Life Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Extinction === {{Main|Extinction}} Extinction is the process by which a [[species]] dies out.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Extinction – definition |url=http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861609974/extinction.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926011523/http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861609974/extinction.html |archive-date=26 September 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The moment of extinction is the death of the last individual of that species. Because a species' potential [[range (biology)|range]] may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively after a period of apparent absence. Species become extinct when they are no longer able to survive in changing [[habitat]] or against superior competition. Over 99% of all the species that have ever lived are now extinct.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Triassic/extinction.htm |title=What is an extinction? |website=Late Triassic |publisher=Bristol University |access-date=27 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901011807/http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/palaeofiles/triassic/extinction.htm |archive-date=1 September 2012 }}</ref><ref name="Book-Biology">{{cite book |editor1=Kunin, W.E. |editor2=Gaston, Kevin |author=McKinney, Michael L. |chapter=How do rare species avoid extinction? A paleontological view |title=The Biology of Rarity: Causes and consequences of rare—common differences |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4LHnCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |date=1996 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-412-63380-5 |access-date=26 May 2015 |archive-date=3 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203051637/https://books.google.com/books?id=4LHnCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="StearnsStearns2000">{{cite book |last1=Stearns |first1=Beverly Peterson |last2=Stearns |first2=Stephen C. |title=Watching, from the Edge of Extinction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BHeC-tXIB4C&q=99+percent |year=2000 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-08469-6 |page=x |access-date=30 May 2017 |archive-date=5 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105190204/https://books.google.com/books?id=0BHeC-tXIB4C&q=99+percent#v=snippet&q=99%20percent&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NYT-20141108-MJN">{{cite news |last=Novacek |first=Michael J. |title=Prehistory's Brilliant Future |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/opinion/sunday/prehistorys-brilliant-future.html |date=8 November 2014 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=25 December 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141229225657/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/opinion/sunday/prehistorys-brilliant-future.html |archive-date=29 December 2014 }}</ref> [[Mass extinction]]s may have accelerated evolution by providing opportunities for new groups of organisms to diversify.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Valkenburgh |first=B. |author-link=Blaire Van Valkenburgh |year=1999 |title=Major patterns in the history of carnivorous mammals |journal=Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences |volume=27 |pages=463–493 |doi=10.1146/annurev.earth.27.1.463 |bibcode=1999AREPS..27..463V |url=https://zenodo.org/record/890156 |access-date=29 June 2019 |archive-date=29 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229201201/https://zenodo.org/record/890156 |url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page