In the history of living creatures, there have been five mass extinctions. When an extinction event affects more than %75 species in less than 2.8 million years it is called mass extinction and the rate of extinction is more than the replacement of new species rate. (Begum,2021) Extinction rates can be calculated with databases like IUCN Red List, but it can be said that Red List is not a good source for calculating the rates. Because it is biased, and enormous numbers of species make it hard to have acceptable data. Therefore, extinct species rates can underestimate true levels of extinction because of Romeo Error.
We don’t have enough evidence to prove whether marine life is affected as much as other big five extinctions because of the vastness of oceans. Plants’ extinction rates can be neglected because of the ‘the living dead’ term that is used to explain the long extinction lag time by Janzen (2001). Even with all these doubted data, ecological collapse cannot be denied or underestimated.
From my point of view, the sixth mass extinction is a fact. Biodiversity is a big threat, and it cannot be stopped with individual actions. It is inevitable to think that the cause of the sixth mass extinction is homo sapiens and anthropocentric thoughts. We are changing the world since our kind has left Africa and expanded to the world. Extinction started when we began to change the world around us. From an evolutionary aspect, we are no different than other species that have evolved today or gone extinct.
