Mass extinctions
- A
Halt natural selection on surviving lineages until pre-extinction community structures are fully restored
- B
Reset biodiversity to a uniform low level by removing the same fraction of every taxonomic group equally
- C
Eliminate all evolutionary novelty because the surviving lineages cannot diversify into the vacated habitats
- Dcheck_circle
Open ecological niches that surviving lineages can radiate into (e.g., mammals after the K-Pg extinction)
Explanation
Mass extinctions reset evolutionary trajectories — surviving lineages diversify into vacated niches, often producing new dominant groups.