The authors of a recent article examined warnings of an impending wave of extinctions of animal species within the next 100 years  These authors say that no evidence exists to support the idea that the rate of extinction of animal species is now accelerating  They are wrong, however
Consider only the data on fishes: 40 species and subspecies of North American fishes have vanished in the twentieth century, 13 between 1900 and 1950, and 27 since 1950
There is evidence that the rate of extinction of animal species is accelerating.