Self-similarity of extinction statistics in the fossil record

ABSTRACT The dynamical processes underlying evolution over geological timescales remain unclear1,2. Analyses of time series of the fossil record have highlighted the possible signature of

periodicity in mass extinctions3,4, perhaps owing to external influences such as meteorite impacts. More recently the fluctuations in the evolutionary record have been proposed to result

from intrinsic nonlinear dynamics for which self-organized criticality provides an appropriate theoretical framework5,6,7. A consequence of this controversial8 conjecture is that the

fluctuations should be self-similar, exhibiting scaling behaviour like that seen in other biological9 and socioeconomic10,11 systems. The self-similar character is described by a 1/_f_ power

spectrum _P_(_f_), which measures the contributions of each frequency _f_ to the overall time series. If self-similarity is present, then _P_(_f_) ≈ _f_− β with 0 < β <2. This idea

has not been sufficiently tested, however, owing to a lack of adequate data. Here we explore the statistical fluctuation structure of several time series obtained from available

palaeontological data bases, particularly the new ‘Fossil Record 2’18. We find that these data indeed show self-similar fluctuations characterized by a 1/_f_ spectrum. These findings support

the idea that a nonlinear response of the biosphere to perturbations provides the main mechanism for the distribution of extinction events. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe

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FLUCTUATION SPECTRA OF LARGE RANDOM DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS REVEAL HIDDEN STRUCTURE IN ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS Article Open access 15 June 2021 RECORD AGES OF NON-MARKOVIAN SCALE-INVARIANT RANDOM

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291–296 (1982). Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank J. Bascompte, M. Newman, J. Pérez-Mercader, C. Patterson, B. Goodwin, S. Kauffman, K. Sneppen. T. Keitt, J.

Sepkoski and M. Gell-Mann for help at different stages of this work and for discussions. This work was supported by DGYCIT (R.V.S. and S.C.M.), CIRIT (S.C.M.), a Leverhulme grant (M.J.B.),

the division of Materials Science (P.B.) and the Santa Fe Institute (R.V.S. and P.B.). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Physics FEN, Universitat Politècnica de

Catalunya, Campus Nord, Mòdul B4, 08034, Barcelona, Spain Ricard V. Solé & Susanna C. Manrubia * Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, 87501, New Mexico, USA Ricard V. Solé & Per

Bak * Department of Geology, University of Bristol, BS8 1RJ, Bristol, UK Michael Benton * The Niels Bohr Institute, Biegdamsvej 17, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark Per Bak Authors * Ricard V.

Solé View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Susanna C. Manrubia View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * Michael Benton View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Per Bak View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Ricard V. Solé. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Solé, R., Manrubia, S., Benton, M.

_et al._ Self-similarity of extinction statistics in the fossil record. _Nature_ 388, 764–767 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/41996 Download citation * Issue Date: 21 August 1997 * DOI:

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