Why have mass extinctions of species occurred since the late Proterozoic (from 580 million years ago) and repeatedly through the Phanerozoic? Integral to these extinctions were abrupt changes in the physical…
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Extinction
Displaying 321 - 340 of 341 articles
Climate change models must be reworked in a bid to save some of the world’s smallest and slimiest creatures from extinction…
In the last ten years more than 1000 new species have been discovered in the Greater Mekong region. The new species are the focus of the Wild Mekong report from WWF, demonstrating the unique bio-diversity…
We currently face a biodiversity and extinction crisis as human population pressures and climate change combine to push our natural environments to the limit. Because our urban and agricultural activities…
In his 2011 ASSA Cunningham Lecture this month, food policy expert Professor Tim Lang suggested that we “experiment” with alternative diets to reduce our meat and dairy consumption. Lang suggested that…
Predicting the risk of animal extinction is notoriously difficult, especially when examining species that migrate between…
Non-native species can become integral to the ecosystems threatened by their presence, according to Princeton University…
When we think of the last 50,000 years of prehistory, particularly the “Ice Age”, extinct species such as the woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros often spring to mind. Did humans bring about the extinction…
A complex relationship between climate change and human activities is behind the extinction of megafauna during the last…
Up to a quarter of seaweed species in southern Australian waters could face extinction due to global warming. New research…
The United Nations has set Halloween as the day when homosapiens are estimated to reach seven billion, up from six billion in 1999 and five billion in 1987. Two centuries ago there were one billion people…
All over the planet, a new wave of exploration and exploitation is taking place. Bioprospectors are searching for new and useful biological samples and compounds from previously unstudied animals and plants…
With only 400 still alive, Ethiopian wolves are one of the world’s most endangered species. An international group of animal…
The species of legume known as ‘Tallante’s chickpea’, which has not been seen for nearly a century, has finally been studied…
Our planet is on the precipice of a sixth mass extinction event. But unlike the five previous mass extinctions, this one is man-made: a global biodiversity crisis in which species are disappearing three…
Scientists have produced stem cells from endangered species for the first time. It is hoped that the production of stem cells…
Fossils from a new species of woolly rhinoceros found in Tibet have the potential to rock several cherished theories. According to the authors of a new paper published today in Science, the rhino showed…
The Tasmanian tiger was hunted to death for killing sheep; however, new research suggests that it had such weak jaws that…
The skeleton of a “giant wombat” which lived around two million years ago has been discovered in Queensland. The bones of…
Does climate change seriously threaten to wipe out the human species if left unchecked? Examining our evolutionary past suggests it might once have been the perfect catalyst for our extinction. But now…
Top contributors
-
Professor of Conservation Biology, Charles Darwin University
-
Professor of Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University
-
Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
-
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Node Leader in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, Flinders University
-
Professor of Wildlife Conservation, Australian National University
-
Associate Professor, Vertebrate Palaeontology Group, Flinders University
-
Professor of Environmental Management, The University of Queensland
-
Jaana Dielenberg is a Friend of The Conversation.
University Fellow in Biodiversity, Charles Darwin University
-
Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University
-
Lecturer in the School of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University
-
Professor in Conservation Science, School of Ecosystem and Forest Science, The University of Melbourne
-
Honorary Research Fellow, University of Sydney
-
Associate professor, University of Canberra
-
Senior Lecturer, Public Sector Management, School of Business, UNSW Sydney
-
Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University
