Growing evidence suggests that the extinction of the dinosaurs involved profound, complex and interconnected changes to the global systems that support life. Much like we are facing today.
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Articles on Mass extinctions
Displaying 1 - 20 of 31 articles
Death is inevitable for individuals and also for species. With help from the fossil record, paleontologists are piecing together what might make one creature more vulnerable than another.
When environmental needs outstrip government funds, people power steps up.
A drying climate caused a mass extinction among plants, but paved the way for the ancestors of modern reptiles, mammals, and birds.
Scientists believe since 2010 we have entered the sixth period of mass extinction. CO2 emissions will change the lives of plants and animals in the next three to four decades.
The planet has seen five 'mass extinctions' over the past half billion years, but each was followed by an explosion in biodiversity.
Are we in the middle of a mass extinction caused by Homo sapiens? Past events can help us to understand the current crisis.
Mercury found in prehistoric rock bolsters the idea that volcanoes caused a mass extinction 200m years ago.
The Noril’sk nickel deposits In Russia are unique: giant volcanic eruptions 250 million years ago released colossal amounts of nickel into the atmosphere, kickstarting the Great Dying.
A geomagnetic reversal may have a severe impact on humans.
The jury is in and the debate is over: Earth’s sixth great extinction has arrived.
Large asteroid hits on Earth have the potential to wipe out humanity so knowing how to detect and deflect them is vital. But we know very little about the interior make up of many asteroids.
Human activity doesn't just reduce biodiversity – new research explores how we are continually creating new species and ecosystems, too.
New study supports the idea that an asteroid, rather than climate changes, caused the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Carbon dioxide is rising faster than any time in the past 66 million years. Rapid rises in the past have been linked to mass extinctions.
Why we won't see a Planet of the Apes when humans are gone.
A cosmological event could have unleased the huge comet or asteroid that led to the demise of the dinosaurs.
A fall in vital trace elements in our oceans could be one of the driving forces behind a number of mass extinction events during Earth's history.
When the asteroid struck the dinosaurs departed, leaving the planter
Being big – larger than a dog – increases the risk of being wiped out in a mass extinction.
Top contributors
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Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University
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Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University
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Senior Lecturer in Global Systems, University of Exeter
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Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
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Postdoctoral Researcher, The University of Queensland
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Adjunct Associate Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland
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John Long is a Friend of The Conversation.
Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
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President, Center for Conservation Biology, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University
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Professor of Earth System Science, UCL
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Distinguished Professor of Geology, University of Tasmania
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Research Associate, University of Leicester
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Professor of Geophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Chancellor's Fellow in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of Edinburgh
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Arizona Zoological Society Endowed Chair, Arizona State University
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Lecturer at Department of Geology, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Technology, Institut Teknologi Bandung
