Chengdu Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chengdu 610081, China.
Proc Biol Sci. 2011 Aug 7;278(1716):2274-82. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2235. Epub 2010 Dec 23.
The timing and nature of biotic recovery from the devastating end-Permian mass extinction (252 Ma) are much debated. New studies in South China suggest that complex marine ecosystems did not become re-established until the middle-late Anisian (Middle Triassic), much later than had been proposed by some. The recently discovered exceptionally preserved Luoping biota from the Anisian Stage of the Middle Triassic, Yunnan Province and southwest China shows this final stage of community assembly on the continental shelf. The fossil assemblage is a mixture of marine animals, including abundant lightly sclerotized arthropods, associated with fishes, marine reptiles, bivalves, gastropods, belemnoids, ammonoids, echinoderms, brachiopods, conodonts and foraminifers, as well as plants and rare arthropods from nearby land. In some ways, the Luoping biota rebuilt the framework of the pre-extinction latest Permian marine ecosystem, but it differed too in profound ways. New trophic levels were introduced, most notably among top predators in the form of the diverse marine reptiles that had no evident analogues in the Late Permian. The Luoping biota is one of the most diverse Triassic marine fossil Lagerstätten in the world, providing a new and early window on recovery and radiation of Triassic marine ecosystems some 10 Myr after the end-Permian mass extinction.
大灭绝后生物复苏的时间和性质一直存在争议。华南的新研究表明，复杂的海洋生态系统直到中-晚安尼期（中三叠世）才重新建立，这比一些人提出的时间要晚得多。最近在云南省和中国西南地区的中三叠世安尼期发现的异常保存的罗平生物群，展示了陆架上最后一个群落组装阶段。化石组合是海洋动物的混合物，包括大量轻度矿化的节肢动物，与鱼类、海洋爬行动物、双壳类、腹足类、箭石类、菊石类、棘皮动物、腕足动物、牙形石和有孔虫类以及来自附近陆地的植物和罕见节肢动物有关。在某些方面，罗平生物群重建了大灭绝前最后一个二叠纪海洋生态系统的框架，但也存在深刻的差异。新的营养层次被引入，特别是以多种多样的海洋爬行动物的形式，这些动物在晚二叠世没有明显的类似物。罗平生物群是世界上最多样化的三叠纪海洋化石层之一，为大灭绝后约 1000 万年三叠纪海洋生态系统的恢复和辐射提供了一个新的早期窗口。
