During the phanerozoic era, which stretches from 540 million years ago to the present day, plants and animals have remained abundant. These two lineages have evolved into many iterations over time. But evolution is not a linear trend. Five key moments shaped life on earth more than any others. The “big five” mass extinctions, the end-Ordovician, end-Devonian, end-Permian, end-triassic and end-Cretaceous, wiped out large portions of earth’s species. The survivors inherited the earth.
Today, biodiversity is declining at an accelerated rate, just as it did during the “big five” mass extinctions. Some researchers estimate that vertebrate species are going extinct at a rate that is 100 times higher than the pre-industrial average. The living planet index, another measure that combines population data for nearly 30,000 vertebrates, declined by 68 percent from 1970 to 2016 according to the World Wildlife Fund.
While geologic events caused most previous mass extinctions, the current ...
