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The Search for an Extinction Event

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

Rodney M. Feldmann*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology Kent State University Kent, Ohio 44242
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Extract

Death of an organism is a very personal event. The extinction of a species is viewed as catastrophic, only if one is a member of that species. In fact, the extinction of a species simply represents the sum total of deaths of individuals within the species during a time interval in which the rate of death exceeds the rate of recruitment of new individuals. That is, the population size within the species declines to the point that the unit is no longer reproductively viable.

Type
Extinctions
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 Paleontological Society 

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