# Science Fun: From the decline of the dinosaurs to the end of the season
Welcome to La Science s’aMuse, the science program co-produced by UM and Divergence-FM, which has taken you on a cruise through the Muse laboratories archipelago throughout the year. For this final episode of the season, Fabien Condamine, a biologist atthe Institute of Evolutionary Sciences in Montpellier, talks to us about his latest study published in Nature Communications on the decline of the dinosaurs.
And for this last stop of the season, we're heading for a lost world! Today we offer you adventure, science, and danger. Our story takes place 66 million years ago. As we sail the Tethys Sea between Laurasia and Gondwana, the Earth belongs to triceratops, diplodocus, and velociraptors. But not for long! An asteroid approximately 12 kilometers in diameter crashes into the Yucatan Peninsula, causing a global cataclysm that will precipitate the fall of these giants and two-thirds of the species inhabiting the planet. We are in the Cretaceous period and are witnessing the end of the Mesozoic era.
A tragic scenario that has continued to inspire Hollywood, from Jurassic Park to Ice Age, to the delight of audiences who remain captivated by the fate of these giant beasts. Except that... While dinosaurs remain very much alive in our imaginations, perhaps they were already on the decline when the tragedy struck? Indeed, a study published on June 30 in Nature Communications tells us that ten million years before their extinction, the decline of these fascinating creatures already seemed well underway. The cause of this slow disappearance? A reorganization of ocean circulation, leading to a 7 to 10 degree drop in global temperature. To trace the course of these "cascading extinctions, " Fabien Condamine and his colleagues atISEM used the fossil record and a brand-new statistical modeling method: the PyRate program. He tells us more in this fascinating, in-depth interview.
Starting next week, Divergence-FM's summer schedule on 93.9 invites you to listen again to La Science s'aMuse at the beach, by the pool, at the foot of a mountain, or in a canoe—in short, wherever the summer breeze takes you. Thank you all for following us throughout this season. See you in September for a new journey.
Learn more:
- Dinosaur biodiversity declined well before the asteroid impact, influenced by ecological and environmental pressures, Fabien L. Condamine, Guillaume Guinot, Michael J. Benton & Philip J. Currie. Nature Communications, June 29, 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23754-0.
- CNRS press release: The decline of the dinosaurs was already underway long before the asteroid struck.
- Before the asteroid strike that caused their extinction, dinosaur species were already in decline, The Conversation, June 29, 2021.
- "We didn't think about the decline of the dinosaurs before the meteorite hit," Futura Science, June 29, 2021.
Science is fun, you've got the ticket, let's go!
Production: University of Montpellier/ Divergence FM
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault and Lucie Lecherbonnier
Director: Adeline Floc’h
Listen to the program “A LUM LA SCIENCE” on Divergence FM 93.9
