Study Says Global Warming May Spark Mass Extinction

[Emboldened Chimp]

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: January 7, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Global-Warming.html?hp

Filed at 2:21 p.m. ET

Hundreds of species of land plants and animals around the globe could vanish or be on the road to extinction over the next 50 years if global warming continues, scientists warn.

The researchers concede that there are many uncertainties in both climate forecasts and the computer models they used. But they said their prediction could come to pass if industrial nations do not curtail emissions of greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.

``We're already seeing biological communities respond very rapidly to climate warming,'' said Chris Thomas, a conservation biologist at the University of Leeds in England, and the study's lead author.