Mesozoic marine revolution
[13] However, because most durophagous predators were generalists, their effect on anti-predator shell architecture has been viewed by some as diffuse and not as extensive as other authors have suggested.
[14] It is thought that the break-up of Pangaea and the formation of new oceans throughout the Mesozoic brought together previously isolated marine communities, forcing them to compete and adapt.
[2] The explosion of angiosperms in the Cretaceous also enhanced the hydrological cycling, speeding up rates of weathering and nutrient flow into the oceans, which has been cited as a possible driver of the MMR.
[5] Non-mobile types that failed to re-attach to their substrate (such as brachiopods) when removed were picked off as easy prey, whereas those that could hide from predation or be mobile enough to escape had an evolutionary advantage.
[citation needed] The Mesozoic Marine Revolution heavily affected the crinoids, making the majority of their forms extinct.
[12] The shift in the range of sessile stalked crinoids during the late Mesozoic from the shallow shelf to habitats further offshore suggests that they were forced by increased predation pressure in shallow water to migrate to a deep water refuge environment where predation pressure was lower and their mode of life more viable.
[19][20] This migration was not globally synchronous and delayed in the Southern Hemisphere; it did not occur until the Late Eocene in Australia and Antarctica, and until the Early Miocene in Zealandia.
Unlike bivalves, brachiopods never adapted to an infaunal habit (excluding lingulids) and so remained vulnerable throughout the Mesozoic Marine Revolution.
As a result of increased predation pressure on top of heightened competition with bivalves, brachiopods became a minor component of most marine faunas by the Cenozoic despite their incredible diversity and abundance during the Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic.
These marks (while relatively rare) generally occur on sessile invertebrates, implying that they put pressure on Palaeozoic-type faunas during the Mesozoic Marine Revolution.
