Nature & Environment

Are we on the verge of a 6th mass extinction?

By T.K. Randall
December 16, 2014

Image: Green Toad
Credit: Umberto Salvagnin / CC BY 2.0 (adapted) An extinction event on par with that which wiped out the dinosaurs could occur within as little as 100 years, that is according to a new report by the scientific journal Nature.

Mass extinctions have taken place five times in the planet's past and are typically characterized by the disappearance of a significant percentage of the Earth's plant and animal species, often due to a catastrophic event such as an asteroid impact.In this case however it is our own activities, as oppose to a natural disaster, that have contributed the most towards the extinction of a wide range of the planet's wildlife.

Scientists believe that amphibians are most at risk of being wiped out with 41 percent of species likely to go extinct. For mammals this figure is 26 percent and for birds it is 13 percent.

"Habitat destruction, pollution or overfishing either kills off wild creatures and plants or leaves them badly weakened," said marine ecologist Derek Tittensor.

"The trouble is that in [the] coming decades, the additional threat of worsening climate change will become more and more pronounced and could then kill off these survivors."

Source: The Guardian

Tags: Extinction