Data from: Effects of the early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event on ichthyosaur body size and faunal composition in the Southwest German Basin
| Main Authors: | Maxwell, Erin E., Vincent, Peggy |
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| Format: | info dataset Journal |
| Terbitan: |
, 2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
https://zenodo.org/record/4984561 |
Daftar Isi:
- The Early Jurassic Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event is considered one of the most dramatic environmental perturbations of the Mesozoic. An elevated extinction rate among marine invertebrates accompanied rapid environmental changes, but effects on large vertebrates are less understood. We examined changes in ichthyosaur body size in the Posidonia Shale of the Southwest German Basin spanning the extinction interval to assess how environmental changes and biotic crisis among prey species affected large reptiles. We report no species-level extinction among the ichthyosaurs coinciding with peak invertebrate extinction. Large ichthyosaurs were absent from the fauna during the extinction interval, but became more abundant in the immediate aftermath. Stenopterygius quadriscissus, the most abundant species during the extinction interval, increased in body size after the biotic event. Rapid invasion by large taxa occurred immediately following the extinction event at the end of the first ammonite zone of the early Toarcian. Greater mobility permitting exploitation of ephemeral resources and opportunistic feeding behavior may minimize the impacts of environmental change on large vertebrates.
- Specimen list and measurement data for Stenopterygius quadriscissus; Plot of lower jaw length against stratigraphic occurrence for all specimens of S. quadriscissusSupplementary Table 1.—Specimen list and measurement data for Stenopterygius quadriscissus. Note that only approximate geographic provenance is available as these are historical finds. All measurements are in millimetres. Specimens for which all 6 measurements were not available were included in the lower jaw mean length analysis, but not the PCA analysis.; Supplementary Figure 1.—Plot of lower jaw length against stratigraphic occurrence for all specimens of S. quadriscissus (juveniles included).Maxwell&VincentSI.docx