{"id":8625,"date":"2014-07-27T13:13:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-27T13:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/?p=8625"},"modified":"2014-07-27T13:13:02","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T13:13:02","slug":"earth-is-on-the-cusp-of-a-sixth-mass-extinction-oh-oh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/earth-is-on-the-cusp-of-a-sixth-mass-extinction-oh-oh\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Is On The Cusp Of A Sixth Mass Extinction – (OH OH!)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Earth Is On The Cusp Of A Sixth Mass Extinction<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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\"Business<\/a><\/p>\n
By Lauren F Friedman<\/span> July 25, 2014 6:05 PM<\/abbr> <\/cite><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"extinct<\/p>\n

Adam Cohn \/ Flickr<\/a><\/p>\n

Approximately 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs went extinct,\u00a0 75% of the planet’s many species went with them<\/a>. It was the world’s fifth, and most recent, mass extinction event<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, according to a July 25 review<\/a> in the journal Science, the Earth seems to be at the cusp of a sixth mass extinction. Only this time, an asteroid is not to blame. We are.<\/p>\n

“Human impacts on animal biodiversity are an under-recognized form of global environmental change,” the team of ecologists and biologists warn in Science<\/a>. “Among terrestrial vertebrates, 322 species have become extinct since 1500, and populations of the remaining species show 25% average decline in abundance.”<\/p>\n

A third of all vertebrates, the scientists write, “are threatened or endangered.”<\/p>\n

There are several long-time drivers of what researchers call “defaunation” \u2014 the decline of various animal species. The study points to ” overexploitation,\u00a0 habitat destruction, and impacts from invasive\u00a0 species” as continuing threats, but notes that soon, human-caused climate change will be the number one driver of defaunation. Diseases that come from pathogens introduced by humans are another growing threat.<\/p>\n

The good news? We’re not yet totally doomed.<\/p>\n

As David Biello writes in Scientific American<\/a>:<\/p>\n

To avoid the sixth mass extinction we will probably have to employ more aggressive conservation, such as\u00a0 moving species to help them cope with a changing climate<\/a> . Think re-wilding: reintroducing species like wolves or beavers that were once present in a given ecosystem but have since disappeared. Aggressive conservation might also mean killing off newcomer species to preserve or make room for local flora and fauna.<\/p>\n

As another study in Science notes<\/a>, we’ve already made headway in saving some animals from what seemed like certain ruin.<\/p>\n

But if humans as a species don’t want to take our chances with a sixth mass extinction, we need to start taking drastic measures now. The momentum is already moving against us.<\/p>\n

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Here’s another link about the same subject…MUST READ! –<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/tech\/2014\/07\/24\/mass-extinction-study\/13096445\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earth Is On The Cusp Of A Sixth Mass Extinction By Lauren F Friedman July 25, 2014 6:05 PM Adam Cohn \/ Flickr Approximately 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs went extinct,\u00a0 75% of the planet’s many species went with them. It was the world’s fifth, and most recent, \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5701,74,5650],"class_list":["post-8625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecology","tag-ecology","tag-environment","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8626,"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8625\/revisions\/8626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divineearth.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}