0 the death of many animals, plants, and possibly humans, especially as a result of climate change (= changes in the world's weather caused especially by increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere):
The Earth may be experiencing the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs died out.
Once the survey is complete, we should know if any large asteroid capable of causing global damage and mass extinction will strike Earth within the next few hundred years.
With mass extinctions in the making, scientists are scrambling for ways to lessen global warming's impact.
