Extinction Template‑class

This template is a part of WikiProject Extinction, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use resource on extinction and extinct organisms. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this template, or visit the project page for more information.ExtinctionWikipedia:WikiProject ExtinctionTemplate:WikiProject ExtinctionExtinction articles Template This template does not require a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

	Biology Template‑class
Extinction is part of the WikiProject Biology, an effort to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to biology on Wikipedia. Leave messages on the WikiProject talk page.BiologyWikipedia:WikiProject BiologyTemplate:WikiProject BiologyBiology articles Template This template does not require a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

Nice initiative! Perhaps Pseudoextinction should be in there as well? Petter Bøckman (talk) 11:18, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's there already. :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 11:22, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Good idea. Perhaps "processes" could be changed to "causes" or "possible causes"? I can think of a few additions to the category whatever it's called: meteor impact, predation (e.g. the dodo and probably much of the North American megafauna), climate change, invasive species, and loss of keystone species. Other things I'm not as sure of: continental drift certainly drives climate change; IIRC, disease (nearly?) wiped out the tasmanian wolf and is a serious problem for koalas, frogs, and North American bats; I'm not sure if pollution caused by humans has caused any documented extinctions, but it's a safe bet that the initial introduction of oxygen to the atmosphere via photosynthesis did, and I believe a reduction in atmospheric oxygen content is one of the reasons there aren't giant dragonflies around anymore; volcanism is another suspected cause of extinction.

"Phenomena" seems to be used as a catch-all category, which could be changed to "types": Coextinction, Ecological extinction, and Pseudoextinction. Genetic erosion and Genetic pollution should probably be in the Causes or Processes category (also genetic drift?). Lazarus taxon could be moved to the Theories and concepts category This also appears to be a catch-all category, and Extinction risk from global warming could be moved to Processes (or "possible causes", if it winds up being called that).

In terms of ordering of the categories, I'd put Processes (or perhaps Phenomena) first, followed by Phenomena, then Theories and concepts, then models, and the other categories where they currently are in the list. There are probably a few equally good ways to order the categories. Extinction events and lists of extinct species could be moved up, since many readers would be more interested in these lists than some of the theory, but it's also useful to group the categories by concepts vs. examples.--Wikimedes (talk) 19:23, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

(I'll stay out of this thread because I don't know anything about the topic.) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 22:28, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Lists of extinct species is there now. I'm tempted to add Timeline of extinctions, but it exists already in the Extinction events. Thoughts? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 22:28, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I added Extinction debt to the template, since it's a fairly well covered topic in literature and a direct result of extinction events I also deleted a duplicate entry of Genetic erosion. --Animalparty-- (talk) 22:59, 16 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]