Heterogeneous selectivity and morphological evolution of marine clades during the Permian–Triassic mass extinction

Morphological disparity and taxonomic diversity are distinct measures of biodiversity, typically expected to evolve synergistically. However, evidence from mass extinctions indicates that they can be decoupled, and while mass extinctions lead to a drastic loss of diversity, their impact on disparity remains unclear. Here we evaluate the dynamics of morphological disparity and extinction selectivity across the Permian–Triassic mass extinction. We developed an automated approach, termed DeepMorph, for the extraction of morphological features from fossil images using a deep learning model and applied it to a high-resolution temporal dataset encompassing 599 genera across six marine clades. Ammonoids, brachiopods and ostracods experienced a selective loss of complex and ornamented forms, while bivalves, gastropods and conodonts did not experience morphologically selective extinctions. The presence and intensity of morphological selectivity probably reflect the variations in environmental tolerance thresholds among different clades. In clades affected by selective extinctions, the intensity of diversity loss promoted the loss of morphological disparity. Conversely, under non-selective extinctions, the magnitude of diversity loss had a negligible impact on disparity. Our results highlight that the Permian–Triassic mass extinction had heterogeneous morphological selective impacts across clades, offering new insights into how mass extinctions can reshape biodiversity and ecosystem structure. Using a deep learning method that extracts morphological features from images of marine fossils, the authors explore morphological disparity dynamics over a time series of 4 million years, spanning the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event.