![]() ![]() ![]() A study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences last week concludes that not only is the sixth extinction real, it may be further along that we expected. And the actions of that species-both past and present-have big, long-lasting consequences. While extinctions on Earth might be old hat, this is the first threat to biodiversity caused by a single species living on the planet itself. Most scientists agree that we are now living through a sixth mass extinction, but this one isn’t caused by world-ending space rocks or lava-belching volcanoes-it’s caused by us. Everyone knows the cataclysmic, asteroid-sized drama that consigned the dinosaurs to oblivion, and 200 million years before that fiery inferno, all life on Earth was nearly ended thanks to unending volcanic eruptions. Stretched across its 4.6-billion-year history, the planet’s undergone five of them. The Earth is no stranger to mass extinctions. Despite this time lag, a concentrated, global conservation effort to reverse this trend is more pressing than ever.A new study says that there may be a time lag between when humans implement environmental actions and when these actions affect animals, meaning that effects of this mass extinction could be “locked in” up until 2050.Scientists agree that the Earth is currently undergoing the sixth mass extinction in its 4.6-billion-year history. ![]()
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