Articles tagged with Extinction
Researchers analyze three whale species to assess their recovery status and develop novel approaches to understanding decline. The study highlights the difficulties in determining when a population has recovered, emphasizing the need for data-driven conservation policy.
A Penn State biologist has identified 13 sunfish and sucker species as being at high risk of extinction, primarily due to their isolated distributions and limited geographical range sizes. The study found that larger body size is associated with a higher risk of extinction in sunfish, but not in suckers.
New research in Conservation Biology found that fragmented rainforests can lose biodiversity for a century. The study, led by Thomas Brooks, suggests that conserving the most-recently isolated fragments will save the greatest number of species from extinction.
Experts argue that conservation biologists should move away from simplistic predictive models based on population size to conserve species effectively. John Wehausen analyzed California bighorn populations and found that many small populations persisted for 50 years, contradicting predictions made by a 1990 model.
Researchers used eggshells from an enormous flightless bird to determine the timing and cause of Australia's megafaunal extinction event. The study suggests human activities, such as burning, disrupted ecological balance, leading to the demise of over 85% of large animals.
A recent study suggests that early human activity in Australia may have contributed to the extinction of most large animal species. The research team used dating techniques to determine that an ostrich-sized bird called Genyornis newtoni went extinct around 50,000 years ago.
The research proposes that cosmic ray jets can cause lethal amounts of muons, destroying the ozone layer and creating new species through rapid mutations. The theory explains key characteristics of massive extinctions and suggests ways to gather evidence for past catastrophes.
Researchers believe a sudden shift in vegetation, triggered by changing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the dominance of C-4 grasses, led to a massive extinction event that wiped out many equine species. The long teeth of surviving horses allowed them to adapt to their environment, ensuring their survival.