Now Showing at a

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Now Showing at a Theater Near You!

• Say, Goodbye. Mass Extinction 6
• Wanna watch?

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Say, Goodbye, to
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and to
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and to
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and to
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Scary Teasers

• Fishers nets coming up empty more often
• Mysterious disappear-ance of entire amphibian
  populations
• Dont know much about invertebrates insects,
  mollusks, crustaceans but what we do know is
  scary.

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Five Previous Extinctions

• Mass Extinction 1 440 Million Years Ago
• 85 of marine animal species wiped out

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Five Previous Extinctions

• Mass Extinction 2 367 Million Years Ago
• 70 of marine invertebrates perished.

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Five Previous Extinctions

• Mass Extinction 3 245 Million Years Ago
• 95 of animal king-dom wiped out
• Thought to be the worst extinction

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Five Previous Extinctions

• Mass Extinction 4 208 Million Years Ago
• Sea creatures and some land animal species hit
  hard

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Five Previous Extinctions

• Mass Extinction 5 65 Million Years Ago
• 75 of all species, including dinosaurs,
  eliminated

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What Happened?

• Possible causes
• Volcanic eruptions
• Meteorites
• Climate change
• After each extinction
• It took at least 10 million years for
  biodiversity to recover.
• Once a species is gone, it is gone forever!

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Mass Extinction Number Six

• This ones unique.
• Its caused mostly by the activities of a single
  species Homo sapiens.
• Cool! And we get to watch? former sixth grade
  student
• Yes, but we wont be innocent bystanders.

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Tell us more about Mass Extinction 6.

• Thousands of species lost each year (over 100
  every day) out of possibly 10,000,000
• Many disappear before we even know they exist.
• Extinction rate at least 1,000 times faster now
  than during the past 60,000,000 years, faster
  than new species appear

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Tell us more about Extinction 6.

• Half of all plant species threatened
• Losing plants most rapidly are forests of
• South Central America
• Central West Africa
• SE Asia

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Tell us more about Extinction 6.

• 5,500 animal species known to be threatened
• - One out of four (1,130) mammal species
• Of these, 184 may be gone by 2010.
• - One out of eight (1,194) bird species
• Of these, 182 may be gone by 2010.

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Tell us more about Extinction 6.

• Know most about the status of the worlds animals
  and birds
• Know least about fish, reptiles, and amphibians

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Why is it mostly our fault?

• When we started agriculture 11,000 years ago,
  there were six million of us. Now there are 1,000
  times more of us.
• Our increase has come at the expense of many
  other spe-cies.

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Why is it mostly our fault?

• Weve made crop fields out of prairies.
• Weve dammed rivers and drained wetlands.
• Weve paved over soil to build cities, roads,
  and malls.

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Why is it mostly our fault?

• Were shrinking the earths forests at the
  rate of one football field per second! Thats 40
  million acres per year!

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Why is it mostly our fault?

• Weve over-grazed our grasslands.
• Weve poached exotic animals/plants.
• Weve over-hunted, over-harvested, and
  over-exploited.

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Why is it mostly our fault?

• Weve transported alien species either
  accident-tally or purposefully to other habitats
  where they have out-competed native species.
  (Hawaii has been overrun by pigs, goats, and
  mongeese. Shes lost many species of birds as a
  result.

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Why is it mostly our fault?

• Weve caused the climate to change, forcing
  species to adapt too quickly or perish.

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What Can We Do?

1. Teach that removing species from the web of life
   affects many other species including us!
2. Teach that greater biodiversity keeps ecosystems
   healthy the loss of biodiversity weakens
   ecosystems.

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Conclusion

• While this is the first time one species is
  the cause of a mass extinction, it is also the
  first time that a single species can act to stop
  it!
• Will you help?