Title:
Extinction : a very short introduction / Paul B. Wignall.
Author:
Wignall, P. B., author.
Publication Information:
Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2019.
©2019
Call Number:
QE721.2.E97 W539 2019
Abstract:
Most people are familiar with the dodo and the dinosaur, but extinction has occurred throughout the history of life, with the result that nearly all the species that have ever existed are now extinct. Today, species are disappearing at an ever increasing rate, whilst past losses have occurred during several great crises. Issues such as habitat destruction, conservation, climate change, and, during major crises, volacanism and meteorite impact, can all contribute towards the demise of a group. In this Very Short Introduction, Paul B. Wignall looks at the causes and nature of extinctions, past and present, and the factors that can make a species vulnerable. Summarising what we know about all of the major and minor exctinction events, he examines some of the greatest debates in modern science, such as the relative role of climate and humans in the death of the Pleistocene megafauna, including mammoths and giant ground sloths, and the roles that global warming, ocean acidification, and deforestation are playing in present-day extinctions.
Edition:
First edition.
ISBN:
9780198807285
Series:
Very short introductions ; 605
Very short introductions ; 605.
Physical Description:
xvi, 124 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm
Contents:
Why extinctions happen -- Extinction today and efforts to stop it -- Extinction in the past -- The great catastrophes -- How to kill nearly everything -- What happened to the Ice Age megafauna?
Personal Author: