taxa that survived K-T extinction

[Ken Kinman]

Dear All,
      I'm glad to see a recent publication concerning one of my favorite subjects----taxa which survived the K-T extinction and WHY they survived!!!  Here's a link to the abstract of that paper, and also (below) are some of my comments on the subject back in 2001 (on the Dinosaur Mailing List).  I am presently wondering what suprafamilial insect taxa might have had a close call with extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.
              ------- Ken Kinman

http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2FB25402.1


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To: dinosaur at usc.edu
Subject: RE: K/T birds (and frogs)
From: "Ken Kinman" <kinman at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 20:38:56
Reply-To: kinman at hotmail.com
Sender: owner-dinosaur at usc.edu

     The lucky frogs (even in North America) were probably either hibernating or estivating, and the luckiest would have been those that had burrowed into alkaline soil (which would help to neutralize acid rain) and/or in a dry region where there was little rainfall in the months following the impact event.  The same goes for salamanders, and some kind of torpor may have helped some of the mammals and reptiles (e.g., turtles, lizards, etc.) as well.
     Likewise the luckiest birds had buried eggs in nests in alkaline soils (or dry areas).  If there were hadrosaur survivors, they probably made it through the same way (buried eggs, as Jim Fassett has suggested).  Eggs on top of the ground  or in trees would have been exposed to multiple hazards (blast, fire, then cold, insect hordes, unbuffered acidity, etc.)---not a good place for eggs or their parents.
      The common theme among most tetrapod survivors was underground sanctuaries (preferably alkaline) for either the adults or their last batch of buried eggs.  In some cases, water sanctuaries may have sufficed to save some adults (e.g., crocs and turtles), especially if they were generalists feeders.
      The duck-billed platypus has a number of these things going for them (burrowers, egg-layers, close to water----and being way down in Australia sure didn't hurt either).  So it was a combination of a lot of luck and having the right survival strategies.  Frogs are not so delicate during estivation and hibernation, and so their K/T survival (even in North America) is not very surprising.
            ------  Ken Kinman
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