47.1: The Biodiversity Crisis Last updated Save as PDF Page ID 14238 Boundless Boundless 47.1A: Loss of Biodiversity Human activity is the driving force behind the current biodiversity crisis, which is causing great species loss in a short time period. 47.1B: Types of Biodiversity Genetic diversity, ecosystem diversity, and human-derived diversity are measures of biodiversity that currently define life on earth. 47.1C: Biodiversity Change through Geological Time Biodiversity has been affected by five mass extinction periods, which greatly influenced speciation and extinction rates. 47.1D: The Pleistocene Extinction Biodiversity loss, especially the disappearance of megafauna, during the Pleistocene Extinction has been linked to the arrival of humans. 47.1E: Present-Time Extinctions Human activities probably caused the Holocene mass extinctions; many methods have been employed to estimate these extinction rates.