A Canadian-led team of scientists may have solved the biggest whodunit in Earth history in a study showing that the all-time greatest mass extinction on the planet – which wiped out about 90% of all species 250 million years ago – appears to have been linked to rising levels of ocean acidity.

Researchers have long believed that massive volcanic eruptions in present-day Siberia – or possibly a huge meteorite strike – triggered the so-called PermianTriassic extinction. But the precise mechanism of death for so many species remains a subject of debate, with some scientists convinced it was a resulting lack of oxygen in the Earth’s oceans or a greenhouse-gas nightmare that nearly ended all plant and animal life.

But the Canadian study, headed by St. Francis Xavier University climate scientist Alvaro Montenegro, points to ocean acidification as a possible “main culprit” in the harrowing, prehistoric die-off.

And the Nova Scotia researcher told Postmedia News that the finding should serve as a warning about present-day increases in ocean acidification. Though still far lower than that experienced in the ancient mass extinction, rising acidity has been documented by researchers around the world and is linked to the effects of climate change.

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