Holocene extinction | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 06/05/2019

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction


00:03:10 1 Definitions
00:07:10 1.1 Anthropocene
00:09:45 2 Influences
00:09:55 2.1 Competition by humans
00:12:50 2.1.1 Agriculture
00:16:54 2.1.2 Islands
00:18:59 2.1.2.1 Australia
00:20:44 2.1.2.2 Madagascar
00:22:18 2.1.2.3 New Zealand
00:23:44 2.1.3 Americas
00:25:51 2.1.4 Afroeurasia
00:26:55 2.2 Climate change
00:28:01 2.2.1 Megafaunal extinction
00:31:40 2.3 Disease
00:33:19 3 Defaunation
00:33:29 3.1 History
00:38:05 3.2 Recent extinction
00:40:05 3.3 Habitat destruction
00:44:25 3.4 Overexploitation
00:46:33 3.5 Disease
00:48:47 3.6 Mitigation



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SUMMARY
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The Holocene extinction, otherwise referred to as the Sixth extinction or Anthropocene extinction, is a current event, and is one of the most significant extinction events in the history of the Earth. This ongoing extinction of species coincides with the present Holocene epoch (approx. 11,700 years), and is a result of human activity. This large number of extinctions spans numerous families of plants and animals, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and arthropods. With widespread degradation of highly biodiverse habitats such as coral reefs and rainforests, as well as other areas, the vast majority of these extinctions are thought to be undocumented, as no one is even aware of the existence of the species before they go extinct, or no one has yet discovered their extinction. The current rate of extinction of species is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural background rates.The Holocene extinction includes the disappearance of large land animals known as megafauna, starting at the end of the last Ice Age. Megafauna outside of the African continent, which did not evolve alongside humans, proved highly sensitive to the introduction of new predation, and many died out shortly after early humans began spreading and hunting across the Earth (additionally, many African species have also gone extinct in the Holocene). These extinctions, occurring near the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary, are sometimes referred to as the Quaternary extinction event.
The most popular theory is that human overhunting of species added to existing stress conditions as the extinction coincides with human emergence. Although there is debate regarding how much human predation affected their decline, certain population declines have been directly correlated with human activity, such as the extinction events of New Zealand and Hawaii. Aside from humans, climate change may have been a driving factor in the megafaunal extinctions, especially at the end of the Pleistocene.
Ecologically, humanity has been noted as an unprecedented "global superpredator" that consistently preys on the adults of other apex predators, and has worldwide effects on food webs. There have been extinctions of species on every land mass and in every ocean: there are many famous examples within Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America, and on smaller islands. Overall, the Holocene extinction can be linked to the human impact on the environment. The Holocene extinction continues into the 21st century, with meat consumption, overfishing, ocean acidification and the decline in amphibian populations being a few broader examples of an almost universal, cosmopolitan decline in biodiversity. Human overpopulation (and continued population growth) along with profligate consumption are considered to be the primary drivers of this rapid decline.