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Self-similarity of extinction statistics in the fossil record

Author

Listed:
  • Ricard V. Solé

    (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Campus Nord
    Santa Fe Institute)

  • Susanna C. Manrubia

    (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Campus Nord)

  • Michael Benton

    (University of Bristol)

  • Per Bak

    (Santa Fe Institute
    The Niels Bohr Institute)

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

Suggested Citation

  • Ricard V. Solé & Susanna C. Manrubia & Michael Benton & Per Bak, 1997. "Self-similarity of extinction statistics in the fossil record," Nature, Nature, vol. 388(6644), pages 764-767, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:388:y:1997:i:6644:d:10.1038_41996
    DOI: 10.1038/41996
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    Cited by:

    1. M. E. J. Newman & R. G. Palmer, 1999. "Models of Extinction: A Review," Working Papers 99-08-061, Santa Fe Institute.
    2. Sornette, D & Helmstetter, A, 2003. "Endogenous versus exogenous shocks in systems with memory," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 318(3), pages 577-591.
    3. M. E. J. Newman & Gunther J. Eble, 1998. "Power Spectra of Extinction in the Fossil Record," Working Papers 98-12-109, Santa Fe Institute.
    4. West, Bruce J. & West, Damien, 2011. "Are allometry and macroevolution related?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(10), pages 1733-1736.
    5. Marina E Wosniack & Marcos C Santos & Ernesto P Raposo & Gandhi M Viswanathan & Marcos G E da Luz, 2017. "The evolutionary origins of Lévy walk foraging," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-31, October.
    6. Jesus Marin & Ricard V. Sole, 1998. "Macroevolutionary Algorithms: A New Optimization Method on Fitness Landscapes," Working Papers 98-11-108, Santa Fe Institute.
    7. M. E. J. Newman & Gunther J. Eble, 1998. "Decline in Extinction Rates and Scale Invariance in the Fossil Record," Working Papers 98-09-081, Santa Fe Institute.
    8. D. Sornette & A. Helmstetter, 2002. "Endogeneous Versus Exogeneous Shocks in Systems with Memory," Papers cond-mat/0206047, arXiv.org.

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