Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Department of Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281/S8, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2023 Sep;38(9):812-821. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.04.009. Epub 2023 May 12.
The Late Ordovician mass extinction event is the oldest of the five great extinction events in the fossil record. It has long been regarded as an outlier among mass extinctions, primarily due to its association with a cooling climate. However, recent temporally better resolved fossil biodiversity estimates complicate this view, providing growing evidence for a prolonged but punctuated biodiversity decline modulated by changes in atmospheric composition, ocean chemistry, and viable habitat area. This evolving view invokes extinction drivers similar to those that occurred during other major extinctions; some are even factors in the current human-induced biodiversity crisis. Even this very ancient and, at first glance, exceptional event conveys important lessons about the intensifying 'sixth mass extinction'.
晚奥陶世大灭绝事件是化石记录中五次大灭绝事件中最早的一次。它长期以来一直被视为大灭绝事件中的异类，主要是因为它与气候变冷有关。然而，最近时间分辨率更好的化石生物多样性估计使这种观点变得复杂，为一个长期但有间断的生物多样性下降提供了越来越多的证据，这种下降是由大气成分、海洋化学和可行栖息地面积的变化调节的。这种不断发展的观点援引了与其他主要灭绝事件相似的灭绝驱动因素；其中一些甚至是当前人类引起的生物多样性危机的因素。即使是这个非常古老的、乍一看非常特殊的事件，也传达了关于日益加剧的“第六次大灭绝”的重要教训。
