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Scientists Warn Humanity: The Signs Of Sixth Mass Extinction Are Upon Us
David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) We are currently in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event in the history of life on Earth, warns an international research team in a new scientific research review published in the journal Science.
The study was conducted by researchers from Stanford University, the University of California-Santa Barbara, Sao Paulo State University in Brazil, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Natural Environment Research Council Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in England and University College London.
Throughout the 3.5-billion-year history of life, our planet has gone through several mass extinction events, characterized by dramatic drops in species diversity. Unlike prior mass extinctions, which were caused by factors such as natural climate change or asteroid collisions, the
current mass extinction is caused exclusively by the activity of a single species: human beings.
In the new paper, the researchers refer focus on the severe drop in animal diversity that has occurred as a part of the mass extinction. They have dubbed this dramatic loss of animal life the
“anthropocene defaunation” — that is, the destruction of animal life associated with the era of human domination of the planet.
Cascade of effects
In reviewing the research, the study authors found that more than 320 species of terrestrial vertebrates have gone extinct since the year 1500, and the remaining species have had their populations decline by an average of 25 percent. Among vertebrates as a whole, 16 to 33 percent of all species are considered either threatened or endangered. The rates of decline are highest among larger animals (megafauna), which tend to grow and reproduce more slowly than smaller animals, and need larger areas of habitat to sustain them.
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