The Sixth Mass Reflection

The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. About

List examples of human activities that are suggested to be key triggers for the sixth mass extinction.

Citizenship What impact are you having on the sixth extinction? After reading the novel The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, written by Elizabeth Kolbert, one wonders if indeed the sixth extinction is the result of actions taken by Homo sapiens. Kolbert describes the scientific theories supporting the five mass extinctions that took place in the past and provides a disturbing theory regarding the sixth extinction period. Kolbert writes, “. . . we are deciding, without quite meaning to, which evolutionary pathways will remain open and which will forever be closed.”

Five mass extinctions have occurred throughout the history of planet Earth. It is predicted by Author Elizabeth Kolbert, that a sixth extinction may be underway. The Sixth Extinction is a book in the viewpoint of Kolbert and narrates her travels around the globe while she studies numerous wildlife species. Kolbert claims that ¨Those of us alive today not only are witnessing one of the rarest events in life's history, we are also causing it,” (Kolbert, Page 8). Throughout her work, Kolbert claims that numerous species are decreasing in population due to harmful human activities, which could lead to a global disaster.

Throughout the history of earth, several mass extinction events have occurred, thus changing life on earth forever. Elizabeth Kolbert, in her novel The Sixth Extinction, defines mass extinctions as "...events that eliminate a significant proportion of the world's biota in a geologically insignificant amount of time" (Kolbert 16). Five major mass extinctions have transpired that significantly changed biodiversity. Kolbert argues that Earth currently faces a Sixth mass extinction, one caused by humans. Ever since humans roamed this earth, they have significantly affected biodiversity.

Throughout the lifetime of the Earth, there have been various scientists who have hypothesized various extinction events. The following essay will cover the five major extinction events, otherwise known as the “Big 5 Mass Extinction Events”. According to Wikipedia (2016), a mass extinction is “a widespread and rapid decrease in the amount of life on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp change in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms”.

Mass extinction is defined as the global decrease in diversification during a period of time reasons due to any events that occurred in history of earth. Mass extinction occurs when a great number of species goes into extinction globally.

The earth has been around for 4.6 billion years, and over this time 99.9% of all of the species that have existed on earth have gone extinct. (Barnosky, et al) Palaeontologists characterize mass extinctions as times in Earth’s history when the Earth loses more than three-quarters of its species in a geologically short period of time. This has occurred 5 times over the past 540 million years, and scientists are now suggesting it is happening a 6th time. We are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction that has the potential to wipe out many species of importance, and humans have a profound impact on it.

1998). We are left with some form of disruption to the carbon cycle for viable explanations, through methods of elimination. None of the five mass extinctions should necessarily be considered events; rather they have occurred due to the increasing effects of many causes acting in combination over long periods of time – up to millions of years. In all cases, however, some form of agitation of the carbon cycle is

Extinction is the or process of a species, family, or larger group being or becoming extinct.

However, recent speculation has lead many scientists to believe that we are currently in a mass extinction period, one that could not only be bigger than any previous extinction event, but that actually points a finger towards humans as being the main cause. This extinction event is known as The Holocene Extinction, the Sixth Extinction or the Anthropocene Extinction, and whether we like it or not, there is definitely a considerable amount of evidence to prove that this mass extinction is happening, and that the cause is largely due to human activity. Specific research indicates that deforestation, hunting, pollution, the introduction of non-native species into various regions, destruction of vast tracts of land, river systems, and habitats, and the widespread transmission of infectious diseases spread through livestock and crops are having the most drastic effects on most species. Current studies even show that the present rate of extinction may be up to 140,000 species per year, making it the greatest loss of biodiversity since the Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction. Edward Osborne Wilson, an American biologist, researcher, theorist, naturalist and author, calculated that if the current rate of human disruption of the biosphere continues, one-half of

There have been five well known extinctions on this earth. The one most well known is the mass extinction that ended the dinosaurs. Mass extinction is often described as the elimination of a large number of species in a short period of time. Despite what many think, the elimination of species is almost commonplace at this point. The Earth is currently in the middle of a sixth mass extinction, and it’s been caused by the human race.

Experts have put together various theories about previous mass extinctions and their findings have led some to believe that we are in the early stages of the sixth. One finding that has worried scientists throughout the world is the rate at which species of plants and animals have been going extinct. Previous research had discovered that the number of species of birds around the world has been on a steady decline for some time.6[6] While this detection did raise some red flags, it was not evidence that the next mass extinction had been launched.

Habitat destruction, deforestation, ozone depletion, global warming, and poaching. These actions and ecological happenings are creating a world where animals are going extinct at rapid rates. Our world is on the brink of what scientists believe is the sixth mass extinction. Unlike the five previous mass extinction, the latest one killing a majority of the dinosaurs, the main causes for this current extinction are anthropogenic reasons, not natural events.

Over 98% of all organisms that have lived on Earth are now extinct. A mass extinction event occurs when a large number of species die out within a small time frame (relative to the age of Earth). Mass extinctions are intensively studied for both cause and effect, as there is usually room for debate regarding catalysts that precede the extinction and the massive influx of new biological species that follows. There have been five major mass extinctions, dubbed the “Big Five,” that have wiped out at least 50% of the species living at those times. The most well known mass extinction of the Big Five, with the decimation of every species of non-avian dinosaur, is the Cretaceous-Paleogene