6th Mass Extinction:

April 12, 2022
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN Topics

6^th Mass Extinction:

Subject: Environment

Section: Conservation

Mass Extinction	Time Period	Size of extinction	Cause of Extinction
1^stMass Extinction-The Ordovician Mass Extinction	The Ordovician Period of the Paleozoic Era (about 440 million years ago)	Up to 85% of all living species eliminated	Continental drift and subsequent climate change
2^ndMass Extinction-Devonian Mass Extinction	The Devonian Period of the Paleozoic Era (about 375 million years ago)	Nearly 80% of all living species eliminated	Lack of oxygen in the oceans, quick cooling of air temperatures, volcanic eruptions and/or meteor strikes
3^rdMass Extinction-Permian Mass Extinction	The Permian Period of the Paleozoic Era (about 250 million years ago)	An estimated 96% of all living species eliminated	Unknown—possibly asteroid strikes, volcanic activity, climate change, and microbes
4^thMass Extinction-The Triassic-Jurassic Mass Extinction	The end of the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era (about 200 million years ago)	More than half of all living species eliminated	Major volcanic activity with basalt flooding, global climate change, and changing pH and sea levels of the oceans
5^thMass Extinction-The K-T Mass Extinction	The end of the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era (about 65 million years ago)	Nearly 75% of all living species eliminated	Extreme asteroid or meteor impact
6^thMass Extinction-Holocene extinction,	Ongoing The loss of species has been occurring since human ancestors developed agriculture over 11,000 years ago.	1 million animal and plant species face extinction and thousands of these would become extinct within decades. About 40 per cent of the planet’s amphibian species are threatened with extinction. Since 1900, the number of native species in most of the land-based habitats has declined by 20 per cent.	changes in land and sea use (habitat loss and degradation), overexploitation of species, invasive species and disease, pollution and climate change.

The IUCN Global Species Programme, in conjunction with the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and partners, are driving the fight to save species for people and nature.TheIUCN Global Species Programme produces, maintains and manages The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .It implements global species conservation initiatives, including Red List biodiversity assessment projects to assess the status of species for the IUCN Red List and on the ground conservation projects throughIUCN Save Our Species and the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP).

Managed from IUCN’s international headquarters in Gland, Switzerland, it has technical units based in:

Cambridge, UK (Red List Unit and Freshwater Biodiversity Unit)
near Washington DC, USA (Biodiversity Assessment Unit)

The Species Programme also supports the activities of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and its constituent Specialist Groups, and acts as Secretariat focal point for SSC. It is an integral part of the IUCN Secretariat.The Species Programme and SSC work together with a wide variety of partners, including the IUCN Red List Partnership and other IUCN members

The IUCN Species Survival Commission is the world’s largest network of species conservation experts with over 9,000 members globally. It is mandated by the Members of IUCN (governments, NGOs, and indigenous peoples’ organisations) to conserve species. This unique body of biologists, ecologists, wildlife managers, health and social scientists, educators, community representatives, economists and government officials is passionate in its commitment to “A just world that values and conserves nature”. We devote our lives, generally on an entirely voluntary basis, to saving species. We echo the voices of countless concerned people from every corner of the planet.