Earth currently experiencing a sixth mass extinction, according to "scientists"


The Holocene extinction, or Anthropocene extinction,[3][4] is the ongoing extinction event during the Holocene epoch. The extinctions span numerous families of bacteria, fungi, plants,[5][6][7] and animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates, and affecting not just terrestrial species but also large sectors of marine life.[8] With widespread degradation of biodiversity hotspots, such as coral reefs and rainforests, as well as other areas, the vast majority of these extinctions are thought to be undocumented, as the species are undiscovered at the time of their extinction, which goes unrecorded. The current rate of extinction of species is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural background extinction rates,[9][10][11][12][13] and is increasing.[14]

During the past 100–200 years, biodiversity loss and species extinction have accelerated,[10] to the point that most conservation biologists now believe that humankind has either entered a period of mass extinction,[15][16] or is on the cusp of doing so.[17][18] As such, the event has also been referred to as the sixth mass extinction or sixth extinction;[19][20][21] given the recent recognition of the previously unrecognised Capitanian mass extinction, the term seventh mass extinction has also been proposed for the Holocene extinction event.[22]

The Holocene extinction includes the disappearance of large land animals known as megafauna, starting at the end of the last glacial period. Megafauna outside of the African mainland, which did not evolve alongside humans, proved highly sensitive to the introduction of human predation, and many died out shortly after early humans began spreading and hunting across the Earth.[23][24] Many African species have also gone extinct in the Holocene, along with species in North America, South America, and Australia, but – with some exceptions – the megafauna of the Eurasian mainland was largely unaffected until a few hundred years ago.[25] These extinctions, occurring near the PleistoceneHolocene boundary, are sometimes referred to as the Quaternary extinction event.

The most popular theory is that human overhunting of species added to existing stress conditions as the Holocene extinction coincides with human colonization of many new areas around the world. Although there is debate regarding how much human predation and habitat loss affected their decline, certain population declines have been directly correlated with the onset of human activity, such as the extinction events of New Zealand and Hawaii. Aside from humans, climate change may have been a driving factor in the megafaunal extinctions, especially at the end of the Pleistocene.

In the twentieth century, human numbers quadrupled, and the size of the global economy increased twenty-five-fold.[26][27] This Great Acceleration or Anthropocene epoch has also accelerated species extinction.[28][29] Ecologically, humanity is now an unprecedented "global superpredator",[30] which consistently preys on the adults of other apex predators, takes over other species' essential habitats and displaces them,[31] and has worldwide effects on food webs.[32] There have been extinctions of species on every land mass and in every ocean: there are many famous examples within Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America, and on smaller islands.

Overall, the Holocene extinction can be linked to the human impact on the environment. The Holocene extinction continues into the 21st century, with human population growth,[33][34][35][36] increasing per capita consumption[10][37] (especially by the super-affluent),[38][39] and meat production,[40][41][42][43][44][45] among others, being the primary drivers of mass extinction. Deforestation,[40] overfishing, ocean acidification, the destruction of wetlands,[46] and the decline in amphibian populations,[47] among others, are a few broader examples of global biodiversity loss.

REFERENCES
  1. Hume, J. P.; Walters, M. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: A & C Black. ISBN 978-1-4081-5725-1.
  2. ^ Diamond, Jared (1999). "Up to the Starting Line". Guns, Germs, and Steel. W.W. Norton. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0-393-31755-8.
  3. ^ Wagler, Ron (2011). "The Anthropocene Mass Extinction: An Emerging Curriculum Theme for Science Educators". The American Biology Teacher. 73 (2): 78–83. doi:10.1525/abt.2011.73.2.5. S2CID 86352610.
  4. ^ Walsh, Alistair (January 11, 2022). "What to expect from the world's sixth mass extinction". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  5. ^ Hollingsworth, Julia (June 11, 2019). "Almost 600 plant species have become extinct in the last 250 years". CNN. Retrieved January 14, 2020. The research -- published Monday in Nature, Ecology & Evolution journal -- found that 571 plant species have disappeared from the wild worldwide, and that plant extinction is occurring up to 500 times faster than the rate it would without human intervention.
  6. ^ Guy, Jack (September 30, 2020). "Around 40% of the world's plant species are threatened with extinction". CNN. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  7. ^ Watts, Jonathan (August 31, 2021). "Up to half of world's wild tree species could be at risk of extinction". The Guardian. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  8. ^ "Marine Extinctions: Patterns and Processes - an overview". Research Gate. 2013.
  9. ^ Ceballos, Gerardo; Ehrlich, Paul R. (8 June 2018). "The misunderstood sixth mass extinction". Science. 360 (6393): 1080–1081. Bibcode:2018Sci...360.1080C. doi:10.1126/science.aau0191. OCLC 7673137938. PMID 29880679. S2CID 46984172.
  10. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Pimm SL, Jenkins CN, Abell R, Brooks TM, Gittleman JL, Joppa LN, Raven PH, Roberts CM, Sexton JO (30 May 2014). "The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection" (PDF). Science. 344 (6187): 1246752-1–1246752-10. doi:10.1126/science.1246752. PMID 24876501. S2CID 206552746. The overarching driver of species extinction is human population growth and increasing per capita consumption.
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Pimm, Stuart L.; Russell, Gareth J.; Gittleman, John L.; Brooks, Thomas M. (1995). "The Future of Biodiversity". Science. 269 (5222): 347–350. Bibcode:1995Sci...269..347P. doi:10.1126/science.269.5222.347. PMID 17841251. S2CID 35154695.
  12. ^ Jump up to:a b Teyssèdre, Anne (2004). Toward a sixth mass extinction crisis? Chapter 2 in Biodiversity & global change : social issues and scientific challenges. R. Barbault, Bernard Chevassus-au-Louis, Anne Teyssèdre, Association pour la diffusion de la pensée française. Paris: Adpf. pp. 24–49. ISBN 2-914935-28-5. OCLC 57892208.
  13. ^ Jump up to:a b De Vos, Jurriaan M.; Joppa, Lucas N.; Gittleman, John L.; Stephens, Patrick R.; Pimm, Stuart L. (2014-08-26). "Estimating the normal background rate of species extinction" (PDF). Conservation Biology (in Spanish). 29 (2): 452–462. doi:10.1111/cobi.12380. ISSN 0888-8892. PMID 25159086. S2CID 19121609.
  14. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Ceballos, Gerardo; Ehrlich, Paul R.; Barnosky, Anthony D.; García, Andrés; Pringle, Robert M.; Palmer, Todd M. (19 June 2015). "Accelerated modern human-induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction". Science Advances. 1 (5): e1400253. Bibcode:2015SciA....1E0253C. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1400253. PMC 4640606. PMID 26601195. All of these are related to human population size and growth, which increases consumption (especially among the rich), and economic inequity.
  15. ^ World Wildlife Fund (September 10, 2020). "Bending the curve of biodiversity loss". Living Planet Report 2020.
  16. ^ Raven, Peter H.; Chase, Jonathan M.; Pires, J. Chris (2011). "Introduction to special issue on biodiversity". American Journal of Botany. 98 (3): 333–335. doi:10.3732/ajb.1100055. PMID 21613129.
  17. ^ Rosenberg KV, Dokter AM, Blancher PJ, Sauer JR, Smith AC, Smith PA, Stanton JC, Panjabi A, Helft L, Parr M, Marra PP (2019). "Decline of the North American avifauna". Science. 366 (6461): 120–124. Bibcode:2019Sci...366..120R. doi:10.1126/science.aaw1313. PMID 31604313. S2CID 203719982.
  18. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Barnosky, Anthony D.; Matzke, Nicholas; Tomiya, Susumu; Wogan, Guinevere O. U.; Swartz, Brian; Quental, Tiago B.; Marshall, Charles; McGuire, Jenny L.; Lindsey, Emily L.; Maguire, Kaitlin C.; Mersey, Ben; Ferrer, Elizabeth A. (3 March 2011). "Has the Earth's sixth mass extinction already arrived?". Nature. 471 (7336): 51–57. Bibcode:2011Natur.471...51B. doi:10.1038/nature09678. PMID 21368823. S2CID 4424650.
  19. ^ Briggs, John C (October 2017). "Emergence of a sixth mass extinction?". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 122 (2): 243–248. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blx063. ISSN 0024-4066.
  20. ^ Jump up to:a b Cowie, Robert H.; Bouchet, Philippe; Fontaine, Benoît (2022). "The Sixth Mass Extinction: fact, fiction or speculation?". Biological Reviews. 97 (2): 640–663. doi:10.1111/brv.12816. PMC 9786292. PMID 35014169. S2CID 245889833. Our review lays out arguments clearly demonstrating that there is a biodiversity crisis, quite probably the start of the Sixth Mass Extinction.
  21. ^ Jump up to:a b Strona, Giovanni; Bradshaw, Corey J. A. (2022). "Coextinctions dominate future vertebrate losses from climate and land use change". Science Advances. 8 (50): eabn4345. Bibcode:2022SciA....8N4345S. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abn4345. PMC 9757742. PMID 36525487. The planet has entered the sixth mass extinction.
  22. ^ Rampino, Michael R.; Shen, Shu-Zhong (5 September 2019). "The end-Guadalupian (259.8 Ma) biodiversity crisis: the sixth major mass extinction?". Historical Biology. 33 (5): 716–722. doi:10.1080/08912963.2019.1658096. S2CID 202858078. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Without humans, the whole world could look like Serengeti". EurekAlert!. Retrieved August 16, 2020. The existence of Africa's many species of mammals is thus not due to an optimal climate and environment, but rather because it is the only place where they have not yet been eradicated by humans. The underlying reason includes evolutionary adaptation of large mammals to humans as well as greater pest pressure on human populations in long-inhabited Africa in the past.
  24. ^ Jump up to:a b Faurby, Søren; Svenning, Jens-Christian (2015). "Historic and prehistoric human‐driven extinctions have reshaped global mammal diversity patterns". Diversity and Distributions. 21 (10): 1155–1166. doi:10.1111/ddi.12369. hdl:10261/123512. S2CID 196689979.
  25. ^ Galetti, Mauro; Moleón, Marcos; Jordano, Pedro; Pires, Mathias M.; Guimarães, Paulo R.; Pape, Thomas; Nichols, Elizabeth; Hansen, Dennis; Olesen, Jens M.; Munk, Michael; de Mattos, Jacqueline S. (2018). "Ecological and evolutionary legacy of megafauna extinctions: Anachronisms and megafauna interactions" (PDF). Biological Reviews. 93 (2): 845–862. doi:10.1111/brv.12374. PMID 28990321. S2CID 4762203.
  26. ^ McNeill, John Robert; Engelke, Peter (2016). The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of the Anthropocene since 1945 (1st ed.). Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674545038.
  27. ^ Daly, Herman E.; Farley, Joshua C. (2010). Ecological economics, second edition: Principles and applications. Island Press. ISBN 9781597266819.
  28. ^ IPBES (2019). "Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)" (PDF). Bonn, Germany: IPBES Secretariat.
  29. ^ Jump up to:a b Crist E, Kopnina H, Cafaro P, Gray J, Ripple WJ, Safina C, Davis J, DellaSala DA, Noss RF, Washington H, Rolston III H, Taylor B, Orlikowska EH, Heister A, Lynn WS, Piccolo JJ (18 November 2021). "Protecting half the planet and transforming human systems are complementary goals". Frontiers in Conservation Science. 2. 761292. doi:10.3389/fcosc.2021.761292.
  30. ^ Jump up to:a b c Darimont, Chris T.; Fox, Caroline H.; Bryan, Heather M.; Reimchen, Thomas E. (21 August 2015). "The unique ecology of human predators". Science. 349 (6250): 858–860. Bibcode:2015Sci...349..858D. doi:10.1126/science.aac4249. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 26293961. S2CID 4985359.
  31. ^ Jump up to:a b Cafaro, Philip; Hansson, Pernilla; Götmark, Frank (August 2022). "Overpopulation is a major cause of biodiversity loss and smaller human populations are necessary to preserve what is left" (PDF). Biological Conservation. 272. 109646. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109646. ISSN 0006-3207. S2CID 250185617.
  32. ^ Fricke, Evan C.; Hsieh, Chia; Middleton, Owen; Gorczynski, Daniel; Cappello, Caroline D.; Sanisidro, Oscar; Rowan, John; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Beaudrot, Lydia (August 25, 2022). "Collapse of terrestrial mammal food webs since the Late Pleistocene". Science. 377 (6609): 1008–1011. Bibcode:2022Sci...377.1008F. doi:10.1126/science.abn4012. PMID 36007038. S2CID 251843290. Food webs underwent steep regional declines in complexity through loss of food web links after the arrival and expansion of human populations. We estimate that defaunation has caused a 53% decline in food web links globally.
  33. ^ Dasgupta, Partha S.; Ehrlich, Paul R. (19 April 2013). "Pervasive Externalities at the Population, Consumption, and Environment Nexus". Science. 340 (6130): 324–328. Bibcode:2013Sci...340..324D. doi:10.1126/science.1224664. PMID 23599486. S2CID 9503728. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  34. ^ Cincotta, Richard P.; Engelman, Robert (Spring 2000). "Biodiversity and population growth". Issues in Science and Technology. 16 (3): 80. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  35. ^ Maurer, Brian A. (January 1996). "Relating Human Population Growth to the Loss of Biodiversity". Biodiversity Letters. 3 (1): 1–5. doi:10.2307/2999702. JSTOR 2999702. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  36. ^ Cockburn, Harry (March 29, 2019). "Population explosion fuelling rapid reduction of wildlife on African savannah, study shows". The Independent. Retrieved April 1, 2019. Encroachment by people into one of Africa's most celebrated ecosystems is "squeezing the wildlife in its core", by damaging habitation and disrupting the migration routes of animals, a major international study has concluded.
  37. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Stokstad, Erik (5 May 2019). "Landmark analysis documents the alarming global decline of nature". Science. AAAS. Retrieved 26 August 2020. For the first time at a global scale, the report has ranked the causes of damage. Topping the list, changes in land use—principally agriculture—that have destroyed habitat. Second, hunting and other kinds of exploitation. These are followed by climate change, pollution, and invasive species, which are being spread by trade and other activities. Climate change will likely overtake the other threats in the next decades, the authors note. Driving these threats are the growing human population, which has doubled since 1970 to 7.6 billion, and consumption. (Per capita of use of materials is up 15% over the past 5 decades.)
  38. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Ceballos, Gerardo; Ehrlich, Paul R.; Dirzo, Rodolfo (23 May 2017). "Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines". PNAS. 114 (30): E6089–E6096. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114E6089C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1704949114. PMC 5544311. PMID 28696295. Much less frequently mentioned are, however, the ultimate drivers of those immediate causes of biotic destruction, namely, human overpopulation and continued population growth, and overconsumption, especially by the rich. These drivers, all of which trace to the fiction that perpetual growth can occur on a finite planet, are themselves increasing rapidly
  39. ^ Jump up to:a b Wiedmann, Thomas; Lenzen, Manfred; Keyßer, Lorenz T.; Steinberger, Julia K. (2020). "Scientists' warning on affluence". Nature Communications. 11 (3107): 3107. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.3107W. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16941-y. PMC 7305220. PMID 32561753. The affluent citizens of the world are responsible for most environmental impacts and are central to any future prospect of retreating to safer environmental conditions . . . It is clear that prevailing capitalist, growth-driven economic systems have not only increased affluence since World War II, but have led to enormous increases in inequality, financial instability, resource consumption and environmental pressures on vital earth support systems.
  40. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Ripple WJ, Wolf C, Newsome TM, Galetti M, Alamgir M, Crist E, Mahmoud MI, Laurance WF (13 November 2017). "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice" (PDF). BioScience. 67 (12): 1026–1028. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix125. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2018. Moreover, we have unleashed a mass extinction event, the sixth in roughly 540 million years, wherein many current life forms could be annihilated or at least committed to extinction by the end of this century.
  41. ^ Jump up to:a b McGrath, Matt (6 May 2019). "Humans 'threaten 1m species with extinction'". BBC. Retrieved 3 August 2021. Pushing all this forward, though, are increased demands for food from a growing global population and specifically our growing appetite for meat and fish.
  42. ^ Jump up to:a b Carrington, Damian (February 3, 2021). "Plant-based diets crucial to saving global wildlife, says report". The Guardian. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  43. ^ Jump up to:a b c Machovina, B.; Feeley, K. J.; Ripple, W. J. (2015). "Biodiversity conservation: The key is reducing meat consumption". Science of the Total Environment. 536: 419–431. Bibcode:2015ScTEn.536..419M. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.07.022. PMID 26231772.
  44. ^ Jump up to:a b Smithers, Rebecca (5 October 2017). "Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  45. ^ Boscardin, Livia (12 July 2016). "Greenwashing the Animal-Industrial Complex: Sustainable Intensification and Happy Meat". 3rd ISA Forum of Sociology, Vienna, Austria. ISAConf.confex.com. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  46. ^ Elbein, Saul (December 11, 2021). "Wetlands point to extinction problems beyond climate change". The Hill. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  47. ^ Jump up to:a b Wake, David B.; Vredenburg, Vance T. (2008-08-12). "Are we in the midst of the sixth mass extinction? A view from the world of amphibians". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (Suppl 1): 11466–11473. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10511466W. doi:10.1073/pnas.0801921105. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2556420. PMID 18695221. The possibility that a sixth mass extinction spasm is upon us has received much attention. Substantial evidence suggests that an extinction event is underway.
  48. ^ Wilson, Edward O. (2003). The Future of life (1st Vintage Books ed.). New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 9780679768111.
  49. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Dirzo, Rodolfo; Young, Hillary S.; Galetti, Mauro; Ceballos, Gerardo; Isaac, Nick J. B.; Collen, Ben (2014). "Defaunation in the Anthropocene" (PDF). Science. 345 (6195): 401–406. Bibcode:2014Sci...345..401D. doi:10.1126/science.1251817. PMID 25061202. S2CID 206555761. In the past 500 years, humans have triggered a wave of extinction, threat, and local population declines that may be comparable in both rate and magnitude with the five previous mass extinctions of Earth's history
  50. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l Kolbert, Elizabeth (2014). The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. New York City: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0805092998.
 

The Holocene extinction, or Anthropocene extinction,[3][4] is the ongoing extinction event during the Holocene epoch. The extinctions span numerous families of bacteria, fungi, plants,[5][6][7] and animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates, and affecting not just terrestrial species but also large sectors of marine life.[8] With widespread degradation of biodiversity hotspots, such as coral reefs and rainforests, as well as other areas, the vast majority of these extinctions are thought to be undocumented, as the species are undiscovered at the time of their extinction, which goes unrecorded. The current rate of extinction of species is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural background extinction rates,[9][10][11][12][13] and is increasing.[14]

During the past 100–200 years, biodiversity loss and species extinction have accelerated,[10] to the point that most conservation biologists now believe that humankind has either entered a period of mass extinction,[15][16] or is on the cusp of doing so.[17][18] As such, the event has also been referred to as the sixth mass extinction or sixth extinction;[19][20][21] given the recent recognition of the previously unrecognised Capitanian mass extinction, the term seventh mass extinction has also been proposed for the Holocene extinction event.[22]

The Holocene extinction includes the disappearance of large land animals known as megafauna, starting at the end of the last glacial period. Megafauna outside of the African mainland, which did not evolve alongside humans, proved highly sensitive to the introduction of human predation, and many died out shortly after early humans began spreading and hunting across the Earth.[23][24] Many African species have also gone extinct in the Holocene, along with species in North America, South America, and Australia, but – with some exceptions – the megafauna of the Eurasian mainland was largely unaffected until a few hundred years ago.[25] These extinctions, occurring near the PleistoceneHolocene boundary, are sometimes referred to as the Quaternary extinction event.

The most popular theory is that human overhunting of species added to existing stress conditions as the Holocene extinction coincides with human colonization of many new areas around the world. Although there is debate regarding how much human predation and habitat loss affected their decline, certain population declines have been directly correlated with the onset of human activity, such as the extinction events of New Zealand and Hawaii. Aside from humans, climate change may have been a driving factor in the megafaunal extinctions, especially at the end of the Pleistocene.

In the twentieth century, human numbers quadrupled, and the size of the global economy increased twenty-five-fold.[26][27] This Great Acceleration or Anthropocene epoch has also accelerated species extinction.[28][29] Ecologically, humanity is now an unprecedented "global superpredator",[30] which consistently preys on the adults of other apex predators, takes over other species' essential habitats and displaces them,[31] and has worldwide effects on food webs.[32] There have been extinctions of species on every land mass and in every ocean: there are many famous examples within Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America, and on smaller islands.

Overall, the Holocene extinction can be linked to the human impact on the environment. The Holocene extinction continues into the 21st century, with human population growth,[33][34][35][36] increasing per capita consumption[10][37] (especially by the super-affluent),[38][39] and meat production,[40][41][42][43][44][45] among others, being the primary drivers of mass extinction. Deforestation,[40] overfishing, ocean acidification, the destruction of wetlands,[46] and the decline in amphibian populations,[47] among others, are a few broader examples of global biodiversity loss.

REFERENCES
  1. Hume, J. P.; Walters, M. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: A & C Black. ISBN 978-1-4081-5725-1.
  2. ^ Diamond, Jared (1999). "Up to the Starting Line". Guns, Germs, and Steel. W.W. Norton. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0-393-31755-8.
  3. ^ Wagler, Ron (2011). "The Anthropocene Mass Extinction: An Emerging Curriculum Theme for Science Educators". The American Biology Teacher. 73 (2): 78–83. doi:10.1525/abt.2011.73.2.5. S2CID 86352610.
  4. ^ Walsh, Alistair (January 11, 2022). "What to expect from the world's sixth mass extinction". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  5. ^ Hollingsworth, Julia (June 11, 2019). "Almost 600 plant species have become extinct in the last 250 years". CNN. Retrieved January 14, 2020. The research -- published Monday in Nature, Ecology & Evolution journal -- found that 571 plant species have disappeared from the wild worldwide, and that plant extinction is occurring up to 500 times faster than the rate it would without human intervention.
  6. ^ Guy, Jack (September 30, 2020). "Around 40% of the world's plant species are threatened with extinction". CNN. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  7. ^ Watts, Jonathan (August 31, 2021). "Up to half of world's wild tree species could be at risk of extinction". The Guardian. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  8. ^ "Marine Extinctions: Patterns and Processes - an overview". Research Gate. 2013.
  9. ^ Ceballos, Gerardo; Ehrlich, Paul R. (8 June 2018). "The misunderstood sixth mass extinction". Science. 360 (6393): 1080–1081. Bibcode:2018Sci...360.1080C. doi:10.1126/science.aau0191. OCLC 7673137938. PMID 29880679. S2CID 46984172.
  10. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Pimm SL, Jenkins CN, Abell R, Brooks TM, Gittleman JL, Joppa LN, Raven PH, Roberts CM, Sexton JO (30 May 2014). "The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection" (PDF). Science. 344 (6187): 1246752-1–1246752-10. doi:10.1126/science.1246752. PMID 24876501. S2CID 206552746. The overarching driver of species extinction is human population growth and increasing per capita consumption.
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Pimm, Stuart L.; Russell, Gareth J.; Gittleman, John L.; Brooks, Thomas M. (1995). "The Future of Biodiversity". Science. 269 (5222): 347–350. Bibcode:1995Sci...269..347P. doi:10.1126/science.269.5222.347. PMID 17841251. S2CID 35154695.
  12. ^ Jump up to:a b Teyssèdre, Anne (2004). Toward a sixth mass extinction crisis? Chapter 2 in Biodiversity & global change : social issues and scientific challenges. R. Barbault, Bernard Chevassus-au-Louis, Anne Teyssèdre, Association pour la diffusion de la pensée française. Paris: Adpf. pp. 24–49. ISBN 2-914935-28-5. OCLC 57892208.
  13. ^ Jump up to:a b De Vos, Jurriaan M.; Joppa, Lucas N.; Gittleman, John L.; Stephens, Patrick R.; Pimm, Stuart L. (2014-08-26). "Estimating the normal background rate of species extinction" (PDF). Conservation Biology (in Spanish). 29 (2): 452–462. doi:10.1111/cobi.12380. ISSN 0888-8892. PMID 25159086. S2CID 19121609.
  14. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Ceballos, Gerardo; Ehrlich, Paul R.; Barnosky, Anthony D.; García, Andrés; Pringle, Robert M.; Palmer, Todd M. (19 June 2015). "Accelerated modern human-induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction". Science Advances. 1 (5): e1400253. Bibcode:2015SciA....1E0253C. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1400253. PMC 4640606. PMID 26601195. All of these are related to human population size and growth, which increases consumption (especially among the rich), and economic inequity.
  15. ^ World Wildlife Fund (September 10, 2020). "Bending the curve of biodiversity loss". Living Planet Report 2020.
  16. ^ Raven, Peter H.; Chase, Jonathan M.; Pires, J. Chris (2011). "Introduction to special issue on biodiversity". American Journal of Botany. 98 (3): 333–335. doi:10.3732/ajb.1100055. PMID 21613129.
  17. ^ Rosenberg KV, Dokter AM, Blancher PJ, Sauer JR, Smith AC, Smith PA, Stanton JC, Panjabi A, Helft L, Parr M, Marra PP (2019). "Decline of the North American avifauna". Science. 366 (6461): 120–124. Bibcode:2019Sci...366..120R. doi:10.1126/science.aaw1313. PMID 31604313. S2CID 203719982.
  18. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Barnosky, Anthony D.; Matzke, Nicholas; Tomiya, Susumu; Wogan, Guinevere O. U.; Swartz, Brian; Quental, Tiago B.; Marshall, Charles; McGuire, Jenny L.; Lindsey, Emily L.; Maguire, Kaitlin C.; Mersey, Ben; Ferrer, Elizabeth A. (3 March 2011). "Has the Earth's sixth mass extinction already arrived?". Nature. 471 (7336): 51–57. Bibcode:2011Natur.471...51B. doi:10.1038/nature09678. PMID 21368823. S2CID 4424650.
  19. ^ Briggs, John C (October 2017). "Emergence of a sixth mass extinction?". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 122 (2): 243–248. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blx063. ISSN 0024-4066.
  20. ^ Jump up to:a b Cowie, Robert H.; Bouchet, Philippe; Fontaine, Benoît (2022). "The Sixth Mass Extinction: fact, fiction or speculation?". Biological Reviews. 97 (2): 640–663. doi:10.1111/brv.12816. PMC 9786292. PMID 35014169. S2CID 245889833. Our review lays out arguments clearly demonstrating that there is a biodiversity crisis, quite probably the start of the Sixth Mass Extinction.
  21. ^ Jump up to:a b Strona, Giovanni; Bradshaw, Corey J. A. (2022). "Coextinctions dominate future vertebrate losses from climate and land use change". Science Advances. 8 (50): eabn4345. Bibcode:2022SciA....8N4345S. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abn4345. PMC 9757742. PMID 36525487. The planet has entered the sixth mass extinction.
  22. ^ Rampino, Michael R.; Shen, Shu-Zhong (5 September 2019). "The end-Guadalupian (259.8 Ma) biodiversity crisis: the sixth major mass extinction?". Historical Biology. 33 (5): 716–722. doi:10.1080/08912963.2019.1658096. S2CID 202858078. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Without humans, the whole world could look like Serengeti". EurekAlert!. Retrieved August 16, 2020. The existence of Africa's many species of mammals is thus not due to an optimal climate and environment, but rather because it is the only place where they have not yet been eradicated by humans. The underlying reason includes evolutionary adaptation of large mammals to humans as well as greater pest pressure on human populations in long-inhabited Africa in the past.
  24. ^ Jump up to:a b Faurby, Søren; Svenning, Jens-Christian (2015). "Historic and prehistoric human‐driven extinctions have reshaped global mammal diversity patterns". Diversity and Distributions. 21 (10): 1155–1166. doi:10.1111/ddi.12369. hdl:10261/123512. S2CID 196689979.
  25. ^ Galetti, Mauro; Moleón, Marcos; Jordano, Pedro; Pires, Mathias M.; Guimarães, Paulo R.; Pape, Thomas; Nichols, Elizabeth; Hansen, Dennis; Olesen, Jens M.; Munk, Michael; de Mattos, Jacqueline S. (2018). "Ecological and evolutionary legacy of megafauna extinctions: Anachronisms and megafauna interactions" (PDF). Biological Reviews. 93 (2): 845–862. doi:10.1111/brv.12374. PMID 28990321. S2CID 4762203.
  26. ^ McNeill, John Robert; Engelke, Peter (2016). The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of the Anthropocene since 1945 (1st ed.). Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674545038.
  27. ^ Daly, Herman E.; Farley, Joshua C. (2010). Ecological economics, second edition: Principles and applications. Island Press. ISBN 9781597266819.
  28. ^ IPBES (2019). "Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)" (PDF). Bonn, Germany: IPBES Secretariat.
  29. ^ Jump up to:a b Crist E, Kopnina H, Cafaro P, Gray J, Ripple WJ, Safina C, Davis J, DellaSala DA, Noss RF, Washington H, Rolston III H, Taylor B, Orlikowska EH, Heister A, Lynn WS, Piccolo JJ (18 November 2021). "Protecting half the planet and transforming human systems are complementary goals". Frontiers in Conservation Science. 2. 761292. doi:10.3389/fcosc.2021.761292.
  30. ^ Jump up to:a b c Darimont, Chris T.; Fox, Caroline H.; Bryan, Heather M.; Reimchen, Thomas E. (21 August 2015). "The unique ecology of human predators". Science. 349 (6250): 858–860. Bibcode:2015Sci...349..858D. doi:10.1126/science.aac4249. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 26293961. S2CID 4985359.
  31. ^ Jump up to:a b Cafaro, Philip; Hansson, Pernilla; Götmark, Frank (August 2022). "Overpopulation is a major cause of biodiversity loss and smaller human populations are necessary to preserve what is left" (PDF). Biological Conservation. 272. 109646. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109646. ISSN 0006-3207. S2CID 250185617.
  32. ^ Fricke, Evan C.; Hsieh, Chia; Middleton, Owen; Gorczynski, Daniel; Cappello, Caroline D.; Sanisidro, Oscar; Rowan, John; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Beaudrot, Lydia (August 25, 2022). "Collapse of terrestrial mammal food webs since the Late Pleistocene". Science. 377 (6609): 1008–1011. Bibcode:2022Sci...377.1008F. doi:10.1126/science.abn4012. PMID 36007038. S2CID 251843290. Food webs underwent steep regional declines in complexity through loss of food web links after the arrival and expansion of human populations. We estimate that defaunation has caused a 53% decline in food web links globally.
  33. ^ Dasgupta, Partha S.; Ehrlich, Paul R. (19 April 2013). "Pervasive Externalities at the Population, Consumption, and Environment Nexus". Science. 340 (6130): 324–328. Bibcode:2013Sci...340..324D. doi:10.1126/science.1224664. PMID 23599486. S2CID 9503728. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  34. ^ Cincotta, Richard P.; Engelman, Robert (Spring 2000). "Biodiversity and population growth". Issues in Science and Technology. 16 (3): 80. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  35. ^ Maurer, Brian A. (January 1996). "Relating Human Population Growth to the Loss of Biodiversity". Biodiversity Letters. 3 (1): 1–5. doi:10.2307/2999702. JSTOR 2999702. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  36. ^ Cockburn, Harry (March 29, 2019). "Population explosion fuelling rapid reduction of wildlife on African savannah, study shows". The Independent. Retrieved April 1, 2019. Encroachment by people into one of Africa's most celebrated ecosystems is "squeezing the wildlife in its core", by damaging habitation and disrupting the migration routes of animals, a major international study has concluded.
  37. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Stokstad, Erik (5 May 2019). "Landmark analysis documents the alarming global decline of nature". Science. AAAS. Retrieved 26 August 2020. For the first time at a global scale, the report has ranked the causes of damage. Topping the list, changes in land use—principally agriculture—that have destroyed habitat. Second, hunting and other kinds of exploitation. These are followed by climate change, pollution, and invasive species, which are being spread by trade and other activities. Climate change will likely overtake the other threats in the next decades, the authors note. Driving these threats are the growing human population, which has doubled since 1970 to 7.6 billion, and consumption. (Per capita of use of materials is up 15% over the past 5 decades.)
  38. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Ceballos, Gerardo; Ehrlich, Paul R.; Dirzo, Rodolfo (23 May 2017). "Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines". PNAS. 114 (30): E6089–E6096. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114E6089C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1704949114. PMC 5544311. PMID 28696295. Much less frequently mentioned are, however, the ultimate drivers of those immediate causes of biotic destruction, namely, human overpopulation and continued population growth, and overconsumption, especially by the rich. These drivers, all of which trace to the fiction that perpetual growth can occur on a finite planet, are themselves increasing rapidly
  39. ^ Jump up to:a b Wiedmann, Thomas; Lenzen, Manfred; Keyßer, Lorenz T.; Steinberger, Julia K. (2020). "Scientists' warning on affluence". Nature Communications. 11 (3107): 3107. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.3107W. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16941-y. PMC 7305220. PMID 32561753. The affluent citizens of the world are responsible for most environmental impacts and are central to any future prospect of retreating to safer environmental conditions . . . It is clear that prevailing capitalist, growth-driven economic systems have not only increased affluence since World War II, but have led to enormous increases in inequality, financial instability, resource consumption and environmental pressures on vital earth support systems.
  40. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Ripple WJ, Wolf C, Newsome TM, Galetti M, Alamgir M, Crist E, Mahmoud MI, Laurance WF (13 November 2017). "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice" (PDF). BioScience. 67 (12): 1026–1028. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix125. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2018. Moreover, we have unleashed a mass extinction event, the sixth in roughly 540 million years, wherein many current life forms could be annihilated or at least committed to extinction by the end of this century.
  41. ^ Jump up to:a b McGrath, Matt (6 May 2019). "Humans 'threaten 1m species with extinction'". BBC. Retrieved 3 August 2021. Pushing all this forward, though, are increased demands for food from a growing global population and specifically our growing appetite for meat and fish.
  42. ^ Jump up to:a b Carrington, Damian (February 3, 2021). "Plant-based diets crucial to saving global wildlife, says report". The Guardian. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  43. ^ Jump up to:a b c Machovina, B.; Feeley, K. J.; Ripple, W. J. (2015). "Biodiversity conservation: The key is reducing meat consumption". Science of the Total Environment. 536: 419–431. Bibcode:2015ScTEn.536..419M. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.07.022. PMID 26231772.
  44. ^ Jump up to:a b Smithers, Rebecca (5 October 2017). "Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  45. ^ Boscardin, Livia (12 July 2016). "Greenwashing the Animal-Industrial Complex: Sustainable Intensification and Happy Meat". 3rd ISA Forum of Sociology, Vienna, Austria. ISAConf.confex.com. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  46. ^ Elbein, Saul (December 11, 2021). "Wetlands point to extinction problems beyond climate change". The Hill. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  47. ^ Jump up to:a b Wake, David B.; Vredenburg, Vance T. (2008-08-12). "Are we in the midst of the sixth mass extinction? A view from the world of amphibians". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (Suppl 1): 11466–11473. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10511466W. doi:10.1073/pnas.0801921105. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2556420. PMID 18695221. The possibility that a sixth mass extinction spasm is upon us has received much attention. Substantial evidence suggests that an extinction event is underway.
  48. ^ Wilson, Edward O. (2003). The Future of life (1st Vintage Books ed.). New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 9780679768111.
  49. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Dirzo, Rodolfo; Young, Hillary S.; Galetti, Mauro; Ceballos, Gerardo; Isaac, Nick J. B.; Collen, Ben (2014). "Defaunation in the Anthropocene" (PDF). Science. 345 (6195): 401–406. Bibcode:2014Sci...345..401D. doi:10.1126/science.1251817. PMID 25061202. S2CID 206555761. In the past 500 years, humans have triggered a wave of extinction, threat, and local population declines that may be comparable in both rate and magnitude with the five previous mass extinctions of Earth's history
  50. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l Kolbert, Elizabeth (2014). The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. New York City: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0805092998.
No one is going to read all that, and don't include 50 references in your already overly long post.
 
No one is going to read all that, and don't include 50 references in your already overly long post.
You're not going to read all that (apparently) and I'll put the references in whenever I feel they're called for.
 
There can never be a mass human extinction by definition.
The fact that the proposition is being aired shows that at best it has reached the " near extinction " stage only .
No one called it a human extinction.
 
I got as far as posts #9 and #10 ... nothing more needs to be said ... but of course I will ... call it a character flaw ...

The Permian Mass Extinction Event (500m BP) is notable because not by how many species perished, but rather how many individuals perished ... up to 70% of all living things dyed out ... for reasons unknown ... the Great Oxygen Catastrophe (2.2b BP) could well have killed all but one species, some manner of Cyanobacteria ... these kinds of events kill off life in the general sense ...

That's NOT what's happening today ... as one species dies out, another moves in a quickly takes over ... the number of individuals remains unchanged ... we killed off the wolves and the coyotes replaced them ... as forests are converted to corn fields, in spite the variety of species declining, the racoon populations explode ...

Kilogram by kilogram ... land mammal amounts have remained constant, except these kilograms are now concentrated on humans and their domesticated animals ... just a dozen species make up 90% of all land mammals (noting this is a trivial amount compared to all land animals) ...

ETA: My point is this isn't really a mass extinction event in the same class as Periam, K-T or any other of these "great" events ... I'm not saying what is happening is good, just that it's better to see it as it is and try to avoid analogies to events with differing causes ... or differing levels of severity ... otherwise I think ding is close enough to right as to make no difference ....

Two blocks from my front door ...

 
Last edited:
I got as far as posts #9 and #10 ... nothing more needs to be said ... but of course I will ... call it a character flaw ...

The Permian Mass Extinction Event (500m BP) is notable because not by how many species perished, but rather how many individuals perished ... up to 70% of all living things dyed out ... for reasons unknown ... the Great Oxygen Catastrophe (2.2b BP) could well have killed all but one species, some manner of Cyanobacteria ... these kinds of events kill off life in the general sense ...

That's NOT what's happening today ... as one species dies out, another moves in a quickly takes over ... the number of individuals remains unchanged ... we killed off the wolves and the coyotes replaced them ... as forests are converted to corn fields, in spite the variety of species declining, the racoon populations explode ...

Kilogram by kilogram ... land mammal amounts have remained constant, except these kilograms are now concentrated on humans and their domesticated animals ... just a dozen species make up 90% of all land mammals (noting this is a trivial amount compared to all land animals) ...

ETA: My point is this isn't really a mass extinction event in the same class as Periam, K-T or any other of these "great" events ... I'm not saying what is happening is good, just that it's better to see it as it is and try to avoid analogies to events with differing causes ... or differing levels of severity ... otherwise I think ding is close enough to right as to make no difference ....

Two blocks from my front door ...


The five previous great extinction had a variety of causes. What makes you think what is happening now doesn't qualify because its being caused by humans?
 
You're not going to read all that (apparently) and I'll put the references in whenever I feel they're called for.
Just cutting and pasting Wikipedia, with no added commentary, proves nothing. You should cut and paste key parts that buttress your argument, if you have one.
 
The five previous great extinction had a variety of causes. What makes you think what is happening now doesn't qualify because its being caused by humans?
Are you just going to ignore his central point, dummy? This isn't a mass extinction event in the same class as the others. That's just the impression that emotional sandy vagina's want to impart on other emotional sandy vaginas.
 
The five previous great extinction had a variety of causes. What makes you think what is happening now doesn't qualify because its being caused by humans?
Ummmm... because it isn't a mass extinction event in the same class as the others, dummy.
 
Just cutting and pasting Wikipedia, with no added commentary, proves nothing. You should cut and paste key parts that buttress your argument, if you have one.
My "argument" was that there are extensive reasons to believe that a sixth mass extinction event is underway. Wikipedia explained that in a clear and concise manner.
 
The five previous great extinction had a variety of causes. What makes you think what is happening now doesn't qualify because its being caused by humans?

Where is the depreciation of life in general? ... where do we see 70% elimination of any life of any kind over ... what ... thousands if not millions of years ...

I understand little girls are only interested in cute fuzzy animals with infantile faces ... this appeals to your mothering instinct, I know ... but in science, we put away our childish impulses and view things objectively ... we concern ourselves with all life forms, even the icky ones ... and the icky life forms are thriving ... like coyotes ... and pus ...

Most endangered species are delicious ...
 
Where is the depreciation of life in general? ... where do we see 70% elimination of any life of any kind over ... what ... thousands if not millions of years ...

I understand little girls are only interested in cute fuzzy animals with infantile faces ... this appeals to your mothering instinct, I know ... but in science, we put away our childish impulses and view things objectively ... we concern ourselves with all life forms, even the icky ones ... and the icky life forms are thriving ... like coyotes ... and pus ...

Most endangered species are delicious ...
Go read the Wikipedia article or do any sort of Google search you like on the topic. As with all science topics, I give very strong preference to the word of the actual experts. A significant number of scientists in the biology/paleontology/ecology fields believe an extinction is underway, based heavily on the numbers. If you'd read even the first paragraph of the Wikipedia intro I posted, you would have learned that the current extinction rate is 100 to 1,000 times the natural background rate and it's not just cute fuzzy animals.

Your attempt here to grow a set of testicles for your denier-mates is sadly pathetic.
 

Forum List

Back
Top