Malin L. Pinsky, a marine biologist at Rutgers University, and Douglas J. McCauley, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and other scientists analyzed the oceans’ health by examining data from hundreds of different sources including findings in the fossil record, statistics on modern container shipping, fish catches, and seabed mining. The results indicate that a new wave of extinctions might be at hand.
The oceans are so vast that their ecosystems may seem impervious to change. But Dr. McClenachan warned that the fossil record shows that global disasters have wrecked the seas before. “Marine species are not immune to extinction on a large scale,” she said. New York Times, January 16th, see full article