10 THOUSAND – PRESENT: HOLOCENE

• Continents & oceans in current position; sea levels rise;
• Climate warming partly due to human industrialism;
• Mass extinction in progress due to human proliferation;
• Human civilization dominates most Earth ecosystems;
• Epoch opens with many Pleistocene animals extinct;
• Few new plants or animals appear;
• Human selction supercedes natural selction – humans favor beneficial plants and animals; neglect others;
• Human culture significantly alters natural landscape;
• Human genetic technology manipulates Earth’s life at the most fundamental level.