Lethal microbial blooms delayed freshwater ecosystem recovery following the end-Permian extinction

Chris Mays; Stephen McLoughlin; Tracy D. Frank; Christopher R. Fielding; Sam M. Slater; Vivi Vajda

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25711-3

journal article Open Access Sep 17, 2021

Lethal microbial blooms delayed freshwater ecosystem recovery following the end-Permian extinction

Chris Mays

Stephen McLoughlin

Tracy D. Frank Christopher R. Fielding

Sam M. Slater Vivi Vajda

Nature Communications Vol. 12 No. 1 · Springer Science and Business Media LLC

View at Publisher Save 10.1038/s41467-021-25711-3

Abstract

AbstractHarmful algal and bacterial blooms linked to deforestation, soil loss and global warming are increasingly frequent in lakes and rivers. We demonstrate that climate changes and deforestation can drive recurrent microbial blooms, inhibiting the recovery of freshwater ecosystems for hundreds of millennia. From the stratigraphic successions of the Sydney Basin, Australia, our fossil, sedimentary and geochemical data reveal bloom events following forest ecosystem collapse during the most severe mass extinction in Earth’s history, the end-Permian event (EPE; c. 252.2 Ma). Microbial communities proliferated in lowland fresh and brackish waterbodies, with algal concentrations typical of modern blooms. These initiated before any trace of post-extinction recovery vegetation but recurred episodically for >100 kyrs. During the following 3 Myrs, algae and bacteria thrived within short-lived, poorly-oxygenated, and likely toxic lakes and rivers. Comparisons to global deep-time records indicate that microbial blooms are persistent freshwater ecological stressors during warming-driven extinction events.

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Published: Sep 17, 2021
Vol/Issue: 12(1)
License: View

Authors

Christopher R. Fielding

Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, 223 62 Lund, Sweden.

Funding

National Science Foundation Award: EAR-1636625

Vetenskapsrådet Award: 2019-04061

Cite This Article

Chris Mays, Stephen McLoughlin, Tracy D. Frank, et al. (2021). Lethal microbial blooms delayed freshwater ecosystem recovery following the end-Permian extinction. Nature Communications, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25711-3

Lethal microbial blooms delayed freshwater ecosystem recovery following the end-Permian extinction

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