The world is facing a mass extinction event that could be greater than that of the dinosaurs, new Australian research shows.

Macquarie University palaeobiologist Dr John Alroy used fossils to track the fate of major groups of marine animals throughout the Earth’s history.

He compiled data from nearly 100,000 fossil collections worldwide, tracking the fate of marine animals during extreme extinction events some 250 million years ago.

The findings, published this week in the international journal Science, showed a major extinction event was currently underway that had the potential to be more severe than any others in history.

‘Organisms that might have adapted in the past may not be able to this time,’ Dr Alroy said.

‘You may end up with a dramatically altered sea floor because of changes in the dominance of major groups. That is, the extinction occurring now will overturn the balance of the marine groups.’

The research shows a combination of human behaviour and climate change could have devastating affects on species across the planet.

‘When there’s mass extinction all bets are off and anything could happen,’ Dr Alroy said.

‘So what we’re basically doing as the human species collectively is we’re running this gigantic experiment with nature.’

There have been three major mass extinction […]