A high-resolution summary of Cambrian to Early Triassic marine invertebrate biodiversity

TLDR

Past biodiversity records are limited by large temporal gaps, hindering understanding of how environmental change drives biodiversity, a gap that motivates high‑resolution studies. Fan et al. used a supercomputer and machine‑learning to analyze a large marine Paleozoic dataset, producing a record with ~26,000‑year intervals. The high‑resolution record uncovered new events and clarified previously described patterns.

Abstract

A finer record of biodiversity We have pressing, human-generated reasons to explore the influence of environmental change on biodiversity. Looking into the past can not only inform our understanding of this relationship but also help us to understand current change. Paleontological records depend on fossil availability and predictive modeling, however, and thus tend to give us a picture with large temporal jumps, millions of years wide. Such a scale makes it difficult to truly understand the action of environmental forces on ecological processes. Enabled by a supercomputer, Fan et al. used machine learning to analyze a large marine Paleozoic dataset, creating a record with time intervals of only ∼26,000 years (see the Perspective by Wagner). This fine-scale resolution revealed new events and important details of previously described patterns. Science , this issue p. 272 ; see also p. 249