Surviving the End-Permian Mass Extinction in Southern Gondwana

Terrestrial ecosystems experienced lower extinction severity than marine biotas during the end-Permian mass extinction, despite stronger continental warming. This apparent paradox is most evident in southern Gondwana, where many high-latitude faunas persisted under extreme climatic stress. Combining Earth system modelling with fossil occurrences, we show that these regions were not temperate refuges, but hyper-seasonal continental environments with intensely hot summers and prolonged sub-freezing winters. Such seasonality created a dual ecological filter operating through bottom-up and top-down controls: summer productivity sustained herbivore populations, whereas winter severity eliminated apex predators and thermally intolerant taxa, releasing prey pressure. Survival depended not only on absolute climatic tolerance but also on behavioral and ecological buffering strategies within habitats. Our findings redefine high-latitude refugia during the end-Permian crisis as dynamically filtered ecosystems shaped by pronounced seasonal variability rather than moderate mean climates.