Thu. May 26, 2016 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM Poster Hall (International Exhibition Hall HALL6)

Convener:*Yukio Isozaki(Department of Earth Science and Astronomy, Multi-disciplinary Sciences - General Systems Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo), Yusuke Sawaki(Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Biotic evolution was the consequence of repeated extinction and following diversification in the past, which was caused by large-scale environmental changes, in particular, by extremely rapid and drastic forcing that changed the environments of the biosphere. Irreversible and episodic changes in material cycling on the planet and/or in galactic cosmic radiation are nominated as major driving mechanism for the alleged rapid, large-scale environmental perturbations. The biodiversity change in the fossiliferous Phanerozoic record is characterized by multiple mass extinctions within the long-term trend of diversity increase. Nonetheless, each extinction event has been explained rather in ad hoc manner, without any universal explanation. This session discusses the Phanerozoic biodiversity change under a new light of the recent progress in geology.