Palaeontologists characterize mass extinctions as times when the Earth loses more than
three-quarters of its species in a geologically short interval, as has happened only five times …

If habitat destruction or overexploitation of populations is severe, species loss can occur
directly and abruptly. Yet the final descent to extinction is often driven by synergistic …

Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of
life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently …

Increasing human population interacts with local and global environments to deplete
biodiversity and resources humans depend on, thus challenging societal values centered on …

Many scientists argue that we are either entering or in the midst of the sixth great mass
extinction. Intense human pressure, both direct and indirect, is having profound effects on …

When first published in 2009, Nature's Matrix set out a radical new approach to the
conservation of biodiversity. This new edition pushes the frontier of the …

The disappearance of populations is a prelude to species extinction. No geographically
explicit estimates have been made of current population losses of major indicator taxa. Here …

Conservation priority setting based on phylogenetic diversity has frequently been proposed
but rarely implemented. Here, we define a simple index that measures the contribution made …

One of the great debates about extinction is whether humans or climatic change caused the
demise of the Pleistocene megafauna. Evidence from paleontology, climatology …

This concise introductory text provides a complete overview of biodiversity-what it is, how it
arose, its distribution, why it is important, human impact upon it, and what should be done to …