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Science 24 October 1997:
Vol. 278. no. 5338, p. 549
DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5338.549j
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This Week in Science

The effect of mass extinction can be enormous in terms of species loss, but what is the effect on the preservation of the history of life? In a mathematical analysis, Nee and May (p. 692; see the Perspective by Myers, p. 597) show that even with an extinction event that removes at random 95% of all species, the bulk (80%) of evolutionary history will be maintained in the surviving 5%. The study may help focus conservation policy for dealing with the current anthropogenic biotic crisis, even though the importance assigned to species is usually not related to their evolutionary history.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)