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We have now seen that rate at which human-caused extinctions are
occurring is different from the rate at which extinction occurred
before we became so dominant.7 What are the
immediate consequences of such extinctions? Geerat
Vermeij [17] suggested three questions to be answered to
understand the implications of extinction for human welfare.
- Which kinds of species are susceptible to extinction, and which
are not?
- How will the extinction of species affect the communities in which
these species lived and alter the evolutionary environment of
surviving life forms?
- Can new species evolve on a human-dominated planet to replace the
species that have disappeared and, if so, what will they look like?
Subsections
Kent Holsinger