Genus-level versus species-level extinction rates

Abstract

The average extinction rates of index species per m. y. are computed by means of a count-of-biozones metric (Trammer 2014). These rates and the average extinction rates of genera belonging to biostratigraphically important groups, calculated according to three different methods, show congruent rises and falls from the Cambrian to the Neogene. The extinction rates of genera are, thus, a relatively good predictor of species extinction rates.