Study Sees Mass Extinctions Via Warming

A new report published in the science journal Nature says that over a million plant and animal species are in threat of extinction from global warming. The report's underlying study brought together a team of scientists in 14 laboratories around the globe to study the effects of temperature change on life in six different regions. "We're already seeing biological communities respond very rapidly to climate warming," said the scientist who led the study team, adding that the scale of extinctions could be on a par with the disappearance of dinosaurs. Deforestation and invasive species are also causing a great deal of habitat loss and endangering species around the globe. But the study notes that depending on the degree of temperature change brought on by car and industrial emissions, up to one-third of the species the team studied could be gone by 2050. – YaleGlobal