Aussterberate

Aussterberate is a term used in ecology and conservation biology to denote the rate at which species become extinct over time. In English this concept is usually referred to as extinction rate, and in quantitative work it is commonly expressed as extinctions per million species-years (E/MSY). The term can be applied globally or within a defined geographic region or taxonomic group, and it is used to assess biodiversity loss and to compare historical periods such as background extinction with periods of mass extinction.

Measurement and calculation involve counting documented extinctions relative to the number of living species and scaling by time. In paleontology, the fossil record provides data across millions of years; for living biodiversity, contemporary assessments rely on taxonomic databases and IUCN Red List evaluations. The metric E/MSY helps standardize rates across groups with different species richness and life histories, enabling comparisons across taxa and time periods.

Background versus modern rates are central to discussions of Aussterberate. The background extinction rate refers to the normal, low level of extinctions in the absence of major disturbances; estimates commonly fall in a narrow range (roughly 0.1–1 E/MSY for many groups). By contrast, some analyses of the present era suggest extinction rates are markedly elevated, sometimes by one or two orders of magnitude, implying rates of roughly 10–100 E/MSY or more, driven largely by human activities such as habitat destruction, climate change, pollution, overexploitation, and invasive species.

Limitations and debates surround extinction-rate estimates. Data gaps, taxonomic biases, and the time-averaging problem in the fossil record complicate calculation; different definitions (global vs regional, living vs extinct) and time scales yield different numbers. Despite uncertainties, Aussterberate remains a central metric for monitoring biodiversity and evaluating conservation outcomes, and it is often integrated with speciation rates to assess net diversification.