In the second half of the 20th century, the Earth lost 300000 species. Humanity has created the mass extinction.
The best guess of biologists is that species are disappearing between 100 and 1000 times as fast as they were before Homo sapiens arrived. But our impact is different from the mass extinctions of the past. Thet wiped out whole groups of animals, notably the dinosaurs, whereas humans are picking off individual species. In the past, biodiversity recovered as species spread into new ecological niches, but humans are wiping out niches as well as organisms. Wildlife will have a tough time regenerating.
The winners after the mass extinction that finished off the dinosaurs are about to become the losers. One in four mammal species and one in eight bird species face a high risk of ectinction in the near future. Only around 0.1 per cent of the 1.6 million known species are thought to be threatened, though many undiscovered species are likely to be dying out before we even know of their existence. Eventually, the invertebrates are tipped to dominate the new world order.
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5 comments:
Scary thought, isn't it? Mass extinction. Whe will we humans get the Big Message?
From what I've heard, the amphibians are the affected the most. One third of the species are facing extinctions, especially at wetlands in Central America, Africa and Australia. I think this is a big point, need to reconfirm it though.
I think it will be no suprise if there is one day humans will extinct too.
That is life... we eat or be eaten... Same in NUS... hahaha
Every specy exists for its reason. The earth must have those species.
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