Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking fossil: Ephemeral species in the fossil record.

Some of the great questions and debates in biology and paleobiology centre around the rates of evolution and speciation. If, as Darwin said, natural selection is “daily and hourly scrutinising” organisms, then why do so many fossil species seem to change little over millions of years, an observation that has become known as the “paradox of stasis”? Indeed, genetic studies of living organisms indicate that evolution within species, and evolution of new species, can happen in a geological instant.
In this talk I will discuss some of the underlying problems that surround the measurement of evolutionary and speciation rates, such as the critical timescale of observation that sits, inconveniently, between the time span of the longest biological experiments and the finest resolution of the fossil record. I will then look at some recent paleontological advances, such as the recognition of “ephemeral species” in the fossil record, and consider reconciliation of biological and paleobiological views of evolution.
Presented by James Crampton on July 28 2022.