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The Sixth Mass Extinction: fact, fiction or speculation?

Robert H Cowie1, Philippe Bouchet2, Benoît Fontaine3

  • 1Pacific Biosciences Research Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, U.S.A.

Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
|January 11, 2022
PubMed
Summary

The current biodiversity crisis, potentially the Sixth Mass Extinction, is driven by human activity. Underestimated invertebrate extinctions reveal rates far exceeding natural background levels, necessitating urgent documentation of species before they vanish.

Keywords:
IUCN Red ListSixth Extinctionbiodiversity crisisconservationdenialextinctioninvertebratesland snailsmolluscsundescribed species

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Conservation Biology
  • Biodiversity Science

Background:

  • Earth has experienced five natural Mass Extinction events.
  • A potential Sixth Mass Extinction, driven by human activity, is debated.
  • The IUCN Red List's limitations in assessing invertebrate extinctions are highlighted.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the evidence for a human-caused Sixth Mass Extinction.
  • To address the underestimation of extinction rates due to biased conservation assessments.
  • To emphasize the urgency of documenting biodiversity before it is lost.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of existing data on species extinctions, focusing on biases in conservation assessments.
  • Incorporation of estimated invertebrate extinction rates, using molluscs as a case study.
  • Comparison of extinction rates across different taxonomic groups and geographical realms (marine vs. non-marine, island vs. continental).

Main Results:

  • The true extinction rate, when including invertebrates, vastly exceeds the background rate.
  • An estimated 7.5-13% of mollusc species may have gone extinct since AD 1500, orders of magnitude higher than Red List figures.
  • Island species exhibit higher extinction rates; marine biota shows less crisis compared to non-marine.

Conclusions:

  • The evidence strongly suggests the Sixth Mass Extinction is underway, driven by human actions.
  • Conservation efforts must account for biases and the sheer scale of invertebrate and plant extinctions.
  • Reviving natural history and taxonomy is crucial for documenting vanishing biodiversity and informing conservation.