British Survey Indicates Major Extinction Trend

A detailed survey of birds and butterflies in Britain shows a population decline of 54% to 71%, a finding that suggests the world may be undergoing the sixth big extinction in Earth’s history, this one caused by humans.

In a series of population surveys that combed virtually every square yard of England, Scotland and Wales over 40 years, more than 20,000 volunteers counted each bird, butterfly and native plant they could find. They reported in Friday’s issue of Science that populations of the surveyed species were in sharp decline, with some species gone altogether. Two surveys of 1,254 native plant species showed a decrease of about 28% over the same period.