mass extinction

Definitions

A sharp decrease in the total number of species in a relatively short period of time; specifically, a loss of ∼75% of all species on the planet over a geologically interval of less than 3 million years, as a result of a mass extinction event.

countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Preceded by five other mass extinctions and many more small extinction events, the mass extinction currently underway is, on the one hand, like⟳ all the others in that it is nothing other than a significant reduction in the number⟳ of individual organisms inhabiting the planet and at the same time a significant reduction in the diversity of species made up by those individual organisms.”

CEFR level