Next Mass Extinction an Eyeblink Away (The Age)

Created by : Francis Goodwin View profile

Mar. 3, 2011 (The Age) -- Life on Earth is hurtling towards extinction levels comparable to those following the dinosaur-erasing asteroid impact of 65 million years ago, propelled forward by human activities, say scientists.

This week, scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, announced that if current extinction rates continue unabated, and vulnerable species disappear, Earth could lose three-quarters of its species as soon as three centuries from now.

"That's a geological eyeblink," said Nicholas Matzke, a graduate student at UC Berkeley and author of a paper describing the doom-and-gloom scenario.

"Once you lose species, you don't get them back. It takes millions of years to rebound from a mass extinction event."