# Background extinction rate

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Standard rate of extinction

**Background extinction rate** (**BER**), also known as the **normal extinction rate**, refers to the standard rate of [extinction](/source/Extinction) in Earth's [geological](/source/Geological_history_of_Earth) and [biological history](/source/History_of_life), excluding major [extinction events](/source/Extinction_event), such as the current human-induced [Holocene extinction](/source/Holocene_extinction). There have been five mass extinction events throughout Earth's history.

## Overview

Extinctions are a normal part of the [evolutionary process](/source/Natural_selection), and the background extinction rate is a measurement of "how often" they naturally occur. Normal extinction rates are often used as a comparison to present day extinction rates, to illustrate the higher [frequency](/source/Frequency) of extinction today than in all periods of non-[extinction events](/source/Extinction_events) before it.[1]

Background extinction rates have not remained constant, although changes are measured over [geological time](/source/Geological_time), covering millions of years.[2][3][4] There has been a decline in background extinction rates over the [Phanerozoic](/source/Phanerozoic) [eon](/source/Geologic_time_scale), particularly from the middle of the [Palaeozoic](/source/Palaeozoic) era, which has been attributed to increased oxygenation of the oceans.[5]

## Measurement

Background extinction rates are typically measured in order to give a specific classification to a species and this is obtained over a certain period of time. There are three different ways to calculate background extinction rate.[6] The first is simply the number of species that normally go extinct over a given period of time. For example, at the background rate one species of bird will go extinct every estimated 400 years.[7] Another way the extinction rate can be given is in million species years (MSY). For example, there is approximately one extinction estimated per million species years.[8] From a purely mathematical standpoint this means that if there are a million species on the planet earth, one would go extinct every year, while if there was only one species it would go extinct in one million years, etc. The third way is in giving species survival rates over time. For example, given normal extinction rates species typically exist for 5–10 million years before going extinct.[9]

## Lifespan estimates

Some groups' lifespan estimates by taxonomy are given below (Lawton & May 1995).[10]

- Invertebrates: These species' average lifespan is 11 million years. Some reasons these species go extinct are from habitat loss, overharvesting, pollution, invasive species, and [climate change](/source/Climate_change). Invertebrates make up most of Earth's biodiversity which is why they do not go extinct as fast as other species.

- Marine Invertebrates: These species' average lifespan is 5–10 million years. Many marine invertebrates face extinction because of the high levels of dissolved carbon dioxide in aquatic environments. Seawater chemistry changes with the increase carbon levels which makes it hard for these organisms to survive.[11] Similar to terrestrial invertebrates, marine invertebrates make up most of Earth's biodiversity which is why they do not go extinct as fast as other species.

- Marine Animals: These species' average lifespan is 4–5 million years. Reasons why marine animals go extinct include interactions with fisheries, capturing, pollution, habitat degradation, climate change, and overharvesting.

- Mammals: These species' average lifespan is 1 million years. Habitat loss is the leading reason for why mammals go extinct. Other reasons that follow this are [overexploitation](/source/Overexploitation), invasive species, pollution, and climate change.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- Diatoms: These species' average lifespan is 8 million years. Diatoms rely on silica to build their shells, which benefited them when oceans originally started to become more acidic. Now as oceans continue to become even more acidic, it becomes harder for them to continue to thrive. From this information it can be concluded that these species are going to extinct due to high rates of ocean acidification.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- Dinoflagellates: These species' average lifespan is 13 million years. It takes a lot for these species to go extinct because they are so prominent in aquatic environments. Dinoflagellates were severely affected during the Triassic extinction, suggesting that the warming of ocean waters can affect the livelihood of these organisms. [12]

- Planktonic Foraminifera: These species' average lifespan is 7 million years. These species face extinction in cases of glaciation events, hyperthermal events, and climate change.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- Cenozoic Bivalves: These species' average lifespan is 10 million years. The reason for why members of this group go extinct is related to environmental deterioration.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- Echinoderms: These species' average lifespan is 6 million years. The reason why members of this group went extinct is related to ocean acidification. Ocean acidification makes it hard for the echinoderms to build their shells.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- Silurian Graptolites: These species' average lifespan is 2 million years. Reasons why members of this group go extinct include climate change, rising sea levels, and loss of habitats.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Taxonomy Source of Estimate Species Average Lifespan (Millions of Years) All Invertebrates Raup (1978) 11 Marine Invertebrates Valentine (1970) 5–10 Marine Animals Raup (1991) 4 Marine Animals Sepkoski (1992) 5 All Fossil Groups Simpson (1952) 0.5–5 Mammals Martin (1993) 1 Cenozoic Mammals Raup and Stanley (1978) 1–2 Diatoms Van Valen 8 Dinoflagellates Van Valen (1973) 13 Planktonic Foraminifera Van Valen (1973) 7 Cenozoic Bivalves Raup and Stanley (1978) 10 Echinoderms Durham (1970) 6 Silurian Graptolites Rickards (1977) 2

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** E.g. Julia Whitty (2007-04-30). ["Animal Extinction - the greatest threat to mankind: By the end of the century half of all species will be extinct. Does that matter?"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150806131400/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/animal-extinction--the-greatest-threat-to-mankind-397939.html). *[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)*. Archived from [the original](https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/animal-extinction--the-greatest-threat-to-mankind-397939.html) on 2015-08-06. Retrieved 2010-05-20. By the most conservative measure - based on the last century's recorded extinctions - the current rate of extinction is 100 times the background rate.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Thackeray, J. Francis (1990). "Rates of Extinction in Marine Invertebrates: Further Comparison Between Background and Mass Extinctions". *[Paleobiology](/source/Paleobiology_(journal))*. **16** (1). [Paleontological Society](/source/Paleontological_Society): 22–4. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1990Pbio...16...22T](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1990Pbio...16...22T). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/s0094837300009702](https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0094837300009702). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1938-5331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1938-5331). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [2400930](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2400930). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [88902588](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:88902588).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** N.L. Gilinsky (1994). "Volatility and the Phanerozoic decline of background extinction intensity". *[Paleobiology](/source/Paleobiology_(journal))*. **20** (4): 445–458. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1994Pbio...20..445G](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1994Pbio...20..445G). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/S0094837300012926](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0094837300012926). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [2401228](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2401228). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [82320624](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:82320624).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Huey, Raymond B.; Ward, Peter Douglas (15 April 2005). "Hypoxia, Global Warming, and Terrestrial Late Permian Extinctions". *Science*. **308** (5720): 389–401. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1126/science.1108019](https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.1108019).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Stockey, Richard G.; Pohl, Alexandre; Ridgwell, Andy; Finnegan, Seth; Sperling, Erik A. (12 October 2021). ["Decreasing Phanerozoic extinction intensity as a consequence of Earth surface oxygenation and metazoan ecophysiology"](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2101900118). *[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America](/source/Proceedings_of_the_National_Academy_of_Sciences_of_the_United_States_of_America)*. **118** (41). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1073/pnas.2101900118](https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.2101900118). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0027-8424](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0027-8424). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [8522273](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8522273). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [34607946](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34607946). Retrieved 23 March 2026 – via Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** popedadmin (11 December 2018). ["What is Background Extinction Rate and How is it Calculated?"](https://populationeducation.org/what-is-background-extinction-rate-how-is-it-calculated/). *Population Education*. Retrieved 14 September 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [". . . an on-going process"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080406033231/http://www.amnh.org/science/biodiversity/extinction/Intro/OngoingProcess.html). *American Museum of Natural History*. 1998. Archived from [the original](http://www.amnh.org/science/biodiversity/extinction/Intro/OngoingProcess.html) on 6 April 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Pimm, Stuart (9 March 2007). ["The Extinction Puzzle"](http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/pimm1). *Project Syndicate*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** May, R. Lawton, J. Stork, N: “Assessing Extinction Rates” Oxford University Press, 1995.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Lawton, John H.; May, Robert McCredie (1995-01-01). [*Extinction Rates*](https://archive.org/details/extinctionrates00lawt). Oxford University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780198548294](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780198548294).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["End-Permian Extinction—Sam Noble Museum"](https://samnoblemuseum.ou.edu/understanding-extinction/mass-extinctions/end-permian-extinction/,%20https://samnoblemuseum.ou.edu/understanding-extinction/mass-extinctions/end-permian-extinction/). 2015-05-04. Retrieved 2023-11-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Riding, James B.; Fensome, Robert A.; Soyer-Gobillard, Marie-Odile; Medlin, Linda K. (2022-12-20). ["A Review of the Dinoflagellates and Their Evolution from Fossils to Modern"](https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fjmse11010001). *Journal of Marine Science and Engineering*. **11** (1): 1. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3390/jmse11010001](https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fjmse11010001). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [2077-1312](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2077-1312).

## Further reading

- [E. O. Wilson](/source/E._O._Wilson). 2005. The Future of Life. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, New York, USA

- C.Michael Hogan. 2010. [*Edenic Period*. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and Environment](http://www.eoearth.org/article/Edenic_Period). ed. Galal Hassan, ed in chief Cutler Cleveland, Washington DC

- J.H.Lawton and R.M.May (2005) Extinction rates, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

## External links

- [Discussion of extinction events, with description of Background extinction rates](https://web.archive.org/web/20070810191028/http://www.earth.rochester.edu/ees207/Mass_Ext/higgins_mass2.html)

v t e Extinction Phenomena Background extinction rate Coextinction De-extinction Ecological extinction Extinct in the wild Functional extinction Genetic pollution Lazarus taxon Local extinction Pseudoextinction Models Extinction vortex Causes Climate variability and change Genetic erosion Invasive species Habitat destruction Human impact on the environment Muller's ratchet Mutational meltdown Overabundant species Overexploitation Overshoot Paradox of enrichment Theories and concepts Extinction debt Extinction risk from climate change Extinction threshold Quasi-extinction Field of bullets Hypothetical species Latent extinction risk Living fossil Extinction events Major Ordovician–Silurian Late Devonian Permian–Triassic Triassic–Jurassic Cretaceous–Paleogene Holocene Timeline Other Great Oxidation End-Ediacaran End-Botomian Dresbachian Cambrian–Ordovician Ireviken Mulde Lau Carboniferous Olson's End-Capitanian Carnian Pluvial Toarcian End-Jurassic or Tithonian Aptian Cenomanian-Turonian Eocene–Oligocene Middle Miocene Pliocene–Pleistocene Quaternary Extinct species Lists of extinct species IUCN Red List extinct species Organizations International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN Species Survival Commission Extinction Rebellion Voluntary Human Extinction Movement See also Anthropocene Decline in amphibian populations Decline in insect populations Endling Extinction symbol Human extinction The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Category Commons

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