近日，英国布里斯托大学应锐团队揭示了黑暗和身体大小决定了白垩纪末期海洋灭绝的模式。这一研究成果发表在2026年5月27日出版的《自然》杂志上。

在白垩纪—古近纪（K-Pg）边界（6600万年前），希克苏鲁伯小行星的撞击被认为通过引发灾难性的环境变化，导致了化石记录中约75%的物种灭绝。然而，尽管经过数十年的研究，环境变化与海洋化石记录中所观察到的选择性灭绝模式之间的关联机制仍未得到解决。

研究组利用一个基于性状的全球生态系统模型，针对超越化石类群的海洋浮游生物群落，建立了这种因果关系。该模型模拟了K-Pg边界之后最初100年内的多样性动态，并基于随体型变化的生物量阈值明确表征了灭绝过程。在K-Pg气候强迫条件下，该模型成功重现了关键的观测灭绝模式，包括浮游有孔虫和其他浮游动物的高度脆弱性、小型混合营养生物及浮游植物的存活，以及高纬度地区多样性损失减少的可能性。

研究组的分析表明，撞击驱动的黑暗期以及依赖体型的灭绝阈值导致了观测到的绝大部分灭绝模式。这些结果表明，浮游生物生态通过能量需求与获取的差异增强了生存能力。该研究弥合了化石记录中灭绝模式与K-Pg撞击冬季假说之间的鸿沟，凸显了基于性状的模型在理解过去生物多样性危机方面的价值。

附：英文原文

Title: Darkness and body size shaped end-Cretaceous marine extinction patterns

Author: Ying, Rui, Monteiro, Fanny M., Witts, James D., Schmidt, Daniela N.

Issue&Volume: 2026-05-27

Abstract: The Chicxulub asteroid impact at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary (66Ma) is thought to have caused the extinction of around 75% of species in the fossil record by triggering catastrophic environmental changes1. However, despite decades of research, the mechanisms linking the environmental changes to the selective extinction patterns observed in the marine fossil record remain unresolved. Here we use a global trait-based ecosystem model2,3 to establish this causality for the marine plankton community beyond the fossilized groups. Our model simulates diversity dynamics during the initial 100years after the K–Pg boundary and represents explicitly extinction based on biomass thresholds that scales with body size. Under K–Pg climatic forcings, the model reproduces successfully key observed extinction patterns, including the high vulnerability of planktic foraminifera and other zooplankton, the survival of small mixotrophs4 and phytoplankton5,6, and potential for reduced diversity loss in high-latitude settings7. Our analysis suggests that impact-driven darkness and body-size-dependent extinction thresholds drove most of the observed extinction patterns. These results suggest that plankton ecologies enhance survival through differences in energy demand and acquisition. Our study bridges the gap between fossil evidence of extinction patterns and the K–Pg impact winter hypothesis, highlighting the value of trait-based models for understanding past biodiversity crises.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10541-4

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10541-4