Editing Extinction event (section)

== Sixth mass extinction ==
{{Main|Holocene extinction|Biodiversity loss}}
Research completed after the seminal 1982 paper (Sepkoski and Raup) has concluded that a sixth mass extinction event due to human activities is currently underway:
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|style="vertical-align:top;text-align:center;width:2%;" rowspan="2"| {{big|'''{{math|6}}'''}}
|style="vertical-align:top;text-align:left;;width:35%;"| '''[[Holocene extinction]]'''
|style="vertical-align:top;text-align:left;"| currently ongoing
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|style="vertical-align:top;text-align:left;" colspan="3"| Extinctions have occurred at over 1,000&nbsp;times the [[background extinction rate]] since 1900, and the rate is increasing.<ref name=McCallum-2015-05-27>{{cite journal | vauthors = McCallum ML |title=Vertebrate biodiversity losses point to a sixth mass extinction |journal=Biodiversity and Conservation |date=27 May 2015 |volume=24 |issue=10 |pages=2497–2519 |doi=10.1007/s10531-015-0940-6 |bibcode=2015BiCon..24.2497M |s2cid=16845698 }}</ref><ref name=Pimm-Jenkins-etal-2014-05-29>{{cite journal | vauthors = Pimm SL, Jenkins CN, Abell R, Brooks TM, Gittleman JL, Joppa LN, Raven PH, Roberts CM, Sexton JO | display-authors = 6 | title = The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection | journal = Science | volume = 344 | issue = 6187 | pages = 1246752 | date = May 2014 | pmid = 24876501 | doi = 10.1126/science.1246752 | s2cid = 206552746 }}</ref>{{efn|Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history. Current extinction rates, for example, are around 100~1,000&nbsp;times higher than the baseline rate, and they are increasing.<ref name=Dasgupta-2021>{{cite web | vauthors = Dasgupta P |author-link= Partha Dasgupta |date=2021 |title=The Economics of biodiversity |website=The Dasgupta Review Headline Messages |publisher= UK government | page=1 |url= https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/957629/Dasgupta_Review_-_Headline_Messages.pdf |access-date= January 9, 2022 }}</ref>}} The mass extinction is a result of [[Human impact on the environment|human activity]] (an [[ecocide]])<ref name=MacDonald-2015-07-03>{{cite news | vauthors = MacDonald J  |date=3 July 2015 |title=It's official: A global mass extinction is under way  |website=JSTOR Daily |url= https://daily.jstor.org/its-official-a-global-mass-extinction-is-under-way/ }}</ref><ref name=Grennan-2015-06-24>{{cite news | vauthors = Grennan M |date=June 24, 2015 |title=We're entering a sixth mass extinction, and it's our fault |magazine=[[Popular Science]] |url=https://www.popsci.com/were-entering-sixth-mass-extinction-and-its-our-fault/}}</ref><ref name=Sutter/><ref name=Cowie-Bouchet-Fontaine-2022>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cowie RH, Bouchet P, Fontaine B | date = April 2022 | title = The sixth mass extinction: Fact, fiction or speculation? | journal = Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society | volume = 97 | issue = 2 | pages = 640–663 | pmid = 35014169 | doi = 10.1111/brv.12816 | pmc = 9786292 | doi-access = free | orig-date = 10 January 2022 | type = online preprint }}</ref> driven by [[population growth]] and [[overconsumption]] of the earth's natural resources.{{efn|"The ongoing sixth mass extinction may be the most serious environmental threat to the persistence of civilization, because it is irreversible. Thousands of populations of critically endangered vertebrate animal species have been lost in a century, indicating that the sixth mass extinction is human caused and accelerating. The acceleration of the extinction crisis is certain because of the still fast growth in human numbers and {{nobr|consumption rates." — Ceballos, Ehrlich, & Raven (2020)<ref name=Ceballos-Ehrlich-Raven-2020>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ceballos G, Ehrlich PR, Raven PH | date = June 2020 | title = Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction | journal =  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences| volume = 117 | issue = 24 | pages = 13596–13602 | pmid = 32482862 | pmc = 7306750 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1922686117 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2020PNAS..11713596C }}</ref>}}}} The 2019 [[Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services|global biodiversity assessment]] by [[IPBES]] asserts that out of an estimated 8&nbsp;million species, 1&nbsp;million plant and animal species are currently threatened with extinction.<ref name="Global Assessment">{{cite conference |vauthors = Brondizio ES, Settele J, Díaz S, Ngo HT |collaboration=Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services |date=25 November 2019 |title=Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services |series=IPBES plenary seventh session |conference=Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity Ecosystem Services |isbn=978-3-947851-13-3 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3553579}}</ref><ref name=Watts-2019-05-06-Gdn>{{cite news | vauthors = Watts J |date=6 May 2019 |title=Human society under urgent threat from loss of Earth's natural life |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |place=London |url= https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/06/human-society-under-urgent-threat-loss-earth-natural-life-un-report |access-date=May 10, 2019}}</ref><ref name=Plumer-2019-05-06-NYT>{{cite news | vauthors = Plumer B |date=6 May 2019 |title=Humans are speeding extinction and altering the natural world at an 'unprecedented' pace |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/climate/biodiversity-extinction-united-nations.html |url-access=limited |access-date=May 10, 2019 |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/climate/biodiversity-extinction-united-nations.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=IPBES-2019-05-06-PR>{{cite press release |title=Nature's dangerous decline 'unprecedented'; species extinction rates 'accelerating' |date= 6 May 2019 |website=[[Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services]] |url=https://www.ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment |access-date=10 May 2019 }}</ref> In late 2021, [[World Wide Fund for Nature|WWF]] Germany suggested that over a million species could go extinct within a decade in the "largest mass extinction event since the end of the dinosaur age."<ref name=DW-2021-12-21-WWF>{{cite news |title=Looming mass extinction could be biggest 'since the dinosaurs,' says WWF |date=29 December 2021 |website=[[Deutsche Welle]] |location=Germany |url= https://www.dw.com/en/looming-mass-extinction-could-be-biggest-since-the-dinosaurs-says-wwf/a-60289286 |access-date=January 3, 2022}}</ref> A 2023 study published in ''[[PNAS]]'' concluded that at least 73 genera of animals have gone extinct since 1500. If humans had never existed, it would have taken 18,000&nbsp;years for the same genera to have disappeared naturally, the report states.<ref name=Rozsa-2023-09-19-Sln>{{cite news |last=Rozsa |first=Matthew |date=19 September 2023 |title=Experts warn of a "biological holocaust" as human-caused extinction "mutilates" the tree of life |website=[[Salon.com]] |url=https://www.salon.com/2023/09/19/experts-warn-of-a-biological-holocaust-as-human-caused-extinction-mutilates-the-tree-of-life/ |access-date= September 21, 2023}}</ref><ref name=Ceballos-Ehrlich-2023>{{cite journal |last1=Ceballos |first1=Gerardo |last2=Ehrlich |first2=Paul R. |date=2023 |title= Mutilation of the tree of life via mass extinction of animal genera |journal= Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=120 |issue=39 |page= e2306987120 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2306987120 |doi-access=free |pmid=37722053 |pmc=10523489 |bibcode=2023PNAS..12006987C }}</ref><ref name=Grnfld-2023-09-19-Gdn>{{cite news |last= Greenfield |first=Patrick |date=September 19, 2023 |title='Mutilating the tree of life': Wildlife loss accelerating, scientists warn |department= Environment |newspaper= The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/19/mutilating-the-tree-of-life-wildlife-loss-accelerating-scientists-warn |access-date=September 21, 2023}}</ref>
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