The 6th
Mass Species Extinction?
¥Holocene
Extinction: A 1998 survey by the American Museum of
Natural History found that 70% of biologists view the present
era as part of a mass extinction event, the fastest to have
ever occurred.
¥Higher
temperatures are moving rapidly toward the poles
¥Can species
adapt/move quickly enough to avoid
extinction?
¥Study of 1,700
species found poleward migration of 6 km/decade
and vertical migration in alpine regions of 6 m/decade
in past 50 years
¥These are
within a factor of 2 of the surface isotherm migration in
the Figure
¥
Hansen et al., 2006