There’s nothing new about extinction. Species come and species go, and they always have. What’s different this time is the cause and pace of that change. Thanks to human activities, species are going extinct an estimated 1,000 times faster than the natural background rate. Earth is losing species so fast that many scientists believe we’re in the midst of Earth’s sixth mass extinction event. Even so, some species will survive — some may even thrive. But which species are most likely to populate this strange new world?
It’s difficult to identify which species are most vulnerable to environmental disruptions and which are more resilient. Ecosystems are intricately intertwined, often in ways we don’t fully understand. And as the environment changes, individual species change, too.
But history does provide some clues. Jill Leonard-Pingel, a paleontologist at The Ohio State University, explains that when you look at past extinctions, you find patterns ...
