Counters to Conservapedia (Part 1): Extictions

Conservapedia describes itself as the Conservative answer to the liberal bias of Wikipedia.  They have an in-depth article on The Theory of Evolution.  If you haven't already guessed, the article features a long list of misunderstandings and misconceptions.  Every so often, I would like to counter their Counterexamples to Evolution on this site.  So I guess this is the first in a 60 part series.


From Conservapedia:
The annual rate of extinction of species far exceeds any plausible rate of generation of species. Expanding the amount of time for evolution to occur makes evolution even more unlikely.

The history of life is marked by five periods of accelerated extinction events.  Most notably, the 65 million years ago, all non-avian dinosaurs became extinct more or less at the same time.  In other periods, the trilobites went extinct as have roughly 99% of all species that have ever lived.  

On the other hands, background extinctions occur at a slower, steadier rate.  As we currently live during a the sixth mass extinction, current extinction rates are not similar to all of history.  The point being: extinction rates are not static.  Species go extinct at different rates depending on the environment and conditions.  To assume a constant rate of extinction shows a lack of understanding of natural history.

In evolution, speciation and extinction go together.  As species go extinct, their niches open up to new species to take their place.  When the dinosaurs went extinct, the mammals exploded onto the scene taking over the niches held by those big lizards (note: not lizards at all).  When new areas open up, existing species divide into various subspecies very quickly and eventually become different species with different adaptations and different behaviors.  The point being: speciation rates are not static.  Species develop at different rates depending on the environment and conditions.  To assume a constant rate of speciation shows a lack of understanding of natural history.