Detritus feeding as a buffer to extinction at the end of the Cretaceous

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986 · Geology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1986)14<868:DFAABT>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:5648837

Sheehan, P M; Hansen, T A

At the end of the Cretaceous the principal animals that became extinct, such as dinosaurs, marine animals that lived in the water column, and benthic filter feeders, were in food chains tied directly to living plant matter. Animal groups less affected by extinction, including marine benthic scavengers and deposit feeders, small insectivorous mammals, and members of stream communities, were in food chains dependent on dead plant material. The proposal that an asteroid or comet impact at the end of the Cretaceous produced a dust cloud that cut off photosynthesis for several months is consistent with this pattern of extinction. Food chains dependent on living plant matter crashed, while food chains based on detritus were buffered from extinction because there was a food supply adequate for the interval when photosynthesis was halted.

• Research Organization: Milwaukee Public Museum, WI
• OSTI ID: 5648837
• Journal Information: Geology; (United States), Vol. 14:10
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL EXTINCTION
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
ANIMAL FEEDS
ASTEROIDS
FOOD
FOOD CHAINS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC MODELS
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
PLANTS
SHORTAGES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
GEOLOGIC AGES
MESOZOIC ERA
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
SYNTHESIS
580100* - Geology &amp; Hydrology- (-1989)