Earth sixth mass extinction is near, based on the results of several studies discussed in famous journal, Science. The "impending" Earth sixth mass extinction, which is evidenced by the decline in the population of certain animal species all over the world, is believed to be caused by their loss of habitat and global climate disruption.
A study that mentioned the Earth sixth mass extinction identified that despite the doubling of the human population in the past 35 years, the number of invertebrate animals, such as worms, beetles, butterflies, and spiders, have suffered a whopping decrease in population by 45% in just the same time period.
Ben Collen, one of the study authors of the University College London in the UK, said, "We were shocked to find similar losses in invertebrates as with larger animals, as we previously thought invertebrates to be more resilient."
Big mammals, such as pandas, tigers, and rhinoceroses, may not be suffering from a population decrease this huge, but once the invertebrates, even the smallest beetle, are taken out of the picture, there will be a massive change in different ecosystems, which, in turn, will also impose a huge change in the way life is lived by animals and humans.
Rodolfo Dirzo of Stanford University stated, "We tend to think about extinction as loss of a species from the face of Earth, and that's very important, but there's a loss of critical ecosystem functioning in which animals play a central role that we need to pay attention to as well. Habitat destruction will facilitate hunting and poaching, and species will have difficulty in finding refuge given land use change and climatic disruption."
The study that was recently conducted reported that approximately 322 species have actually already gone extinct over the last five centuries. Various scientists from all over the world have used the term "antrhopocene defaunation" to refer to human-caused animal species decline. Based on their views, which are backed up by scientific evidence, this is the apparent cause of the present Earth sixth mass extinction.
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