Earth s Sixth Mass Extinction
The Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction The Earth has experienced five mass extinctions since its beginning. ... This ended the reptilian dominance of Earth. Now the planet is entering its next annihilation of vast numbers of species, the Earth’s sixth mass extinction. ... Whatever way you look at it, were destroying the Earth at a rate comparable with the impact of a giant asteroid slamming into the planet, or even a shower of vast heavenly bodies" (Leakey). If these numbers are consistent for the next century, then 50% of the Earth’s species will have perished in these one hundred years. In the year 2102, our species total will consist of only one billion of the two billion estimated plant and mammal species that thrive on the Earth today (Kent 854). “All species are affected: fish, birds, insects, plants, and mammals,” says Stuart Pimm, an avuncular researcher from the University of Tennessee, “… [And] it’s not just species on islands or in rain forests or just birds or big charismatic mammals. It’s everything and it’s everywhere. ... If this extinction continues, our world will be an empty place in a short amount of time. ... A solution to this sixth extinction must be found. ... Before one is able to accept that focusing resources on hotspots is a solution to this extinction, one must understand what a biologically diverse hotspot is. ... Conservation International (CI), the world’s largest conservational organization, has identified 25 of these hotspots around the world. ... 4 percent of the land surface of the Earth, these regions are the sole remaining habitats for 44 percent of the planets plant species and 35 percent of all vertebrate species (Kent 854).