16: Extinction
| Era | Period | Epoch | Approximate Duration of Era, Period or Epoch (millions of years before present) | Major Extinction Evens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CENOZOIC | Quaternary | Holocene | present - 0.01 |
\(6^{th}\) major extinction ? \(5^{th}\) major extinction (end of Cretaceous; K-T boundary) \(4^{th}\) major extinction (end of Triassic) \(3^{th}\) major extinction (end of Permian) \(2^{nd}\) major extinction (Late Devonian) \(1^{st}\) major extinction (end of Ordovician) |
| Pleistocene | 0.01-1.6 | |||
| Tertiary | Pliocene | 1.6-5.3 | ||
| Miocene | 5.3-23 | |||
| Oligocene | 24-37 | |||
| Eocene | 37-58 | |||
| Paleocene | 58-65 | |||
| MESOZOIC | Cretaceous | 65-144 | ||
| Jurassic | 144-208 | |||
| Triassic | 208-245 | |||
| PALEOZOIC |
Permian |
245-286 | ||
|
(Carboniferous) Pennsylvanian |
286-325 | |||
| (Carboniferous) Mississippian | 325-360 | |||
| Devonian | 360-408 | |||
| Silurian | 408-440 | |||
| Ordovician | 440-505 | |||
| Cambrian | 505-570 | |||
| PRECAMBRIAN | 570-4500 |
Each of the first five mass extinctions shown in Table \(\PageIndex{1}\) represents a significant loss of biodiversity - but recovery has been good on a geologic time scale. Mass extinctions are apparently followed by a sudden burst of evolutionary diversification on the part of the remaining species, presumably because the surviving species started using habitats and resources that were previously "occupied" by more competitively successful species that went extinct. However, this does not mean that the recoveries from mass extinction have been rapid; they have usually required some tens of millions of years (Jablonski, 1995).
It is hypothesized that we are currently on the brink of a "sixth mass extinction," but one that differs from previous events. The five other mass extinctions predated humans and were probably the ultimate products of some physical process (e.g. climate change through meteor impacts), rather than the direct consequence of the action of some other species. In contrast, the sixth mass extinction is the product of human activity over the last several hundred, or even several thousand years. These mass extinctions, and their historic and modern consequences are discussed in more detail in the modules on Historical perspectives on extinction and the current biodiversity crisis, and Ecological consequences of extinctions..
Glossary
- Extinct
- a species is assumed to be extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died (IUCN, 2002)
- Extinction
- the complete disappearance of a species from Earth
- Mass extinction
- a period when there is a sudden increase in the rate of extinction, such that the rate at least doubles, and the extinctions include representatives from many different taxonomic groups of plants and animals