World in 'biomass crisis,' new report finds

Humans are causing the world's sixth mass extinction of species,and at a speed unprecedented in the earth's 4.5-billion year history, say researchers.

Human impact has accelerated extinction rates by up to 100 times their "natural rate," according to a recent reportby scientists at the National Autonomous University in Mexico.

Conservationists have been warning for years that human degradation and destruction of habitats isprecipitating a mass extinction event, but the severity of the situation shocked the report's authors.

477 species extinct since 1900

Using fossil records, scientistscalculated a "natural" rate of extinction.For every 10,000 species, twogo extinct every100 years.

In the past century, nearly 500 species have died off since 1900, rather than the nine that would be expected at natural rates.

Those include 69 mammals, 80 birds, 24 reptiles, 146 amphibians and 158 fish, andthose figures are "highly conservative," the report states.

Researchers are calling ita global"biomasscrisis."

Already happening in B.C.

British Columbia has already begun to seethe effects of the mass die off. The province has listed more than 750 species as being threatened, endangered or extinct.

Another 750 are listed as being of special concern.

For example, the Oregon Spotted Frog,once common in the Fraser Valley, isnow one of the most endangered species in Canadabecause of the urban development of itswetlands.

Watch the whole segment that aired on Our Vancouver: A new age of extinction.