Fossilized Sea Lily (IMAGE) California Academy of Sciences Caption A view of a fossilized sea lily (called Holocrinus) from one of the research sites exploring the ancient and vast Panthalassa Ocean. "We learned from our analysis that beyond documenting the number of species that arise during an ecological recovery, we need to know what they were actually doing -- what scientists call their functional diversity," says Dr. Peter Roopnarine, Academy Curator of Geology. "This helps us understand if the system has shifted toward favoring species with a variety of responses to stress." Credit © 2019 Ashley Dineen Usage Restrictions Credit is mandatory. License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.