extinction events News

extinction events News From AOL News

Why Mass Plant Extinction Hurts More Than Just Veggie Lovers

(Sept. 29) -- Goodbye, grass? More than a fifth of the world's plants are at risk for extinction, according to a new study from the Royal Botanical Gardens at the Natural History Museum in London. "Big deal!" you might scoff, if you're one of the majority of Americans who eats almost no vegetables (let alone soy...

Study: Mass Extinctions Could Shake Up Marine Life

(Sept. 3) --The rate at which animals and plants are going extinct could drastically alter life in the Earth's seas, according to a new study. Mass extinctions throughout history have altered the structure of life in the seas, with dominant creatures being toppled and others rushing in to take their place, creating a...

extinction events News From the Web

05/29/12 Long recovery from mass extinction seen Source: United Press International (UPI) It took 10 million years for Earth to recover from the greatest mass extinction ever when life was nearly wiped out 250 million years ago, researchers say.
05/28/12 Prehistoric cold case links humans to Tasmanian... Source: PhysOrg.com Analysis carried out at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) on the skeletal remains of extinct megafauna is providing substantial proof that for about 2,000 years they infact shared the island with early humans before suddenly disappearing some time before the last ice age.
05/24/12 Koalas on the brink of extinction Source: Northern Rivers Echo Lorraine Vass is the president of Friends of the Koala, Inc. and the chair of the NSW Wildlife Council, Inc. Impressive gains for koala conservation on the Northern Rivers have been achieved over the past couple of weeks.
05/16/12 Changing world Source: Greater Kashmir Things are changing everywhere at a brisk pace and events unfold in a rush.
05/07/12 Asteroid's Impact Still Central to Dinosaurs'... Source: The New York Times - New York NY So three young researchers, led by Stephen L. Brusatte, a graduate student at Columbia University who is affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History, decided to test this hypothesis with a close examination of the fossil record over the 12 million years leading up to the mass extinction.

Background on extinction events

An extinction event (also known as: mass extinction; extinction-level event (ELE), or biotic crisis) is a sharp decrease in the diversity and abundance of macroscopic life.

more at wikipedia »