Benton M J
Department of Geology, University of Bristol, United Kingdom.
Science. 1995 Apr 7;268(5207):52-8. doi: 10.1126/science.7701342.
Analysis of the fossil record of microbes, algae, fungi, protists, plants, and animals shows that the diversity of both marine and continental life increased exponentially since the end of the Precambrian. This diversification was interrupted by mass extinctions, the largest of which occurred in the Early Cambrian, Late Ordovician, Late Devonian, Late Permian, Early Triassic, Late Triassic, and end-Cretaceous. Most of these extinctions were experienced by both marine and continental organisms. As for the periodicity of mass extinctions, no support was found: Seven mass extinction peaks in the last 250 million years are spaced 20 to 60 million years apart.
对微生物、藻类、真菌、原生生物、植物和动物化石记录的分析表明，自前寒武纪末期以来，海洋和陆地生物的多样性呈指数级增长。这种多样化被大规模灭绝事件打断，其中规模最大的几次发生在寒武纪早期、奥陶纪晚期、泥盆纪晚期、二叠纪晚期、三叠纪早期、三叠纪晚期和白垩纪末期。海洋和陆地生物大多经历了这些灭绝事件中的大部分。至于大规模灭绝的周期性，未找到相关依据：在过去2.5亿年里的7次大规模灭绝高峰，间隔时间为2000万至6000万年。
