Editing Holocene extinction (section)

== Background ==
{{annotated image/Extinction|float=right|caption=The percentage of marine animal extinction at the [[genus]] level through the six [[mass extinction]]s}}
[[Extinction event|Mass extinctions]] are characterized by the loss of at least 75% of [[species]] within a geologically short period of time (i.e., less than 2 million years).<ref name="Barnosky2011"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Edward O. |title=The Future of life |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2003 |isbn=9780679768111 |edition=1st Vintage Books |location=New York |author-link=Edward O. Wilson}}</ref> The Holocene extinction is also known as the "sixth extinction", as it is possibly the sixth mass extinction event, after the [[Ordovician–Silurian extinction events]], the [[Late Devonian extinction]], the [[Permian–Triassic extinction event]], the [[Triassic–Jurassic extinction event]], and the [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event]].<ref name="dirzo">{{cite journal |last1=Dirzo |first1=Rodolfo |author-link1=Rodolfo Dirzo |last2=Young |first2=Hillary S. |last3=Galetti |first3=Mauro |last4=Ceballos |first4=Gerardo |last5=Isaac |first5=Nick J. B. |last6=Collen |first6=Ben |date=2014 |title=Defaunation in the Anthropocene |url=http://www.uv.mx/personal/tcarmona/files/2010/08/Science-2014-Dirzo-401-6-2.pdf |journal=Science |volume=345 |issue=6195 |pages=401–406 |bibcode=2014Sci...345..401D |doi=10.1126/science.1251817 |pmid=25061202 |quote=In the past 500 years, humans have triggered a wave of extinction, threat, and local population declines that may be comparable in both rate and magnitude with the five previous mass extinctions of Earth’s history |s2cid=206555761 |access-date=2016-12-16 |archive-date=2017-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511160501/https://www.uv.mx/personal/tcarmona/files/2010/08/Science-2014-Dirzo-401-6-2.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kolbert-2014" /><ref name="Zalasiewicz2015">{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Mark |last2=Zalasiewicz |first2=Jan |last3=Haff |first3=P. K. |last4=Schwägerl |first4=Christian |last5=Barnosky |first5=Anthony D. |last6=Ellis |first6=Erle C. |year=2015 |title=The Anthropocene Biosphere |journal=The Anthropocene Review |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=196–219 |doi=10.1177/2053019615591020 |bibcode=2015AntRv...2..196W |s2cid=7771527}}</ref> If the [[Capitanian mass extinction event|Capitanian extinction event]] is included among the first-order mass extinctions, the Holocene extinction would correspondingly be known as the "seventh extinction".<ref name="Rampino-2019" /><ref name="Newsweek-2019" /> The [[Holocene]] is the current geological [[Geologic time scale|epoch]].