Wildfire response to rapid climate change during the Permian-Triassic biotic crisis

Significant floral changes across the Permian-Triassic and Triassic-Jurassic transitions induced by widespread wildfires

“…Widespread wildfires have played an important role in the Earth's system changes since the emergence of Silurian land plants, profoundly affecting the patterns and processes of global ecosystems (e.g., Glasspool, 2000;Scott, 2000;Glasspool et al, 2004;Glasspool et al, 2015;Lu et al, 2020;Glasspool and Gastaldo, 2022;Xu et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2023a). Changes in wildfire activity in Earth's history can be identified in sediment records through variations in the by-products of plant combustion, such as charcoal fossils, fusinite, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (e.g., Glasspool, 2000;Glasspool et al, 2004;Shen et al, 2011;Glasspool et al, 2015;Lu et al, 2020;Song et al, 2020;Glasspool and Gastaldo, 2022;Song et al, 2022;Xu et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2022;Jiao et al, 2023;Zhang et al, 2023a). The earliest wildfires (inferred from charcoal fossils) date back to the Silurian period (ca.…”

“…The Permian-Triassic (P-T) and the Triassic-Jurassic (T-J) mass extinctions, the first and third largest biotic crises in the Phanerozoic, respectively (e.g., Alroy, 2014; 2022), were accompanied by significant changes in global atmospheric composition, environment, climate, and flora (Shen et al, 2019;Wignall and Atkinson, 2020;Dal Corso et al, 2022;Shen et al, 2022b;Shen et al, 2023). Available evidence suggests that the mass extinction of terrestrial and marine life during these events were ultimately caused by the eruptions of the Siberian Large Igneous Province (SLIP) and Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) (Wignall and Atkinson, 2020;Dal Corso et al, 2022), which was accompanied by a combination of massive releases of greenhouse gases and toxic gases (Fielding et al, 2019;Cui et al, 2021;Shen et al, 2022a;Zhang et al, 2022;Wu et al, 2023), rapid global warming (McElwain et al, 1999;Bonis et al, 2010;Schaller et al, 2011;Sun et al, 2012;Wu et al, 2021), negative carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) (Hesselbo et al, 2002;Shen et al, 2011;Kovaćs et al, 2020;Ruhl et al, 2020;Wu et al, 2020;Shen et al, 2022b), widespread wildfires (Belcher et al, 2010;Shen et al, 2011;Petersen and Lindström, 2012;Lu et al, 2020;Song et al, 2020;Song et al, 2022;Jiao et al, 2023), increased continental weathering (Cao et al, 2019;Lu et al, 2020;Shen et al, 2022b), and increased erosion (Biswas et al...…”

“…Widespread wildfires across the P-T and T-J transitions caused the disappearance/extinction of terrestrial plants, marking significant changes in plant communities and diversity. During the P-T transition interval, evidence from charcoal, fusinite, and PAHs shows the prevalence of massive wildfires worldwide, including eastern Greenland (Nabbefeld et al, 2010), Brazil (Manfroi et al, 2015;Kauffmann et al, 2016), Australia (Glasspool, 2000;, India (Murthy et al, 2020), Canada (Nabbefeld et al, 2010;Grasby et al, 2011), South China (Shen et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2016;Yan et al, 2019;Chu et al, 2020;Cai et al, 2021b;Song et al, 2022;Jiao et al, 2023), North China (Lu et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2023a), and northwestern China (Cao et al, 2008;Cai et al, 2021a) (Figure 2A). During the T-J transition interval, evidence from charcoal, fusinites, and PAHs shows a global prevalence of large-scale wildfires, including North America (Jones et al, 2002), eastern Greenland (Belcher et al, 2010), Poland (Marynowski and Simoneit, 2009), Denmark (Lindström et al, 2019;Lindström et al, 2021), Sweden (Lindström et al, 2019;Lindström et al, 2021), South China (Pole et al, 2018;Song et al, 2020), and North China (Zhang et al, 2022) (Figure 2B).…”

“…),Song et al (2022),Cai et al (2021a), andJiao et al (2023). NCP, North China Plate; SCP, South China Plate; SLIP, Siberian Large Igneous Province; CAMP, Central Atlantic Magmatic Province.…”