Biodiversity has remained constant since the boom of life

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The diversity of species living on the planet has NOT increased since the death of dinosaurs, reveals a study of 30,000 sites worldwide

  • Scientists thought that species diversity had increased over millions of years
  • New research indicates that the number of species has increased in sporadic bursts
  • The species from one ecosystem to another have not increased since tens of millions of years ago.
  • Results could inform understanding of the effects of declining biodiversity rates around the world

By Victoria Bell for Mailonline

published: 11.05, 18 February 2019 | Update: 12:58 pm EST, February 18, 2019

New research suggests that the diversity of species living on the planet has remained the same during the 60 million years that followed dinosaur extinction.

The fossil record has revealed rapid increases in biodiversity, followed by stability plateaus of number of species for tens of millions of years.

Experts previously thought that biodiversity has been steadily increasing over time, but researchers now say this is not the case.

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New research suggests that the diversity of species living on the planet has remained the same during the 60 million years that followed dinosaur extinction. The artist's impression shows peaks of biodiversity (from left to right) 300, 110 and 15 million years ago. These rapid increases in biodiversity have been followed by species stability plateaus over tens of millions of years.

New research suggests that the diversity of species living on the planet has remained the same during the 60 million years that followed dinosaur extinction. The artist's impression shows peaks of biodiversity (from left to right) 300, 110 and 15 million years ago. These rapid increases in biodiversity have been followed by species stability plateaus over tens of millions of years.

Scientists from the University of Birmingham have analyzed 200 years of discoveries on 30,000 fossil sites worldwide.

They found that the average number of terrestrial vertebrate species on the planet has not increased for tens of millions of years.

Their results suggest that the creation of new species and extinction rates on the earth find a natural balance that lasts 'tens of millions of years'.

Dr. Roger Close, lead author of the study, said, "Scientists often think that species diversity has not been controlled for millions of years and that diversity is much more great today than it was in the distant past.

"Our research shows that the number of species within terrestrial communities is limited over long periods, which contradicts the results of many experiments conducted in modern ecological communities. We must now understand why.

"Contrary to what one might think, the greatest increase in diversity within terrestrial vertebrate communities occurred after the massive extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, there are 66 million of them." years, at the end of the Cretaceous period.

"In just a few million years, local diversity had increased two to three times its pre-extinction level, mainly because of the spectacular success of modern mammals.

New research suggests that the rich levels of biodiversity have remained the same since the 60 million years since the dinosaurs' extinction. New species report that the number of species living in ecological communities on Earth has increased only sporadically (image image)

New research suggests that the rich levels of biodiversity have remained the same since the 60 million years since the dinosaurs' extinction. New species report that the number of species living in ecological communities on Earth has increased only sporadically (image image)

Biodiversity describes the rich diversity of life on Earth, ranging from individual species to whole ecosystems.

The term was invented in 1985 – a contraction of "biological diversity" – but the huge losses of global biodiversity that are becoming obvious now represent a crisis equal to and perhaps even greater than climate change.

In the latest study, experts focused on data from terrestrial vertebrates dating back to the earliest appearance of this group nearly 400 million years ago.

They found peaks in biodiversity 300, 110 and 15 million years ago, followed by stability plateaus of species over tens of millions of years.

The new findings shed light on our understanding of the effects of declining biodiversity rates seen around the world today.

The results also suggest that interactions between species, including competition for food and space, limit the total number of species that can coexist.

The complete results of the study were published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

WHY DINOSAURS HAVE EXTINCTED?

Dinosaurs ruled and dominated the Earth about 66 million years ago, before suddenly disappearing.

The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event is the name given to this mass extinction.

It has been believed for many years that climate change has destroyed the food chain of huge reptiles.

In the 1980s, paleontologists discovered a layer of iridium.

It is a rare element on Earth but that one finds in quantity in the space.

When it was dated, it coincided precisely with the moment when the dinosaurs disappeared from the fossil record.

A decade later, scientists discovered the huge Chicxulub Crater at the tip of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, which dates back to the period in question.

According to a scientific consensus, these two factors are linked and they were probably caused by a huge asteroid that crashed against the Earth.

With the expected size and speed of impact, the collision would have caused an enormous shock wave and probably triggered seismic activity.

The fallout would have created ash plumes that probably covered the entire planet and prevented dinosaurs from surviving.

Other animal and plant species had a shorter period between generations, which allowed them to survive.

There are several other theories about what caused the disappearance of famous animals.

One of the first theories was that small mammals ate dinosaur eggs and another suggested that toxic angiosperms (flowering plants) killed them.

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