Half of All Species Risk Extinction as Earth Warms

Humans will survive climate change, many other species won't: study
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 24, 2007 4:15 AM CDT
Half of All Species Risk Extinction as Earth Warms
Sunflower Electric Cooperative's coal-fired power plant churns out electricity in this Friday, Feb. 2, 2007 file photo in Holcomb, Kan. Twenty-five coal-fired power plant proposals have been scrapped or suspended and more than three dozen delayed as global warming pressures and rising construction costs...   (Associated Press)

Global warming could trigger the extinction of half the world's plant and animal species—although humans will probably survive, according to a new British study of the likely effects of climate change. Researchers studied links between mass extinctions and climate changes over 520 million years. In one event, 95% of animal and plant species were eliminated, reports the Guardian.

"Our results provide the first clear evidence that global climate may explain substantial variation in the fossil record," said a population ecologist on the research team. "If our results hold for current warming, they suggest that extinctions will increase." (More climate change stories.)

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