Better Late Than Never - Yet I have been busy!

This 2007 Challenge was supposed to begin back in January - but due to various reasons I put it on a back burner. I do this way too much - but stuff does happen! I have not been idle on the research itself. I am currently taking a course in process geomorphology - on landscape changes - which is very helpful with more than one of my projects. Also, I have done some preliminary research on my first pick - the Pleistocene Mass Extinction that took place at the end of the last ice age. I have even begun some light writing on the topic - just to get an idea where I want to go with the project. I did manage to eek out a tentative outline for the project itself. It looks like my first major task is to research several of the past ice ages to see if there is a consistent pattern of mass extinctions as the glaciers were retreating. From my point of view this does not make much logical sense - since glacial melt-offs increased land, fresh water, vegetation, and other resources for both animals and vegetation to increase. One would expect a population increase and an increase in species variability as niches opened up. But I could be wrong about this - and nature is known to work against what we would consider logic. However, if extinction of this magnitude is indeed a commonality during glacial retreats then it would be interesting to find out why this is so. Either way, it sounds like an interesting opportunity to look into Earth's past.