Natural history museum paleontologists in Copenhagen and Helsinki have succeeded in mapping historical biodiversity in unprecedented detail.
Natural history museum paleontologists in Copenhagen and Helsinki have succeeded in mapping historical biodiversity in unprecedented detail. For the first time, it is now possible to compare the impact of climate on global biodiversity in the distant past – a result that paints a gloomy picture for the preservation of present-day species richness. The study has just been published in the prestigious American journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The diversity of life on Earth is nearly unimaginable. There is such a wealth of organisms that we literally can’t count them all. Nevertheless, there is broad consensus that biodiversity is in decline and that Earth is in the midst of a sixth extinction event – most likely due to global warming. The sixth extinction event reflects the loss of plant and animal species that scientists believe we are now facing. It is an event that, with overwhelming probability, is caused by human activity.
Assistant Professor Christian Mac Ørum of the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen leads the groundbreaking study:
Read more at Faculty of Science - University of Copenhagen
Photo Credit: photo-graphe via Pixabay
