Science - Extinction Rate Far Higher Than Thought - Up To 1,000X Prehuman Rate

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The work, published Thursday by the journal Science, was hailed as a landmark study by outside experts. Pimm’s study focused on the rate, not the number, of species disappearing from Earth. It calculated a “death rate” of how many species become extinct each year out of 1 million species.

In 1995, Pimm found that the pre-human rate of extinctions on Earth was about 1. But taking into account new research, Pimm and his colleagues refined that background rate to about 0.1. Now, that death rate is about 100 to 1,000, Pimm said.

Numerous factors are combining to make species disappear much faster than before, said Pimm and co-author Clinton Jenkins of the Institute of Ecological Research in Brazil. But the No. 1 issue is habitat loss. Species are finding no place to live as more places are built up and altered by humans.

Add to that invasive species crowding out native species, climate change affecting where species can survive, and overfishing, Pimm said.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/study-species-disappearing-far-faster-than-before/2014/05/29/80efd460-e75b-11e3-a70e-ea1863229397_story.html