According to scientist's reports, species are becoming extinct about 1,000 times more often than previously thought due to human population growth and rising per capita consumption.

The latest estimation of species extinction unveiled that pre-human rate was 10 times lower than scientists had earlier thought, which means that the recent level is 10 times worse, according to lead author Jurriaan de Vos, a Brown University postdoctoral researcher, senior author Stuart Pimm, a Duke University professor and their team.

Now, extinctions are more frequent than 60 million years before humans came along. The new study observed evidence from the evolutionary family trees phylogenies of various plants and animal species. Phylogenies were made by studying DNA and researchers, also followed how clusters of species have diversified over time, adding new genetic lineages and losing unsuccessful ones.

"This reinforces the urgency to conserve what is left and to try to reduce our impact. It was very, very different before humans entered the scene", said Jurriaan de Vos, a post-doctoral researcher at Brown University.

Researchers created a predictive model of what the counteracting historical extinction rate must have been. They did so by comparing the increase in the number of species from the yet not checked speciation rate with the historical trend evident in the phylogenies.

The study published in Conservation Biology concentrates on orders of magnitude instead of precise figures. According to the Brown University press release, the authors have taken decision to research further and move beyond fossil records, which only permits recognition of the animal or plant's genus and not the exact species.

Stuart Pimm, senior author, a Duke University professor said that the major cause of the extinction in most of the cases is human population growth and per capita consumption. Paper also noted that how people have been able to encourage conservation.