Earth has endured at least five global extinction events since the first signs of life. It may be on the edge of another in the oceans, according to a Princeton research study published April 27 in the journal Science. If climate change continues unabated, marine life could suffer extinction, the likes that has not occurred in hundreds of millions of years, according to researchers Justin Penn and Curtis Deutsch. The researchers evaluated two hypothetical future warming scenarios, one mild and one severe. The extreme scenario - ocean warming by up to 5 degrees Celsius - would trigger a mass extinction within the next 300 years. The event could rival the “Great Dying” at the end of the Permian Period 250M years ago, in which some 90 percent of ocean life is believed to have perished. These outcomes could be avoided, the researchers emphasized. If the world acts quickly on climate change and keeps warming below 2 degrees Celsius, it could reduce extinction risks by at least 70 percent. (Source: Science 04/28/22) Avoiding ocean mass extinction from climate warming (science.org)
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