title: Machine learning identifies ecological selectivity patterns across the end-Permian mass extinction

authors: Foster, William J.

abstract: The end-Permian mass extinction occurred alongside a large swath of environmental changes that are often invoked as extinction mechanisms, even when a direct link is lacking. One way to elucidate the cause(s) of a mass extinction is to investigate extinction selectivity, as it can reveal critical information on organismic traits as key determinants of extinction and survival. Here we show that machine learning algorithms, specifically gradient boosted decision trees, can be used to identify determinants of extinction as well as to predict extinction risk. To understand which factors led to the end-Permian mass extinction during an extreme global warming event, we quantified the ecological selectivity of marine extinctions in the well-studied South China region. We find that extinction selectivity varies between different groups of organisms and that a synergy of multiple environmental stressors best explains the overall end-Permian extinction selectivity pattern. Extinction risk was greater for genera that had a low species richness, narrow bathymetric ranges limited to deep-water habitats, a stationary mode of life, a siliceous skeleton, or, less critically, calcitic skeletons. These selective losses directly link the extinctions to the environmental effects of rapid injections of carbon dioxide into the ocean-atmosphere system, specifically the combined effects of expanded oxygen minimum zones, rapid warming, and potentially ocean acidification.

text: Machine learning identifies ecological selectivity patterns across the end-Permian mass extinction The end-Permian mass extinction occurred alongside a large swath of environmental changes that are often invoked as extinction mechanisms, even when a direct link is lacking. One way to elucidate the cause(s) of a mass extinction is to investigate extinction selectivity, as it can reveal critical information on organismic traits as key determinants of extinction and survival. Here we show that machine learning algorithms, specifically gradient boosted decision trees, can be used to identify determinants of extinction as well as to predict extinction risk. To understand which factors led to the end-Permian mass extinction during an extreme global warming event, we quantified the ecological selectivity of marine extinctions in the well-studied South China region. We find that extinction selectivity varies between different groups of organisms and that a synergy of multiple environmental stressors best explains the overall end-Permian extinction selectivity pattern. Extinction risk was greater for genera that had a low species richness, narrow bathymetric ranges limited to deep-water habitats, a stationary mode of life, a siliceous skeleton, or, less critically, calcitic skeletons. These selective losses directly link the extinctions to the environmental effects of rapid injections of carbon dioxide into the ocean-atmosphere system, specifically the combined effects of expanded oxygen minimum zones, rapid warming, and potentially ocean acidification.

year: 2022

title: Publishing panel: Book proposals and environmental history journals

authors: Beattie, James John

abstract: This presentation was associated with the conference held at Macquarie University, 'Foreign Bodies, Intimate Ecologies: Transformations in Environmental History' (10-13 February 2016), at which James Beattie presented a paper entitled, ' "Hungry dragons" in the South Pacific: Chinese resource frontiers, environmental change, and entrepreneurship'

text: Publishing panel: Book proposals and environmental history journals This presentation was associated with the conference held at Macquarie University, 'Foreign Bodies, Intimate Ecologies: Transformations in Environmental History' (10-13 February 2016), at which James Beattie presented a paper entitled, ' "Hungry dragons" in the South Pacific: Chinese resource frontiers, environmental change, and entrepreneurship'

year: 2016

title: Effects of industry on Maori cultural values: The case of the Tarawera River

authors: Dodd, Materoa

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: The research is a case study of the relationship between three tribes; Te Arawa, Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau and Ngāti Awa and the Tarawera River during the second half of the 20th century when the river was polluted with effluent from pulp and paper mills. It involves the cultural story of the Tarawera River as told by the iwi (tribes) of the river informed by Maori epistemologies and what has come to be known as a ‗kaupapa Maori research' approach. Reference is made to the history, legends, customs and lifestyle that have arisen from the relationship between iwi and the river. It includes comments on the pollution of the river from members of each iwi. The world views, experiences, and perceptions reported on here have forced a fundamental change on the iwi, a change that has affected their cultural and social relationship to the river. The price of economic development on the river has been cultural and ecological genocide. 
The cultural voice echoes a familiar story in indigenous communities. In the Maori context the research provides opportunities for further inquiry into determining the socio-cultural, economic and political future of the iwi of the river.

text: Effects of industry on Maori cultural values: The case of the Tarawera River The research is a case study of the relationship between three tribes; Te Arawa, Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau and Ngāti Awa and the Tarawera River during the second half of the 20th century when the river was polluted with effluent from pulp and paper mills. It involves the cultural story of the Tarawera River as told by the iwi (tribes) of the river informed by Maori epistemologies and what has come to be known as a ‗kaupapa Maori research' approach. Reference is made to the history, legends, customs and lifestyle that have arisen from the relationship between iwi and the river. It includes comments on the pollution of the river from members of each iwi. The world views, experiences, and perceptions reported on here have forced a fundamental change on the iwi, a change that has affected their cultural and social relationship to the river. The price of economic development on the river has been cultural and ecological genocide. 
The cultural voice echoes a familiar story in indigenous communities. In the Maori context the research provides opportunities for further inquiry into determining the socio-cultural, economic and political future of the iwi of the river.

year: 2010