Editing Holocene extinction (section)

====Activities contributing to extinctions====
[[File:Extinctions Africa Austrailia NAmerica Madagascar.gif|thumb|The percentage of [[megafauna]] on different land masses over time, with the arrival of humans indicated.]]
Extinction of animals, plants, and other organisms caused by human actions may go as far back as the late [[Pleistocene]], over 12,000 years ago.<ref name="SpecialIssue"/> There is a correlation between megafaunal extinction and the arrival of humans.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sandom|first1=Christopher |last2=Faurby|first2=Søren|last3= Sandel|first3=Brody|last4= Svenning|first4=Jens-Christian|date= 4 June 2014|title=Global late Quaternary megafauna extinctions linked to humans, not climate change|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society B]]|volume=281|issue= 1787|page= 20133254|doi=10.1098/rspb.2013.3254 |pmid=24898370|pmc=4071532}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith|first1=Felisa A.|last2=Elliott Smith|first2=Rosemary E. |last3=Lyons |first3=S. Kathleen |last4=Payne |first4=Jonathan L.|date=April 20, 2018|title=Body size downgrading of mammals over the late Quaternary |journal=Science|volume=360 |issue=6386|pages=310–313|doi=10.1126/science.aao5987|pmid=29674591|bibcode=2018Sci...360..310S|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dembitzer|first1=Jacob|last2=Barkai|first2=Ran |last3=Ben-Dor|first3=Miki|last4=Meiri|first4=Shai|date=2022|title=Levantine overkill: 1.5 million years of hunting down the body size distribution|journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]]|volume=276|issue=|page=107316 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107316|bibcode=2022QSRv..27607316D|s2cid=245236379}}</ref> Megafauna that are still extant also suffered severe declines that were highly correlated with human expansion and activity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bergman |first1=Juraj |last2=Pedersen |first2=Rasmus Ø |last3=Lundgren |first3=Erick J. |last4=Lemoine |first4=Rhys T. |last5=Monsarrat |first5=Sophie |last6=Pearce |first6=Elena A. |last7=Schierup |first7=Mikkel H. |last8=Svenning |first8=Jens-Christian |date=24 November 2023 |title=Worldwide Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene population declines in extant megafauna are associated with Homo sapiens expansion rather than climate change |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=7679 |doi=10.1038/s41467-023-43426-5 |pmid=37996436 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=10667484 |bibcode=2023NatCo..14.7679B }}</ref> Over the past 125,000 years, the average body size of wildlife has fallen by 14% as actions by prehistoric humans eradicated [[megafauna]] on all continents with the exception of Africa.<ref>{{cite news|last=Carrington|first=Damian|date=May 23, 2019|title=Humans causing shrinking of nature as larger animals die off|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/23/humans-causing-shrinking-of-nature-as-larger-animals-die-off|access-date=May 23, 2019|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224071938/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/23/humans-causing-shrinking-of-nature-as-larger-animals-die-off|url-status=live}}</ref> Over the past 130,000 years, avian functional diversity has declined precipitously and disproportionately relative to phylogenetic diversity losses.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Matthews |first1=Thomas J. |last2=Triantis |first2=Kostas A. |last3=Wayman |first3=Joseph P. |last4=Martin |first4=Thomas E. |last5=Hume |first5=Julian P. |last6=Cardoso |first6=Pedro |last7=Faurby |first7=Søren |last8=Mendenhall |first8=Chase D. |last9=Dufour |first9=Paul |last10=Rigal |first10=François |last11=Cooke |first11=Rob |last12=Whittaker |first12=Robert J. |last13=Pigot |first13=Alex L. |last14=Thébaud |first14=Christophe |last15=Jørgensen |first15=Maria Wagner |date=4 October 2024 |title=The global loss of avian functional and phylogenetic diversity from anthropogenic extinctions |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk7898 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |language=en |volume=386 |issue=6717 |pages=55–60 |doi=10.1126/science.adk7898 |pmid=39361743 |bibcode=2024Sci...386...55M |issn=0036-8075 |access-date=11 October 2024}}</ref>

[[Civilization|Human civilization]] was founded on and grew from agriculture.<ref name="Ruddiman-2009" /> The more land used for farming, the greater the population a civilization could sustain,<ref name="Ruddiman-2003"/><ref name="Ruddiman-2009">{{Cite journal|last=Ruddiman|first=W.F.|date=2009|title=Effect of per-capita land use changes on Holocene forest clearance and CO<sub>2</sub> emissions|journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=28|issue=27–28|pages=3011–3015|doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.05.022|bibcode=2009QSRv...28.3011R}}</ref> and subsequent popularization of farming led to widespread habitat conversion.<ref name="PimmJenkins"/>

[[Habitat destruction#Human causes|Habitat destruction by humans]], thus replacing the original local ecosystems, is a major driver of extinction.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Vitousek|first1=P. M.|last2=Mooney |first2=H. A. |last3=Lubchenco|first3=J.|last4=Melillo|first4=J. M.|year=1997|title=Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems|journal=Science|volume=277|issue=5325|pages=494–499|doi=10.1126/science.277.5325.494 |citeseerx=10.1.1.318.6529|s2cid=8610995 }}</ref> The sustained conversion of biodiversity rich forests and wetlands into poorer fields and pastures (of lesser carrying capacity for wild species), over the last 10,000 years, has considerably reduced the Earth's carrying capacity for wild birds and mammals, among other organisms, in both population size and species count.<ref name=Biodiversity-Global-Change-chapter2>{{cite book |last=Teyssèdre|first=A.|year=2004|title= Towards a sixth mass extinction crisis?|chapter=Biodiversity and Global Change|location=Paris|publisher=ADPF|isbn=978-2-914-935289}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gaston|first1=K.J.|last2=Blackburn|first2=T.N.G.|last3=Klein Goldewijk|first3=K. |year=2003 |title=Habitat conversion and global avian biodiversity loss|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=270|issue=1521|pages=1293–1300|doi=10.1098/rspb.2002.2303|pmid=12816643|pmc=1691371}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Teyssèdre|first1=A.|last2=Couvet|first2=D.|year=2007|title=Expected impact of agriculture expansion on the global avifauna|journal=C. R. Biologies|volume=30|issue=3|pages=247–254|doi=10.1016/j.crvi.2007.01.003|pmid=17434119|url=https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/articles/10.1016/j.crvi.2007.01.003/|access-date=2023-10-05|archive-date=2023-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030161043/https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/articles/10.1016/j.crvi.2007.01.003/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other, related human causes of the extinction event include [[deforestation]], hunting, pollution,<ref>{{cite web|date=2008-11-06|website=[[Reuters]]|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-extinct-idUSTRE4A501920081106|title=Measuring extinction, species by species|access-date=2010-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502002359/http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/11/06/us-extinct-idUSTRE4A501920081106 |archive-date=2013-05-02|url-status=live}}</ref> the introduction in various regions of [[Invasive species|non-native species]], and the [[globalization and disease|widespread]] [[transmission (medicine)|transmission]] of [[infectious disease]]s spread through livestock and crops.<ref name=lawton95/>