We've all heard about the dire straits polar bears are facing if they lose their icy habitat to global warming. But just how many species may global warming drive extinct? One way to find out is to look over the mass extinctions of the past--and the picture there's not pretty, as I explain in my new article, "Biodiversity in the Balance." It appears today in the new publication Yale Environment 360, an online environment magazine from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. They've already got some pieces from some big names, like Bill McKibben and Carl Safina. So check the whole place out.
[Photo: Marieke Kuijpers, Flickrunder Creative Commons License]
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There seems to be an assumption that the upcoming global environment change will reduce biodiversity. Could it not be that it will change the biodiversity by adding as much as it takes away? Maybe the real fear is this change (because of our obvious investment in the status quo), though it's stated to be a reduction.
Don --- I doubt it. You could start finding out by reading "The Sixth Mass Extinction".
As well as whatever Carl Zimmer has written (is going to write) about it.