A permanent change in the physical conditions of a habitat, may only cause organisms to move to another location. However, if an ocean slowly evaporates or is cut off from another main body of water, and all representatives of a species live in that area, then extinction can occur.

A disaster could change an environment that would cause an extinction. For example if an earthquake caused a narrow area like the Straits of Gibraltar to close, water would be trapped in the Mediterranean Sea. Circulation would become limited and cause layering of zones of stagnant water. The environment would change. It might take thousands or millions of years for the water to evaporate, but species that are endemic to the Mediterranean could not leave. They would slowly die to extinction.

So an event could trigger an entire habitat to change which would cause organisms to die off. Some scientists feel that even large meteorites could change a long term habitat and cause extinction over a rapid period of time, other scientists feel that organisms are not all like the dodo bird, and can find other areas to live.