Chinese Journal of Nature ›› 2008, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (4): 232-234.

• Invited Special Paper • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Earth has seen the sixth biological mass extinction

XU Han-kui   

  1. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS, Nanjing 210008, China
  • Received:2008-01-02 Revised:2008-02-02 Online:2008-08-20 Published:2008-08-20
  • Contact: XU Han-kui

Abstract: Owing to natural factors, biological mass extinctions had appeared for five times on the Earth from the Cambrian to Tertiary, including many biotical groups. Since the Induction Revolrtion of two hundred years ago, human activities have caused serious deterioration to the environments and resulted in a sixth mass extinction. If human beings continue to deteriorate the environments, the conseguences will be unimaginable.

Key words: Earth, biology, extinction