Friday, March 19, 2004
Sixth mass extinction will be our own fault
London - Fears that the Earth is undergoing a mass species wipe-out similar to that which destroyed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago gained new ground on Thursday with the publication of two British studies.
They found that the rate of loss of insect and plant species across Britain was running at several times what would be considered normal, and had been doing so for a long time.
"The world is experiencing a new mass extinction," said Andrew Sugden of Science International magazine. "These studies are milestones in global change research."
The studies, funded largely by Britain's Natural Environment Research Council, are published in the latest issue of the journal Science.
'As far as we an tell this one is caused by one animal organism - man'
Planet Earth has already undergone five mass extinctions in the last 600 million years, and scientists have speculated for some time that it is in the throes of a sixth.
The two studies of the losses of British butterflies, birds and plant species by Jeremy Thomas of the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology in southwestern England and Carly Stevens of the Open University give new backing for the theory.
"The current rates of extinction over recent centuries are a couple of hundred times greater than normal," Thomas said. "Most ecologists accept that we are approaching the rates of extinction seen in the past five mass extinctions."
Thomas found that 71 percent of butterfly species and 54 percent of bird species in Britain had experienced dramatic losses or extinctions - while Stevens found numerous plant species had already gone or were under severe stress.
And while all previous mass extinctions had been due to extra-terrestrial events, the culprit for the current wipe-out was closer to home.
"As far as we an tell this one is caused by one animal organism - man," Thomas said.
Habitat loss and degradation as well as man-made pollution were to blame for the steep declines, both scientists said.
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