Mammalian extinction, survival, and recovery dynamics across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in northeastern Montana, USA

The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary marks a critical event in mammalian evolution. Using a database of 4769 mammalian specimens from the Hell Creek and lower Fort Union formations of Garfi eld County, northeastern Montana, I quantifi ed temporal patterns of diversity and community structure to evaluate faunal dynamics during the last ~1.9 m.y. of the Cretaceous, the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction and survival, and the fi rst ~1.2 m.y. of the early Paleocene recovery and placental radiation. Mammalian taxonomic composition and species richness remained relatively stable for most of the last ~1.9 m.y. of the Cretaceous, but the relative abundance of metatherians and evenness of paleocommunities began declining ~500–600 k.y. before the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The ecological instability implied by falling evenness may be linked to the local extinction of 75% of species at or near the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The early Puercan (Pu1) survival fauna from the fi rst ~100–200 k.y. of the Paleocene is species poor and consists of a few local “bloom taxa” and an infl ux of immigrants. The species-rich mid/late Puercan (Pu2/3) fauna implies mammalian recovery occurred within ~600–700 k.y. of the CretaceousPaleogene event. The Pu2/3 and early Torrejonian (To1) faunas signal the beginning of the placental radiation—“bloom taxa” and multituberculates waned, richness and abundance of “archaic ungulates” and plesiadapiform primates increased, and the fi rst appearance of taeniodonts, pantodonts, and possibly creodonts expanded the ecological diversity of local faunas. Together, the decoupled patterns of richness and relative abundances reveal the complexity of faunal dynamics during this seminal episode in mammalian history. *[email protected] Wilson, G.P., 2014, Mammalian extinction, survival, and recovery dynamics across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in northeastern Montana, USA, in Wilson, G.P., Clemens, W.A., Horner, J.R., and Hartman, J.H., eds., Through the End of the Cretaceous in the Type Locality of the Hell Creek Formation in Montana and Adjacent Areas: Geological Society of America Special Paper 503, p. 365–392, doi:10.1130/2014.2503(15). For permission to copy, contact [email protected]. © 2014 The Geological Society of America. All rights reserved. on January 24, 2014 specialpapers.gsapubs.org Downloaded from