Editing Human ecology (section)

==Sixth mass extinction==
{{Main|Holocene extinction}}

Global assessments of biodiversity indicate that the current epoch, the Holocene (or Anthropocene)<ref name="Zalasiewicz08">{{Cite journal |author = Zalasiewicz, J. |title = Are we now living in the Anthropocene |journal = GSA Today |volume = 18 |issue = 2 |pages = 4–8 |date = 2008 |doi = 10.1130/GSAT01802A.1 |display-authors = 1 |last2 = Williams |first2 = Mark |last3 = Smith |first3 = Alan |last4 = Barry |first4 = Tiffany L. |last5 = Coe |first5 = Angela L. |last6 = Bown |first6 = Paul R. |last7 = Brenchley |first7 = Patrick |last8 = Cantrill |first8 = David |last9 = Gale |first9 = Andrew |bibcode = 2008GSAT...18b...4Z |doi-access = free }}</ref> is a [[sixth mass extinction]]. Species loss is accelerating at 100–1000 times faster than average background rates in the fossil record.<ref name="Wake08">{{Cite journal |last1 = Wake |first1 = D. B. |last2 = Vredenburg |first2 = V. T. |title = Are we in the midst of the sixth mass extinction? A view from the world of amphibians |journal = Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume = 105 |pages=11466–73 |date = 2008 |issue = Suppl 1 |doi = 10.1073/pnas.0801921105 |pmid = 18695221 |pmc = 2556420 |bibcode = 2008PNAS..10511466W |doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="May10">{{Cite journal |last = May |first = R. M. |title = Ecological science and tomorrow's world |date = 2010 |volume = 365 |pages=41–7 |doi = 10.1098/rstb.2009.0164 |pmid = 20008384 |issue = 1537 |pmc = 2842703 |journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B }}</ref><ref name="McCallum07">{{cite journal | last=McCallum | first=M. L. | title=Amphibian Decline or Extinction? Current Declines Dwarf Background Extinction Rate | journal=Journal of Herpetology | volume=41 | issue=3 | pages=483–491 | url=http://www.herpconbio.org/McCallum/amphibian%20extinctions.pdf | doi=10.1670/0022-1511(2007)41[483:ADOECD]2.0.CO;2 | year=2007 | s2cid=30162903 | access-date=2011-06-20 | archive-date=2021-10-01 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001072405/https://herpconbio.org/McCallum/amphibian%20extinctions.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> The field of [[conservation biology]] involves ecologists that are researching, confronting, and searching for solutions to sustain the planet's ecosystems for future generations.<ref name="Ehrlich08">{{Cite journal |last1 = Ehrlich |first1 = P. R. |last2 = Pringle |first2 = R. M. |title = Where does biodiversity go from here? A grim business-as-usual forecast and a hopeful portfolio of partial solutions |journal =Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume = 105|issue = S1 |pages=11579–86 |date = 2008 |doi = 10.1073/pnas.0801911105 |pmid = 18695214 |pmc = 2556413 |bibcode = 2008PNAS..10511579E |doi-access = free }}</ref>

<blockquote>"Human activities are associated directly or indirectly with nearly every aspect of the current extinction spasm."<ref name="Wake08" />{{Rp|11472}}</blockquote>

Nature is a [[Resilience (ecology)|resilient]] system. Ecosystems regenerate, withstand, and are forever adapting to fluctuating environments. [[Ecological resilience]] is an important conceptual framework in conservation management and it is defined as the preservation of biological relations in ecosystems that persevere and regenerate in response to disturbance over time.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

However, persistent, systematic, large and non-random disturbance caused by the niche-constructing behavior of human beings, including habitat conversion and land development, has pushed many of the Earth's ecosystems to the extent of their resilience thresholds. Three planetary thresholds have already been crossed, including [[biodiversity loss]], [[climate change]], and [[nitrogen cycle]]s. These biophysical systems are ecologically interrelated and are naturally resilient, but human civilization has transitioned the planet to an [[Anthropocene]] epoch and the ecological state of the Earth is deteriorating rapidly, to the detriment of humanity.<ref name="Rockström09">{{Cite journal |last1 = Rockström |first1 = W. |last2 = Noone |first2 = K. |last3=Persson| first3=A. | last4=Chapin| first4=S. | last5=Lambin | first5=E. F. | last6=Lenton | first6=T. M. |last7 = Scheffer |first7 = M |last8 = Folke |first8 = C|last9 = Schellnhuber |first9 = Hans Joachim |last10 = Nykvist |first10 = Björn |last11 = De Wit |first11 = Cynthia A. |last12 = Hughes |first12 = Terry |last13 = Van Der Leeuw |first13 = Sander |last14 = Rodhe |first14 = Henning |last15 = Sörlin |first15 = Sverker |last16 = Snyder |first16 = Peter K. |last17 = Costanza |first17 = Robert |last18 = Svedin |first18 = Uno |last19 = Falkenmark |first19 = Malin |last20 = Karlberg |first20 = Louise |last21 = Corell |first21 = Robert W. |last22 = Fabry |first22 = Victoria J. |last23 = Hansen |first23 = James |last24 = Walker |first24 = Brian |last25 = Liverman |first25 = Diana |last26 = Richardson |first26 = Katherine |last27 = Crutzen |first27 = Paul |last28 = Foley |first28 = Jonathan A. | title = A safe operating space for humanity |journal = Nature |volume = 461 |issue =  7263|pages=472–475 |date = 2009 |pmid = 19779433 | doi=10.1038/461472a |display-authors = 8 |bibcode = 2009Natur.461..472R |s2cid = 205049746 |doi-access = free }}</ref> The world's fisheries and oceans, for example, are facing dire challenges as the threat of global collapse appears imminent, with serious ramifications for the well-being of humanity.<ref name="Jackson">{{cite journal |author=Jackson JB |title=Colloquium paper: ecological extinction and evolution in the brave new ocean |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=105 |issue=Suppl 1 |pages=11458–65 |date=2008 |pmid=18695220 |pmc=2556419 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0802812105 |bibcode=2008PNAS..10511458J |doi-access=free }}</ref>

While the Anthropocene is yet to be classified as an official epoch, current evidence suggest that "an epoch-scale boundary has been crossed within the last two centuries."<ref name="Zalasiewicz11" />{{rp|835}} The ecology of the planet is further threatened by global warming, but investments in nature conservation can provide a regulatory feedback to store and regulate carbon and other greenhouse gases.<ref name="Mooney09">{{Cite journal |author = Mooney, H.|title = Biodiversity, climate change, and ecosystem services Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability |journal = Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability |volume = 1 |issue = 1 |pages=46–54 |date = 2009 |doi=10.1016/j.cosust.2009.07.006 |display-authors = 1 |last2 = Larigauderie |first2 = Anne |last3 = Cesario |first3 = Manuel |last4 = Elmquist |first4 = Thomas |last5 = Hoegh-Guldberg |first5 = Ove |last6 = Lavorel |first6 = Sandra |last7 = Mace |first7 = Georgina M |last8 = Palmer |first8 = Margaret |last9 = Scholes |first9 = Robert}}</ref><ref name="Chapin00">{{Cite journal |last1=Chapin |first1=F. S. |title = Consequences of changing biodiversity |journal = Nature |volume = 405 |issue = 6783 |pages=234–242|date = 2000 |doi = 10.1038/35012241 |pmid = 10821284 |display-authors = 2 |last2 = Eviner |first2 = Valerie T. |last3 = Naylor |first3 = Rosamond L. |last4 = Vitousek |first4 = Peter M. |last5 = Reynolds |first5 = Heather L. |last6 = Hooper |first6 = David U. |last7 = Lavorel |first7 = Sandra |last8 = Sala |first8 = Osvaldo E. |s2cid=205006508 |hdl = 11336/37401 |hdl-access = free }}</ref>