Can we avert marine mass extinctions?

Summary The global spread of our species has led to a massive loss of terrestrial species, which dramatically changed the size distribution of land-based fauna and disrupted its ecological function. The less readily accessible ocean biotopes have so far been spared this fate, but lessons from the mass extinction on land must be learned if we don't want the sawfishes and whale sharks to follow the sabre-toothed cats and woolly mammoths into oblivion. Michael Gross reports.