180 million years ago is just like the 21st century?
“Researchers at Plymouth University, UK, believe that findings from fieldwork along the North Yorkshire coast reveal strong parallels between the Early Jurassic era of 180 million years ago and current climate predictions over the next century. Through geology and palaeontology, they’ve shown how higher temperatures and lower oxygen levels caused drastic changes to marine communities, and that while the Jurassic seas eventually recovered from the effects of global warming, the marine ecosystems that returned were noticeably different from before. The results of the Natural Environment Research Council-funded project are revealed for the first time in this month’s PLOS ONE scientific journal.”
I seem to recall maps that show the distributions of land and water were very different 180 MYA also. Surely that would affect sea life and the ocean environment. I would think that paleoclimatology from more than about 100k years ago would be interesting but may have little relevance now.
Of course, it’s called evolution — and it’s what species do when environmental conditions change.