long assumed the muscle-less and neuron-less sponges gave rise to more complex organisms, including humans. But genomic analyses in 2008 comparing hundreds of genes from many different animals and their relatives delivered ...

Extensive dog diversity millennia before modern breeding practices

2025-11-13

A groundbreaking archaeological study has revealed when domestic dogs first began to show the remarkable diversity that characterises them today. By applying cutting-edge shape analysis to hundreds of archaeological specimens spanning tens of thousands of years, researchers have traced the emergence of distinct dog forms deep into prehistory, pinpointing the moment dogs began to diversify in size and shape - at least 11,000 years ago. These findings challenge long-standing assumptions that canine diversity is largely a recent phenomenon shaped by selective breeding, ...

Oldest oceanic reptile ecosystem from the Age of Dinosaurs found on Arctic island

2025-11-13

The fossils were found in 2015, but took nearly a decade of painstaking work to excavate, prepare, sort, identify, and analyse. The long-awaited research findings have now been published by a team of Scandinavian palaeontologists from the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo, and the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago is world famous for producing marine fossils from the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs. These are preserved in rock layers that were once mud at ...

Scientists call on better regulation for chemical cocktails in Europe

2025-11-13

In a policy brief published in Science, scientists call on European Union for a new approach to protect people and nature from the hidden risks of chemical cocktails. Every day, people and all other living organisms are potentially exposed to dozens or even hundreds of chemicals – from plastics and pesticides to cosmetics and cleaning agents. While each chemical may individually meet safety standards, their combined effects can quietly add up. A new policy brief published in Science argues that current chemical ...

Pitt researchers reveal hidden impacts of drinking-water treatment on urban streams

2025-11-13

University of Pittsburgh Researchers Reveal Hidden Impacts of Drinking Water Treatment on Urban Streams Aging lead-pipe drinking water systems, along with the public health measures implemented to reduce their risks, are reshaping the chemistry and health of nearby urban streams. New research from University of Pittsburgh biogeochemists, hydrologists, and environmental engineers uncovered previously overlooked environmental impacts of a common water treatment practice: adding orthophosphate to drinking water systems to prevent lead pipe corrosion. Published in PLOS Water, the study reveals that phosphate used in drinking water treatment can leak into urban streams, altering ...

Paleogenomics: humans and dogs spread across Eurasia together

2025-11-13

A genomic study shows that over the last 10,000 years, diverse Eurasian cultures kept and spread genetically distinct dog populations. Dogs have been part of human societies across Eurasia for at least 20,000 years, accompanying us through many social and cultural upheavals. A new study by an international team, published in the journal Science, and led by Laurent Frantz, paleogeneticist at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) shows that the spread of new cultures ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Scientists trace microplastics in fertilizer from fields to the beach

The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Women’s Health: Taking paracetamol during pregnancy does not increase risk of autism, ADHD or intellectual disabilities, confirms new gold-standard evidence review