[Indy 100] - Humans are sleepwalking into a mass extinction of species not seen since the demise of the dinosaurs, British scientists warned.

Man-made global change is threatening the diversity of different creatures that have taken millennia to evolve to live in niche habitats.

Creatures that have moved into delicate ecosystems such as coral reefs often live in symbiosis with others and are the slowest to recover their diversity if damaged.

But global warming and rising sea levels threatened to wipe out many species that cannot adapt to change quickly enough "in a blink of an eye."

In particular freshwater habitats are teeming with diverse birds and mammals but they are often form isolated pockets which are vulnerable to sudden change.