地球はこれまでに多種類の生物が同時に絶滅する「大量絶滅」を5度経験し、現在6度目の大量絶滅期を迎えているとされます。種の絶滅の要因と本質、危機的状況をもたらす要因とは何なのか…。地球史上の絶滅イベントを振り返り、マンモスなどの更新世の巨型動物類の絶滅や環境の変動や、乱獲、温暖化、海洋酸性化、森林破壊などの人類による自然環境破壊が新たな絶滅に及ぼす影響などを再検討します。
   

• A single overview of extinction, both past and present, and the individual causes and 'kill mechanisms' which have the potential to cause the destruction of a species
• Offers an up-to-date synthesis of our current understanding of the Earth's 5 big mass extinctions, affecting both land and sea
• Discusses how concerns about extinction sit within current debates surrounding climate change

    
Most people are familiar with the dodo and the dinosaur, but extinction has occurred throughout the history of life, with the result that nearly all the species that have ever existed are now extinct. Today, species are disappearing at an ever increasing rate, whilst past losses have occurred during several great crises. Issues such as habitat destruction, conservation, climate change, and, during major crises, volacanism and meteorite impact, can all contribute towards the demise of a group. 
   
In this Very Short Introduction, Paul B. Wignall looks at the causes and nature of extinctions, past and present, and the factors that can make a species vulnerable. Summarising what we know about all of the major and minor exctinction events, he examines some of the greatest debates in modern science, such as the relative role of climate and humans in the death of the Pleistocene megafauna, including mammoths and giant ground sloths, and the roles that global warming, ocean acidification, and deforestation are playing in present-day extinctions