A couple of excellent question Mike Rossander.  My wife (she is the real scientist when it comes to these sorts of questions) seems to think defining a time period for your base line would be problematic. I would suggest comparing past mass extinction to our present situation may be a bit like comparing apples to oranges both in terms of cause and time line of the extinction event. Also the sheer number of mammal/avian species when compared to insect species is likely something like a log (say 10 to the 3rd) function.

Gene < in ND doing research for one of the evil corporate overlords many love to hate.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 7, 2017, at 5:12 PM, Mike Rossander <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> fully

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