Extinction
Extinction What are the causes of extinction?
Extinction is the permanent loss of a species. This can happen in two ways:
A species can become extinct naturally when it fails to adapt to changes in the environment. However, human activity can also cause extinction, such as by destroying habitats, overhunting, and polluting. Human activity is the main cause of extinction, and it can be avoided.
A species that becomes extinct is gone forever, although some scientists are trying to use genetic engineering to revive extinct species.
Extinction can happen for several reasons, such as:
Catastrophic events Spread of disease Introduction of new predators Physical environment changes (Climate change)
Extinction can be caused by a single catastrophic event (e.g., a meteorite hitting the Earth). This could alter the climate or the environment where a species lives. If the species cannot adapt to these changes, they may become extinct.
Diseases can sometimes cause species to become extinct. This can happen naturally or because of human activity. For example, if people introduce a disease to a place where it was not present before, it can infect the animals there and they might die.
A species can become extinct when a new predator enters an ecosystem. This can happen when human activity changes an ecosystem and makes a species vulnerable to a new predator that preys on it. It can also happen when the new predator competes with another predator, causing its extinction.
Burning fossil fuels is a human activity that affects the climate by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which causes global warming.
Habitat loss is another cause of extinction that can be linked to climate change. However, habitat loss can also be caused by human activity, such as cutting down forests or hunting.
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