The Earth is currently experiencing an unprecedented rate of global warming, an environmental crisis that echoes climate upheavals from over 300 million years ago. A groundbreaking study led by Professor Shuzhong Shen of Nanjing University has uncovered remarkable parallels between today’s climate challenges and the deep past, revealing that abrupt climate shifts during the Late Paleozoic Era profoundly shaped marine biodiversity. Published recently in Science Advances, this research provides compelling evidence that global cooling events during that ancient period sparked rapid evolutionary diversification in marine life, while sudden warming phases, often triggered by massive volcanic eruptions, precipitated catastrophic extinctions.
This extensive study centers on fusuline foraminifera, a group of single-celled marine protists characterized by their intricate carbonate shells. Despite their microscopic size, fusulines were pivotal in Paleozoic marine ecosystems, flourishing to the extent that they were nicknamed “carbonate rock factories” due to their significant role in sediment formation. Through meticulous analysis, Professor Shen’s team reconstructed the evolutionary trajectory of fusulines spanning the early Visean stage (approximately 340 million years ago) through to the end of the Permian Period (about 250 million years ago). This period notably encompasses the Late Paleozoic Ice Age, a time of dramatic climatic fluctuations.
The researchers identified two major bursts of diversification in fusuline species, each followed by extinction events closely aligned with global climate transitions. Specifically, four distinct extinction crises punctuated the 91.8 million years studied, with extinction intensities correlating with rapid warming episodes, especially those linked to large igneous provinces. For instance, the volcanic outpourings of the Emeishan Igneous Province, around 260 million years ago, coincided with a sharp decline in fusuline populations. This event presaged an even more catastrophic die-off at the close of the Permian, approximately 252 million years ago, driven by supervolcanic activity associated with the Siberian Traps. This final cataclysm nearly obliterated fusulines and many other marine taxa, marking the most significant extinction event in Earth’s history.
What makes this research particularly transformative is its methodological innovation. The team employed the world’s first high-resolution diversity curve for fusulines, refining temporal resolution to less than 45,000 years. Utilizing over 299 stratigraphic sections and encompassing more than 2,000 species, the researchers leveraged high-performance supercomputing alongside advanced artificial intelligence algorithms. The quantitative stratigraphic algorithm CONOP allowed the precise alignment and correlation of fossil records, enabling an unparalleled reconstruction of biodiversity trends across geological timescales. Furthermore, cyclicity stratigraphic methods unveiled the periodicity and broader patterns governing fusuline evolution in relation to paleoclimate changes.
By disentangling the complex interactions between climate and marine biodiversity during the Late Paleozoic, this study highlights the crucial influence of temperature fluctuations on evolutionary dynamics. During global cooling intervals, extended marine habitats and ecological niches expanded, fostering diversification and speciation. In stark contrast, rapid warming phases drastically reduced habitable environments, triggering extinction cascades. The link between volcanic-driven warming and biotic crises spotlights the impact of large-scale geological events on Earth’s biosphere. These findings have profound implications for understanding how contemporary climate change may shape biological diversity.
Alarmingly, the current trajectory of anthropogenic warming markedly surpasses the pace of the ancient volcanic warming episodes that devastated fusuline populations. This accelerated warming threatens to impose similar or even greater pressures on today’s marine ecosystems, many of which are integral to global food webs and biogeochemical cycles. The fossil record serves as a stark reminder that abrupt climate shifts pose existential threats to biodiversity. According to Professor Shen, urgent measures to mitigate climate change and conserve ecosystems are more critical than ever to prevent analogous ecological collapses in the near future.
The study’s robust interdisciplinary approach bridges paleontology, climatology, and computational science, exemplifying the power of big data in unraveling Earth’s deep-time biological history. By applying high-resolution analytical techniques to densely sampled fossil datasets, the team reconstructed a detailed evolutionary timeline that was previously unattainable. This accomplishment underscores the potential of integrating supercomputing and AI to unlock hidden patterns in paleobiological records. Such insights not only enrich scientific understanding but also provide vital benchmarks for evaluating present and future biodiversity responses to environmental stressors.
Fusuline foraminifera, due to their rapid evolutionary rates and widespread distribution, serve as an ideal proxy for analyzing the interplay between biotic evolution and climate. Their carbonate shells also contribute to sedimentary records, enabling more precise stratigraphic correlation and environmental reconstruction. The new diversity curve derived from the study reveals nuanced fluctuations in fusuline populations, shedding light on the tempos and modes of evolutionary change under varying climatic regimes. These patterns offer a window into the mechanisms by which life on Earth adapts or succumbs to extreme environmental shifts.
This research contributes a crucial piece to the broader narrative of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age, a period characterized by oscillations between glacial and interglacial conditions. The interplay between icehouse and greenhouse states during this window drove repeated cycles of ecological upheaval and recovery. By elucidating how fusuline foraminifera diversified during cooler phases while suffering mass extinctions during warming events, the study refines our understanding of climate-driven evolutionary pressures. It also helps clarify the tempo of biological turnover preceding the Permian-Triassic boundary, a vital epoch marking one of Earth’s most profound biotic crises.
Beyond advancing fundamental knowledge of paleoecology and macroevolution, these findings offer timely perspectives on modern biodiversity conservation amidst climatic disruption. They emphasize the importance of long-term, high-resolution monitoring of species diversity and climate parameters to detect critical thresholds and tipping points. The paleo-record, as exemplified by the fusuline case study, highlights the irreversible nature of rapid warming events and the potential for cascading effects on ecosystems. This reinforces calls for swift and comprehensive responses to limit human-induced climate perturbations.
The collaborative nature of this investigation further showcases the growing prominence of “deep-time digital Earth” programs that harness digital technology to decode Earth history. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and coordinated by the Deep-time Digital Earth Big Science Program, the project exemplifies how large-scale, open collaboration platforms can drive innovation. The fusion of geology, paleobiology, and artificial intelligence heralds a new era in understanding Earth’s complex systems, enabling scientists to generate actionable forecasts informed by Earth’s deep past.
In conclusion, Professor Shen and colleagues have delivered a landmark contribution that links climate variability with evolutionary patterns over tens of millions of years. Their findings vividly illustrate how cooling opens evolutionary opportunities, while warming triggers extinction vulnerabilities, with volcano-induced temperature spikes sharply disrupting marine life. As the planet faces accelerating anthropogenic warming, lessons gleaned from the fusuline fossil record offer crucial warnings and guideposts for biodiversity stewardship. This pioneering work not only enriches scientific discourse but also energizes public awareness about the urgent need to address climate change holistically and with unprecedented resolve.
Subject of Research: Fusuline foraminifera biodiversity changes in relation to Late Paleozoic climate events
Article Title: Global cooling drove diversification and warming caused extinction among Carboniferous-Permian fusuline foraminifera
News Publication Date: June 20, 2025
Image Credits: The Late Paleozoic Ice Age, major volcanic events and fusuline diversity changes from early Visean to end-Permian showing correspondence (Zhang et al., 2025)
Keywords: Late Paleozoic Ice Age, fusuline foraminifera, marine biodiversity, global cooling, volcanic warming, mass extinction, Emeishan Igneous Province, end-Permian extinction, supercomputing, AI algorithms, CONOP stratigraphic analysis, paleoecology, climate change impacts
