APOLOGIES, BUT THIS PAGE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE   Web mongabay.com fish.mongabay.com rainforests.mongabay.com news.mongabay.com travel.mongabay.com RAINFOREST INFORMATION  Preface  World Rainforests  Rainforest Structure  Rainforest Biodiversity  Canopy  Forest Floor  Rainforest Waters  Indigenous People  Deforestation  Global Importance  Rainforest Conservation  Country Reports  References  Deforestation Tables  The Amazon Rainforest  The Congo Rainforest  Deforestation in Brazil  Rainforest Images  Rainforest Books  Links  Site Map  Other languages FOR KIDS  About rainforests  Rainforest animals  Rainforest people  In the rainforest  Why are rainforests important?  Why are rainforests disappearing?  How can we save rainforests?  Teaching resources TROPICAL FISH  Preface  Introduction  Fish Anatomy  Water Chemistry  The Aquarium  Plant Care  Plant Species  Food  Disease  Non-fish Species  Breeding  Bibliography  Links  Biotope Aquaria  Species by Ecosystem  Species by Country  Fish Species | Families  Catfish  Characins  Cichlids  Cyprinds  Killifish  Labyrinth Fish  Livebearers  Loaches  Others  Perches  Rainbowfish DATA Data aggregations found on mongabay.com Deforestation figures for selected countries: deforestation statistics for more than 200 countries worldwide. Figures come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Country statistics: Other country-specific statistics including land area, human, population, economic indicators, and environmental conditions. Figures come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. AIDS Statistics: for selected countries. From the U.S. Census Bureau. 2005 city population estimates for the world: proprietary population estimates for more than 10,000 cities. World's Largest Cities by Country United States Zip Codes: proprietary aggregation of U.S. postal codes. World's Largest Cities by Country Countries and Capitals World's Largest Cities World's Largest Urban Areas World Population Projections - 2002, 2010, 2015, 2020: United Nations projections. World Population Projections: United Nations projections for individual cities. Country studies: Text excerpted from on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. Occupations in the United States: By job title. Includes job description and overview, number of people employed in a given occupation, and other data. Occupations in the United States: Comparison statistics by job title for cities in the US. For a given city, includes number of people employed in an occupation and salary data. Regional Occupational Data for the United States: By city. For a specific city, includes the number of people employed in a given occupation and salary figures. Tax Data for the United States World's Largest Countries by Land Area World's Largest Countries by Population XML / RSS / Syndication options There are three XML feeds for mongabay.com  All mongabay.com news

MONGABAY.COM Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wildlands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging local and global trends in technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development >> CONTENTS Rainforests Tropical Fish Madagascar Pictures Kids' Site News About Contact Submissions Contribute Interview Copyright SUPPORT You can help support mongabay.com by becoming a contributor to keep this site up and running. Thank you for your continued interest in the site. Help support mongabay.com! Use the link below to buy from Amazon.com! SEARCH LINKS Rainforest Portal Forests.org FAO Forestry

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No one knows what actually causes mass extinctions, although there is a great deal of speculation. There is a consensus among many paleontologists that extra-terrestrial objects, like meteorites and comets, have played a significant role in past extinction events. For example, often cited for the demise of the dinosaurs is the impact of a 6-mile (10-km) wide meteorite near the Yucatan, Mexico. There is substantial evidence (iridium anomalies, craters, and shattered quartz fragments) to support such theories and there is good reason to believe that such an impact could create conditions (shock waves, tsunamis, forest fires, acid rain, darkness lasting months or years, global cooling or warming) to eliminate a large portion of the world's species. Other leading theories to causes of mass extinctions include: global climate change, changes in sea level, chemical poisoning of the atmosphere and/or oceans, variation in solar radiation, and extreme volcanic activity.

Two thousand years ago there were more species on Earth than ever before. Earth's biodiversity has reached a peak and now it is declining into what many ecologists and biologists are calling the sixth great extinction. Today species are being driven to extinction at a rate higher than any time in the past.

Extinction Event	Years Before Present (millions)	Families Lost	Recovery Time (millions of years)
Cretaceous-Tertiary	66	15% of 650	20
Triassic	213	20% of 300	**
Permian	250	30% of 400	100
Devonian	360	22% of 450	30
Ordovician	440	22% of 450	25

Recovery time refers to the amount of time necessary for the number of species/families to reach the level that existed prior to the event.

**The Triassic and Permian extinction events are often combined as the Permo-Triassic event because of the short duration between the two extinctions. During this period 76-96% of species died out.


Continued: Extinction

APOLOGIES, BUT THIS PAGE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE   Web mongabay.com fish.mongabay.com rainforests.mongabay.com news.mongabay.com travel.mongabay.com RAINFOREST INFORMATION  Preface  World Rainforests  Rainforest Structure  Rainforest Biodiversity  Canopy  Forest Floor  Rainforest Waters  Indigenous People  Deforestation  Global Importance  Rainforest Conservation  Country Reports  References  Deforestation Tables  The Amazon Rainforest  The Congo Rainforest  Deforestation in Brazil  Rainforest Images  Rainforest Books  Links  Site Map  Other languages FOR KIDS  About rainforests  Rainforest animals  Rainforest people  In the rainforest  Why are rainforests important?  Why are rainforests disappearing?  How can we save rainforests?  Teaching resources TROPICAL FISH  Preface  Introduction  Fish Anatomy  Water Chemistry  The Aquarium  Plant Care  Plant Species  Food  Disease  Non-fish Species  Breeding  Bibliography  Links  Biotope Aquaria  Species by Ecosystem  Species by Country  Fish Species | Families  Catfish  Characins  Cichlids  Cyprinds  Killifish  Labyrinth Fish  Livebearers  Loaches  Others  Perches  Rainbowfish DATA Data aggregations found on mongabay.com Deforestation figures for selected countries: deforestation statistics for more than 200 countries worldwide. Figures come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Country statistics: Other country-specific statistics including land area, human, population, economic indicators, and environmental conditions. Figures come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. AIDS Statistics: for selected countries. From the U.S. Census Bureau. 2005 city population estimates for the world: proprietary population estimates for more than 10,000 cities. World's Largest Cities by Country United States Zip Codes: proprietary aggregation of U.S. postal codes. World's Largest Cities by Country Countries and Capitals World's Largest Cities World's Largest Urban Areas World Population Projections - 2002, 2010, 2015, 2020: United Nations projections. World Population Projections: United Nations projections for individual cities. Country studies: Text excerpted from on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. Occupations in the United States: By job title. Includes job description and overview, number of people employed in a given occupation, and other data. Occupations in the United States: Comparison statistics by job title for cities in the US. For a given city, includes number of people employed in an occupation and salary data. Regional Occupational Data for the United States: By city. For a specific city, includes the number of people employed in a given occupation and salary figures. Tax Data for the United States World's Largest Countries by Land Area World's Largest Countries by Population XML / RSS / Syndication options There are three XML feeds for mongabay.com  All mongabay.com news

MONGABAY.COM Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wildlands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging local and global trends in technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development >> CONTENTS Rainforests Tropical Fish Madagascar Pictures Kids' Site News About Contact Submissions Contribute Interview Copyright SUPPORT You can help support mongabay.com by becoming a contributor to keep this site up and running. Thank you for your continued interest in the site. Help support mongabay.com! Use the link below to buy from Amazon.com! SEARCH LINKS Rainforest Portal Forests.org FAO Forestry

Copyright Rhett A. Butler / mongabay.com 2006 All rights reserved.

APOLOGIES, BUT THIS PAGE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE   Web mongabay.com fish.mongabay.com rainforests.mongabay.com news.mongabay.com travel.mongabay.com RAINFOREST INFORMATION  Preface  World Rainforests  Rainforest Structure  Rainforest Biodiversity  Canopy  Forest Floor  Rainforest Waters  Indigenous People  Deforestation  Global Importance  Rainforest Conservation  Country Reports  References  Deforestation Tables  The Amazon Rainforest  The Congo Rainforest  Deforestation in Brazil  Rainforest Images  Rainforest Books  Links  Site Map  Other languages FOR KIDS  About rainforests  Rainforest animals  Rainforest people  In the rainforest  Why are rainforests important?  Why are rainforests disappearing?  How can we save rainforests?  Teaching resources TROPICAL FISH  Preface  Introduction  Fish Anatomy  Water Chemistry  The Aquarium  Plant Care  Plant Species  Food  Disease  Non-fish Species  Breeding  Bibliography  Links  Biotope Aquaria  Species by Ecosystem  Species by Country  Fish Species | Families  Catfish  Characins  Cichlids  Cyprinds  Killifish  Labyrinth Fish  Livebearers  Loaches  Others  Perches  Rainbowfish DATA Data aggregations found on mongabay.com Deforestation figures for selected countries: deforestation statistics for more than 200 countries worldwide. Figures come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Country statistics: Other country-specific statistics including land area, human, population, economic indicators, and environmental conditions. Figures come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. AIDS Statistics: for selected countries. From the U.S. Census Bureau. 2005 city population estimates for the world: proprietary population estimates for more than 10,000 cities. World's Largest Cities by Country United States Zip Codes: proprietary aggregation of U.S. postal codes. World's Largest Cities by Country Countries and Capitals World's Largest Cities World's Largest Urban Areas World Population Projections - 2002, 2010, 2015, 2020: United Nations projections. World Population Projections: United Nations projections for individual cities. Country studies: Text excerpted from on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. Occupations in the United States: By job title. Includes job description and overview, number of people employed in a given occupation, and other data. Occupations in the United States: Comparison statistics by job title for cities in the US. For a given city, includes number of people employed in an occupation and salary data. Regional Occupational Data for the United States: By city. For a specific city, includes the number of people employed in a given occupation and salary figures. Tax Data for the United States World's Largest Countries by Land Area World's Largest Countries by Population XML / RSS / Syndication options There are three XML feeds for mongabay.com  All mongabay.com news

MONGABAY.COM Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wildlands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging local and global trends in technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development >> CONTENTS Rainforests Tropical Fish Madagascar Pictures Kids' Site News About Contact Submissions Contribute Interview Copyright SUPPORT You can help support mongabay.com by becoming a contributor to keep this site up and running. Thank you for your continued interest in the site. Help support mongabay.com! Use the link below to buy from Amazon.com! SEARCH LINKS Rainforest Portal Forests.org FAO Forestry

Copyright Rhett A. Butler / mongabay.com 2006 All rights reserved.

APOLOGIES, BUT THIS PAGE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE   Web mongabay.com fish.mongabay.com rainforests.mongabay.com news.mongabay.com travel.mongabay.com RAINFOREST INFORMATION  Preface  World Rainforests  Rainforest Structure  Rainforest Biodiversity  Canopy  Forest Floor  Rainforest Waters  Indigenous People  Deforestation  Global Importance  Rainforest Conservation  Country Reports  References  Deforestation Tables  The Amazon Rainforest  The Congo Rainforest  Deforestation in Brazil  Rainforest Images  Rainforest Books  Links  Site Map  Other languages FOR KIDS  About rainforests  Rainforest animals  Rainforest people  In the rainforest  Why are rainforests important?  Why are rainforests disappearing?  How can we save rainforests?  Teaching resources TROPICAL FISH  Preface  Introduction  Fish Anatomy  Water Chemistry  The Aquarium  Plant Care  Plant Species  Food  Disease  Non-fish Species  Breeding  Bibliography  Links  Biotope Aquaria  Species by Ecosystem  Species by Country  Fish Species | Families  Catfish  Characins  Cichlids  Cyprinds  Killifish  Labyrinth Fish  Livebearers  Loaches  Others  Perches  Rainbowfish DATA Data aggregations found on mongabay.com Deforestation figures for selected countries: deforestation statistics for more than 200 countries worldwide. Figures come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Country statistics: Other country-specific statistics including land area, human, population, economic indicators, and environmental conditions. Figures come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. AIDS Statistics: for selected countries. From the U.S. Census Bureau. 2005 city population estimates for the world: proprietary population estimates for more than 10,000 cities. World's Largest Cities by Country United States Zip Codes: proprietary aggregation of U.S. postal codes. World's Largest Cities by Country Countries and Capitals World's Largest Cities World's Largest Urban Areas World Population Projections - 2002, 2010, 2015, 2020: United Nations projections. World Population Projections: United Nations projections for individual cities. Country studies: Text excerpted from on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. Occupations in the United States: By job title. Includes job description and overview, number of people employed in a given occupation, and other data. Occupations in the United States: Comparison statistics by job title for cities in the US. For a given city, includes number of people employed in an occupation and salary data. Regional Occupational Data for the United States: By city. For a specific city, includes the number of people employed in a given occupation and salary figures. Tax Data for the United States World's Largest Countries by Land Area World's Largest Countries by Population XML / RSS / Syndication options There are three XML feeds for mongabay.com  All mongabay.com news

MONGABAY.COM Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wildlands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging local and global trends in technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development >> CONTENTS Rainforests Tropical Fish Madagascar Pictures Kids' Site News About Contact Submissions Contribute Interview Copyright SUPPORT You can help support mongabay.com by becoming a contributor to keep this site up and running. Thank you for your continued interest in the site. Help support mongabay.com! Use the link below to buy from Amazon.com! SEARCH LINKS Rainforest Portal Forests.org FAO Forestry

Copyright Rhett A. Butler / mongabay.com 2006 All rights reserved.