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