It’s has been know that massive increases in emission of CO2 from volcanoes, associated with the opening of the Atlantic Ocean in the end-Triassic Period, set off a shift in state of the climate which caused global mass extinction of species, eliminating about 34% of genera. The extinction created ecological niches which allowed the rise […] … learn more→

New research by UCLA life scientists could lead to predictions of which plant species will escape extinction from climate change. Droughts are worsening around the world, posing a great challenge to plants in all ecosystems, said Lawren Sack, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of the research. Scientists have debated […] … learn more→

Why have mass extinctions of species occurred since the late Proterozoic (from 580 million years ago) and repeatedly through the Phanerozoic? Integral to these extinctions were abrupt changes in the physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere, ocean and land, inducing environmental changes at a pace to which many species could not adapt. The best […] … learn more→

Night comes quickly, a steady dimming of the light as crickets and frogs take over from the daytime chorus of birds and cicadas. I and my local guide, Kwesi, tuck into rice and fish cooked over a camping stove. On other occasions, I have accompanied hunters to the forest and eaten kusie (giant pouched rat) […] … learn more→

The history of six large herbivores — the woolly rhinoceros, woolly mammoth, wild horse, reindeer, bison, and musk ox — is the subject of a study by an international group of scientists investigating how climate fluctuations and human activity affected mammal populations at the end of the last ice age. According to Beth Shapiro, the […] … learn more→