EXTINCTION:
The Devonian Extinction
Toward the end of the Devonian, nearly 70% of all invertebrate species vanished during the Late Devonian extinction. Marine species (especially tropical ones) suffered the most extinctions, followed by freshwater species, whereas terrestrial species were hardly affected. Inparticular, tabulate coral/stromatoporoid reefs vanished entirely, leading to a great decline in worldwide coral reef-building until the Triassic Period. Many species of brachiopods, trilobites, and early fishes went extinct, as did the planktonic graptolites. These extinctions were not the result of a single major extinction event, but rather smaller extinction events that occurred over a period of more than 20 million years.