Nearly half the species on the planet are failing to cope with global warming the world has already experienced, according to an alarming new study that suggests the sixth mass extinction¹ of animal life in the Earth's history could take place in as little as 50 years. 

 

一项令人震惊的最新研究表明，地球上近一半的物种无法应对当前发生的全球变暖，地球离史上第六次物种大灭绝可能只有50年了。

 

A leading evolutionary² biologist, Professor John Wiens, found that 47 percent of nearly 1,000 species had suffered local extinctions linked to climate change with populations absent from areas where they had been found before. 

 

Professor Wiens, who is editor of the Quarterly Review of Biology and a winner of the American Society of Naturalists³' Presidential Award, said the implications for the future were serious because his review showed plants and animals were struggling to deal with the relatively⁴ small amount of global warming experienced to date. 

 

So far the world has warmed by about 1℃ above pre-industrial levels, but it is expected to hit between 2.6 and 4.8C by 2100 if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gases. 

 

Another problem facing life on Earth is the election of climate science denier Donald Trump⁵ as US president. 

 

Professor Wiens, of Arizona University, described this as a "global disaster" and, when asked what he would say to the President-elect if he met him, he joked grimly: "Kill yourself immediately."

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