Examples include the conversion of wetlands and forests to urban and industrial areas or of grasslands to pastures and agricultural fields. Humanity currently utilizes over half the available surface freshwater of the planet. Demands for clean water are expected to rise as the human population grows exponentially. Human actions have doubled the amount of nitrogen fixed annually since the beginning of the century. This rearrangement of the biota of the planet is occurring at vastly greater rates due to human activities.
Birds are one taxon for which reliable information about extinctions exists.
For lesser-known taxa, credible estimates suggest that rates of species extinctions are approximately 100 to 1000 times those before humanity's dominance of Earth. Two-thirds of the major marine fisheries are now fully exploited, over exploited or depleted. In addition to the reported biomass of landed catches, an additional 27million tons of bycatch is discarded annually, nearly one-third as large as total landings. Human dominance or alteration of several major components of the Earth system. It is clear from these seven global-scale indicators of change that human activities are transforming the planet in new ways, at faster rates, over broader scales and in new combinations than ever before in the history of humans on Earth.