mass die-off
Widespread simultaneous deaths
A mass die-off is a sudden, widespread death of many organisms in a population or ecosystem within a short period.
The term typically applies to wildlife—fish, birds, bees, marine mammals—dying in alarming numbers from disease, pollution, habitat loss, or environmental catastrophe: Scientists are investigating the mass die-off of starfish along the Pacific coast.
Also called a mass mortality event.
- extinctionComplete vanishing of a species
- endangered speciesOrganisms facing extinction risk
- catastropheDevastating, large-scale misfortune
- collapseSudden structural failure
- colony collapseSudden worker bee abandonment
plague · pandemic · carcasses · dead fish · fish · coral · bleaching · ocean acidification · bees · apocalypse · tipping point · decimation · wipeout · mortality · epidemic · famine · pestilence · beaching
- animal remainsbones, bone, skeleton, carcass, carrion
- Eco-crisesclimate change, global warming, oil spill, deforestation, biodiversity loss
- eco-disastersclimate collapse, oil spill, ocean warming, coral bleaching, biodiversity loss
- wildlife mortalitymortality rate, natural death, natural causes, carcass, carrion
- extinctiondodo, extinct, extinction event, extinction rate, dinosaur extinction
mass die-offpopulation boom
Rapid increase in people
population explosion · baby boom · bloom · repopulation · species recovery
mass, die, off, masses, massed, massing, massive, massively, massiveness