Terrestrial ecosystem response to climate change during the paleogene

Abstract

In this chapter we investigate the relationship between climatic change and extinction in continental ecosystems during the era of modern biotas. In contrast to the previous chapter, the time frame examined is shorter and therefore the number of major global extinction events is smaller. But at the same time, the more recent fossil record of the past 50 million years is more highly resolved, and it is possible to begin to examine causal linkages between climate and extinctions.