Definition
Extinction occurs when all individuals of a species die without producing progeny. It is a natural process by which a species lineage is completely lost. In contrast, pseudo-extinction is the process by which a species lineage transforms over evolutionary time, or branches into two or more separate lineages. Species become extinct if they do not adapt to new environmental circumstances.
The vast majority of the species that have ever existed are now extinct. Taxonomic groups that were dominant in the past have been eliminated or drastically reduced by extinction and have been supplanted by the adaptive proliferation of new lines. Highly diverse lineages, such as trilobites and ammonites, have disappeared, and once abundant terrestrial and aquatic biotas have become extinct and have been replaced by other biotas. Dinosaurs and other reptilian groups have been replaced by birds and mammals; ferns and gymnosperms have been largely succeeded by angiosperms; and cephalopod...
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© 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Manzanilla-Naim, S., Bojórquez-Tapía, L.A. (1999). Extinction. In: Environmental Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_134
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_134
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