What role does biology play in extinction?

Answer by  HH (404)

If a species has adapted to an environment and that environment changes, the species might go extinct. A bird lives on an island with no predators such as cats and dogs. The bird looses the ability to fly. Now the predators are reintroduced, the bird has no way of getting away and will go extinct. Or the environment is destroyed.

Answer by  Hyperlogic (21)

Since biological systems evolve to exploit niches in their environment, they run the risk of being hyper-specialized during rapid changes in that environment, making an entire species susceptible to extinction.