Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

The sixth mass extinction: Anthropocene and the human impact on biodiversity

  • Anthropocene - Natural and man-made alterations of the Earth
  • Published:
Rendiconti Lincei Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mass extinctions are a major pattern in macroevolution. Because of their frequency, quickness and global effects, they shaped the global biodiversity several times during the geological ages. As an integrative factor with respect to microevolutionary Neo-Darwinian processes, mass extinctions are probably due to a set of different possible causes (basaltic super-eruptions, impacts of asteroids, global climate changes, continent drifts, and so on). An analogy has been proposed. If we compare the rates and amounts of extinction during those singular evolutionary events with the range of species losses over the past few centuries and millennia in human times, we see a similar trend. Then, according to a group of authoritative evolutionists like Edward O. Wilson and Niles Eldredge, we have evidence that humans are now causing the so called “Sixth Mass Extinction”. “Anthropocene” also means that Homo sapiens has become a dominant evolutionary force. Through a mix of different significantly impacting activities (i.e., fragmentation of habitats, overpopulation, chemical pollution, invasive species, over-exploitation of resources in hunting and fishing), we have produced the conditions for a serious extinction crisis. According to Nature (March 2011), the sixth mass extinction is under way: “we find that Earth could reach that extreme within just a few centuries if current threats to many species are not alleviated” (Barnosky et al. 2011). We discuss here a recent model for mass extinctions (the “Perfect Storm Model”), based on the idea that these macroevolutionary patterns could be produced by a mix of three main simultaneous causes and conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alvarez W (1997) T-Rex and the Crater of Doom. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez L, Alvarez W, Asaro F, Michel HV (1980) Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. Experimental results and theoretical implications. Science 208:1095–1108

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Archibald JD et al (2010) Cretaceous extinctions: multiple causes. Science 328:973

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arens NC, West ID (2008) Press-pulse: a general theory of mass extinctions? Paleobiology 34:456–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bambach RK (2006) Phanerozoic biodiversity mass extinctions. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 34:127–155

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barnosky A et al (2011) Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived? Nature 471:51–57

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Benton MJ (2003) When life nearly died. Thames & Hudson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bostrom N, Ćirković MM (eds) (2008) Global catastrophic risks. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Brook BW, Sodhi NS, Bradshaw CJA (2008) Synergies among extinction drivers under global change. Trends Ecol Evol 23:453–460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butchart SHM et al (2010) Global Biodiversity: indicators of recent declines. Science 328:1164–1168

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cavalli Sforza LL (2010) La specie prepotente. Editrice San Raffaele, Milano

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavalli Sforza LL, Pievani T (2012) Homo sapiens. The Great History of Human Diversity. Codice, Turin

    Google Scholar 

  • Clemens ES (1986) Of asteroids and dinosaurs. The role of the press in the shaping of scientific debate. Soc Stud Sci 16:421–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Courtillot V, Allegre C (1999) Evolutionary catastrophes: the science of mass extinction. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin CD (1836–1844) Charles Darwin’s Notebook. In: P.H. Barrett et al. (ed). Cornell University Press, Ithaca

  • de Boer JZ, Sanders DT (2002) Volcanoes in human history. The far-reaching effects of major eruptions. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Eldredge N (1995) Dominion. Holt and Co., New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Eldredge N (1998) Life in the balance. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Eldredge N, Pievani T (2010) Ecosphera (Ed) Il futuro della Terra. UTET De Agostini, Torino

  • Frankel C (1999) The end of the dinosaurs. Chicxulub crater and mass extinctions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Glen W (ed) (1994) Mass-extinction debates: how science work in a crisis. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ (1985) The Flamingo’s smile. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ (1987) Time’s arrow. Time’s cycle. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ (1991) Bully for Brontosaurus. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ (1993) Eight Little Piggies. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ (2002) The structure of evolutionary theory. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallam A (1983) Great geological controversies. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hildebrand AR et al (1991) Chicxulub crater: a possible Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary impact crater on the Yucatán peninsula. Geology 19:867–871

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu KJ (1986) The great dying. Ballantine Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kareiva P, Watts S, McDonald R, Boucher T (2007) Domesticated nature: shaping landscapes and ecosystems for human welfare. Science 316:1866–1869

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keller G (2008) Cretaceous climate, volcanism, impacts, and biotic effects. Cretac Res 29:754–771

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawton JH, May R (eds) (1995) Extinction rates. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Leakey R, Lewin R (1992) The sixth extinction: patterns of life and the future of humankind. Doubleday, London

    Google Scholar 

  • MacPhee RDE (1999) Extinctions in near time. Causes, contexts and consequences. Kluwer Academic Publ, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Myers N, Knoll AH (2001) The biotic crisis and the future of evolution. PNAS 98:5389–5392

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Novacek MJ (2001) The Biodiversity Crisis: Losing What Counts. The New Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Palumbi SR (2001) Humans as the world’s greatest evolutionary force. Science 293:1786–1790

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pereira HM et al (2010) Scenarios for global biodiversity in the 21st century. Science 330:1496–1501

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pievani T (2009) The world after charles R. Darwin: continuity, unity in diversity, contingency. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 20(4):355–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pievani T (2011) La vita inaspettata. Cortina, Milan

    Google Scholar 

  • Pievani T (2012) Geoethics and philosophy of earth sciences: the role of geophysical factors in human evolution. Annals Geophys 55(3):349–353

    Google Scholar 

  • Pievani T (2013) Anatomia di una rivoluzione. La logica della scoperta scientifica di Darwin. Mimesis, Sesto San Giovanni

    Google Scholar 

  • Pimm S et al (1995) The future of biodiversity. Science 269:347–350

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Powell JL (1998) Night comes to the Cretaceous. Harcourt Brace & Co, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Raup D (1992) Extinction: bad genes or bad luck?. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Saino N et al (2010) Climate warming, ecological mismatch at arrival and population decline in migratory birds. Proc Royal Soc B. doi:10.1098/rsbp2010.1778

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulte P et al (2010) The Chicxulub asteroid impact and mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Science 327:1214–1218

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ward PD (1994) The end of evolution: on mass extinctions and the preservation of biodiversity. Bantam Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward PD (2000) Rivers in time. The search for clues to earth’s mass extinctions. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisman A (2008) The World without Us. Picador, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO (2003) The future of life. Vintage, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO (2010) The diversity of life. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Padua, Via U. Bassi 58/B, Padua, Italy

    Telmo Pievani

Authors
  1. Telmo Pievani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Telmo Pievani.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pievani, T. The sixth mass extinction: Anthropocene and the human impact on biodiversity. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 25, 85–93 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-013-0258-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-013-0258-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation