Amphibian extinction rates rise to unprecedented levels

New report details historic mass extinction of amphibians

Amphibians, reigning survivors of past mass extinctions, are sending a clear, unequivocal signal that something is wrong, as their extinction rates rise to unprecedented levels, according to a paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The authors confront the question of whether Earth is experiencing its sixth mass extinction and suggest that amphibians, as a case study for terrestrial life, provide a clear answer. "A general message from amphibians is that we may have little time to stave off a potential mass extinction"




Worldwide Amphibian Declines: How big is the problem, what are the causes and what can be done? (VIDEO)

amphibiaweb.org...
(WATCH IT)

Mass extinction
Scientists agree on five big mass extinctions:

*443 mill years ago
*364 mill years ago
*251 mill years ago (the biggest, 96% of all sea animals, 70% of all land animals)
*200 mill years ago (20% of sea life and most land animals and big amfibians)
*65 mill years ago (75% of all species, including dinosaurs)
*Maybe now the sixth one is occuring.



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www.pnas.org...

Video (at the top)
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