This article will be part of your test, make sure you understand what it is saying.

Algae, bacteria hogged oxygen after ancient mass extinction, slowed marine life recovery

ScienceDaily (2011-03-25) -- After the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history -- 250 million years ago -- algae and bacteria in the ocean rebounded so fast that they consumed virtually all the oxygen in the sea, slowing the recovery of the rest of marine animals for several million years. ... > read full article

Homework for Next Week

Climate change played major role in mass extinction of mammals 50,000 years ago, study finds

ScienceDaily (2010-05-18) -- Scientists have discovered that climate change played a major role in causing mass extinction of mammals in the late quaternary era, 50,000 years ago. Their study takes a new approach to this hotly debated topic by using global data modeling to build continental 'climate footprints.' ... > read full article

New fossil site in China shows long recovery of life from the largest extinction in Earth's history

ScienceDaily (2010-12-23) -- A major new fossil site in south-west China has filled in a sizable gap in our understanding of how life on this planet recovered from the greatest mass extinction of all time, according to researchers. ... > read full article

6th Mass Extinction

Has Earth's sixth mass extinction already arrived?

ScienceDaily (2011-03-05) -- Researchers have delved into the fossil record to compare past animal extinctions, in particular the five "mass extinctions" that occurred within the past 540 million years, with today's extinctions. They find that, while the rate of extinctions today is higher than during past mass extinctions, we haven't yet lost too many animal species. Efforts to conserve threatened species could avoid the tipping point toward a sixth mass extinction. ... > read full article

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