FUNGAL EVENT AND PALYNOLOGICAL RECORD OF ECOLOGICAL CRISIS AND RECOVERY ACROSS THE PERMIAN-TRIASSIC BOUNDARY

The end of the Permian Period was marked by the most severe mass extin ction in the geologic record. Detailed quantitative study of pollen an d spores from shallow-marine deposits spanning the Permian-Triassic (P -Tr) boundary in Israel reveals a sequence of palynological-ecological stages reflecting a major crisis among land plants. The disappearance of the gymnosperm-dominated palynoflora of the Late Permian Lueckispo rites virkkiae Zone is recorded at a claystone horizon containing almo st exclusively abundant fungal remains and carbonized terrestrial plan t debris. This ''fungal spike'' is followed by a zone dominated by mar ine acritarchs and a succession showing ecological recovery with abund ant lycopod spores and eventual reappearance of bisaccate gymnosperm p ollen in the Early Triassic The latest Permian proliferation of fungi is recognizable worldwide and can be correlated with other paleontolog ical and geochemical markers of a global ecological disaster.