Climate Change Could Trigger an 'Extinction Domino Effect' that would Annihilate all Life on Earth, Chilling Report Warns

Climate change increases the risk of an 'extinction domino effect' that could annihilate all life on Earth, researchers have warned, reports Daily Mail.    

The theory, known as 'co-extinctions', means an organism dies out because it depends on another doomed species.

Researchers say the end of all life is a worst case scenario, but warn the 'domino effect' could dramatically increase the risks of climate change - and found 5-6 degrees of average warming globally is enough to wipe out most life on the planet.

'Even the most resilient species will inevitably fall victim to the synergies among extinction drivers as extreme stresses drive ecosystems to collapse,' says lead author Dr Giovanni Strona of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre based in Ispra in northern Italy.

Researchers from Italy and Australia simulated 2,000 'virtual earths' linking animal and plant species. 

Using sophisticated modelling, they subjected the virtual earths to catastrophic environmental changes that ultimately annihilated all life.

The catastrophes they simulated included runaway global warming, scenarios of 'nuclear winter' following the detonation of multiple atomic bombs, and a large asteroid impact.

'What we were trying to test is whether the variable tolerances to extreme global heating or cooling by different species are enough to explain overall extinction rates,'

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