A new study has found that Earth could experience its sixth mass extinction in just the next 200 years.
A mass extinction is defined as having 75 percent or more of the planet’s species die out, a phenomenon that has so far occurred five times in the history of Earth.
According to the study reported in the scientific journal Nature, in the higher categories, thousands of species are disappearing each year. If this trend continues, it is estimated to result in a possible mass extinction over the next few centuries (by 2200).
Among groups that can currently be assessed, amphibians stand out as the most at risk, with more than 41 percent facing a threat of extinction, according to the study. Large numbers of mammals – at least 26 percent - and one out of seven birds, also face crucial threats due to habitat loss, degradation and hunting.
“In general, the state of biodiversity is worsening, in many cases significantly,” Derek Tittensor, a marine ecologist with the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre, was quoted in Nature as saying.
While the precise impact of future climate change on extinctions is not known, the study concludes that its effects are likely to accelerate the process in yet-to-be-determined ways.
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