Physics and fossils

Mass extinctions may have less to do with evolution and more to do with the inter-relationships between prey and their food, according to two US physicists. Luis Amaral of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Martin Meyer of Boston University have developed a computer model that simulates the growth and collapse of different evolving species across a wide range of environmental niches, from prey up to predators. In the model, whole groups of species become extinct either through random changes in the environment, such as falling meteorites, or through their food source disappearing. The model is the first to simulate the mass extinction patterns seen in the fossil record (Phys. Rev. Letts. . 82 652).