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Earth on track for epic die-off, scientists say

Posted by: Maven on December 22, 2009 at 7:27 am

Here’s an article sure to have you reaching for the Xanax…. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

“If the course of human history is any model, then the wheels are already turning on Earth’s sixth mass extinction, thanks to habitat destruction, pollution and now global warming, a scientific analysis of millions of years of data revealed Friday.

The study of the fossil and archaeological record over the past 30 million years by UC Berkeley and Penn State University researchers shows that between 15 and 42 percent of the mammals in North America disappeared after humans arrived.

That means North American mammals are well on the way – perhaps as much as half way – to a level of extinction comparable to other epic die-offs, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Anthony Barnosky, a UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology and co-author of the study, said the most dramatic human-caused impacts on the ecosystem have occurred in the last century.

“We are seeing a lot of geographic range reductions that are of a greater magnitude than we would expect, and we are seeing loss of subspecies and even a few species,” Barnosky said. “So it looks like we are going into another one of these extinction events.” … “

Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.

December 22, 2009 · Filed Under Climate change & water supply

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