And for some, yeah, they were literally the worst.

而對於一些人來說，是的，他們簡直是最差的。

But they also show how nature can bounce back.

但它們也顯示了大自然是如何反彈的。

In fact, while extinctions are like a large scale delete button, okay, they're also a way to trigger some new amazing life.

其實，雖然滅亡就像一個大尺度的刪除鍵，好吧，也是一種觸發一些新的驚人生命的方式。

A lot of speculation about the evolutionary role of mass extinctions on I think mass extinctions have been really important.

很多關於大規模滅絕的進化作用的猜測，我認為大規模滅絕已經非常重要。

I think they played a really major role in opening up ecological opportunities for lineages to diversify and knocking back when it is that have been dominant for long periods of time.

我認為它們在開闢生態機會方面發揮了非常重要的作用，使血統得以多樣化，並在長期以來一直佔據主導地位的情況下將其擊退。

The really big mass extinctions are the ones that show up very dramatically in the fossil record.

真正的大滅絕是那些在化石記錄中表現得非常明顯的。

Those air fondly called the Big Five.

這些空氣被深情地稱為 "五巨頭"。

The Big Five mass extinctions are scattered through the history of life over the last 550 million years and what caused them where things like massive volcanic eruptions, climate changes and even apocalyptic asteroid's.

大五次大滅絕散落在過去5.5億年的生命史中，而造成它們的原因是哪裡，比如大規模的火山爆發、氣候變化，甚至是世界末日的小行星。

The Big Five accounted for 50% and by some estimates, up to 90% loss of all the species.

五大物種的損失佔所有物種損失的50%，有的估計甚至高達90%。

E think these mass extinctions are important.

我認為這些大規模滅絕很重要。

Evolutionary agents that help shake the system loops and because they open up large amounts of ecological space.

有助於撼動系統循環的進化劑，而且因為它們打開了大量的生態空間。

They probably do allow for greater evolutionary inventiveness than might have been a potentially possible in a situation of a really crowded world.

他們可能確實允許更大的進化創造性，而不是在一個真正擁擠的世界的情況下可能有的可能。

Mass extinctions basically clear the decks and made room for new life, but it didn't happen overnight.

大規模的滅絕基本上清除了甲板，為新生命騰出了空間，但這並不是一夜之間發生的。

Way we're talking tens of millions of years before we saw life start to make a comeback.

我們說的方式是幾千萬年後，我們才看到生命開始復出。

But eventually, after this one happened, lots of new fish came to be.

但最終，在這一次發生後，很多新的魚都來了。

And here both plants and reptiles really diversified.

而在這裡，植物和爬行類動物真的多樣化了。

Then the first mammals and dinosaurs here, thin after this, tons more dinosaur species.

然後，這裡有第一批哺乳動物和恐龍，薄薄的這之後，又有大量的恐龍種類。

And after the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs, there is a new sheriff in town.

在恐龍大滅絕後，鎮上來了個新警長。

Terror birds.

恐怖鳥。

There's a whole lineage of large carnivorous birds that diversified after the dinosaurs went extinct through the Senate.

有一個完整的大型肉食性鳥類譜系，在恐龍滅絕後，通過元老院而多樣化。

Select some workers two or 3 ft tall.

選擇一些兩三尺高的工人。

Some of them were six or 7 ft calls, and so those were pretty spectacular, running around for the landscape, chasing down their mammalian prey.

有些是六七英尺的叫聲，所以這些叫聲非常壯觀，為風景奔波，追逐哺乳動物的獵物。

I think luckily for us, they got so dead dinosaurs met new life for them and eventually new life for us.

我想對我們來說是幸運的，他們得到了如此死亡的恐龍遇到了他們的新生命，最終也遇到了我們的新生命。

Okay, but seriously, how did anything survive?

好吧，但說真的，怎麼會有東西活下來？

One of the rules that we find looking at every single mass extinction and many other extinction events.

我們發現看每一次大滅絕和許多其他滅絕事件的規則之一。

Besides, is that species that are widespread geographically preferentially survived the mass extinction species that are spatially restricted just in one little area, most preferentially go extinct.

另外，就是地域上廣泛的物種優先生存下來，而空間上僅僅侷限在一個小區域的大規模滅絕物種，最優先滅絕。

What it says to me is that what really mattered was having your evolutionary eggs in many different geographical baskets.

這對我來說，真正重要的是，你的進化卵在許多不同的地理籃子裡。

So what could this mean for humans and future mass extinctions?

那麼，這對人類和未來的大規模滅絕可能意味著什麼？

We don't really know what sort of ciel activities or ahead for the kinds of pressures that were bringing to bear on the ecosystem today.

我們真的不知道什麼樣的西爾活動或前面的那種壓力，今天帶來的是對生態系統的影響。

Humans were almost certainly survived in some way.

人類幾乎肯定是以某種方式存活下來的。

That's because humans have spread nearly everywhere really more the question of the quality of life of those humans and who else will be left behind to occupy the planet with us?

那是因為人類幾乎已經遍佈各地了，真的更多的是這些人類的生活品質問題，還有誰會留下來和我們一起佔領地球？

And that's really an interesting question.

這真是一個有趣的問題。

There are plenty of species that we rely on either directly or indirectly that might fall into the high extinction risk category.

有很多我們直接或間接依賴的物種可能屬於高滅絕風險類別。

So understanding mass extinctions and how species recovered can help us a lot.

所以瞭解大規模滅絕和物種如何恢復對我們有很大的幫助。

Today.

今天的。