title: Understanding modern extinctions in marine ecosystems: the role of palaeoecological data.
abstract: Because anthropogenic impacts on ecological systems pre-date the oldest scientific observations, historical documents and archaeological records, understanding modern extinctions requires additional data sources that extend further back in time. Palaeoecological records, which provide quantitative proxy records of ecosystems prior to human impact, are essential for understanding recent extinctions and future extinction risks. Here we critically review the value of the most recent fossil record in contributing to our understanding of modern extinctions and illustrate through case studies how naturally occurring death assemblages and Holocene sedimentary records provide context to the plight of marine ecosystems. While palaeoecological data are inherently restricted censuses of past communities (manipulative experiments are not possible), they yield quantitative records over temporal scales that are beyond the reach of ecology. Only by including palaeoecological data is it possible to fully assess the role of long-term anthropogenic processes in driving modern extinction risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia mkosnik@alumni.uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5380-7041
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kosnik
authors.affiliation: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
authors.forename: Michał
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8575-4711
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kowalewski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D017753:Ecosystem; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005580:Fossils; D006801:Humans; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010163:Paleontology
keywords: Holocene; conservation palaeobiology; death assemblages; marine ecosystems; palaeobiology; palaeoecology