The current loss of taxa from our planet is considered by many scientists to be the sixth mass extinction; in particular, coral reefs are experiencing significant damage. Scleractinian coral reefs constitute the framework of some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth today as well as throughout the last 250 million years. The Pliensbachian-Toarcian (Pl-To) transition in the Early Jurassic is an important geologic analogue for present-day global disruptions as it provides insights about the ability of corals to survive significant changes in climatic and oceanic conditions. Based on a revised and greatly expanded taxonomy of Tethyan coral faunas for both stages, we reveal a catastrophic extinction (49% at genus and 90.9% at species level) and subsequent radiation for the group during the early Toarcian. The devastation during the late Pliensbachian and early Toarcian biotic crisis suggests that this interval is potentially the most important extinction event for scleractinian corals and fundamentally shaped the future of diversity and morphological disparity within the coral clades that flourished during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Consequently, this interval should be considered a key period in the evolutionary dynamics of the group and reef ecosystems more broadly. These data on coral survival and recovery during the Early Jurassic event are particularly pertinent for questions about present day ecosystem collapse and conservation of coral habitats.

许多科学家认为，目前地球上分类群的丧失是第六次大规模灭绝。特别是，珊瑚礁正在遭受严重破坏。Scleractinian 珊瑚礁构成了当今以及过去 2.5 亿年来地球上一些最多样化生态系统的框架。侏罗纪早期的 Pliensbachian-Toarcian (Pl-To) 过渡是当今全球破坏的重要地质类似物，因为它提供了关于珊瑚在气候和海洋条件发生重大变化时生存的能力的见解。基于对两个阶段的特提斯珊瑚动物群的修订和大大扩展的分类法，我们揭示了该群体在托阿尔西亚早期的灾难性灭绝（属 49% 和物种水平 90.9%）和随后的辐射。Pliensbachian 晚期和 Toarcian 早期生物危机期间的破坏表明，这一间隔可能是石珊瑚珊瑚最重要的灭绝事件，并从根本上塑造了侏罗纪和白垩纪期间繁盛的珊瑚进化枝内多样性和形态差异的未来。因此，这个区间应该被更广泛地视为群体和珊瑚礁生态系统进化动力学的关键时期。这些关于早侏罗世事件期间珊瑚存活和恢复的数据对于有关当今生态系统崩溃和珊瑚栖息地保护的问题特别相关。