A mass extinction or extinction event is the phenomenon in which many species of life on Earth become extinct in a relatively short period of time. Mass extinction refers to an extinction affecting a great many different groups of organisms occupying diverse and wide-spread environments. Extinction of species has occurred throughout the history of life on Earth, but mass extinctions are those events that greatly exceed the normal or background extinction rate. Can mass extinction be inevitable?
There have been at least five major and global mass extinction events have occurred during the past few million years in which there have been sufficient bones, shells, and fossils to produce a record supporting an organized study of extinction patterns.
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Human extinction is something that people can’t fathom, but it is highly plausible according to an Australian scientist who helped engineer a cure for small pox Professor Frank Fenner. He stated, “the human race will become extinct, along with many other species, due to climate change, overpopulation, and uncontrolled consumption.” (Fenner, Frank. 'The End's So Close!': End of Humanity in 100 Years!" Daily Star, 11 Jan. 2011.) He believes the situation is irreversible, and it is too late because the effects cause on Earth since industrialization a period known to scientists unofficially as the Anthropocene rivals any effects of ice ages or comet impacts. Although professor Fenner stated a thought provoking concept of human extinction a more reasonable idea on human extinction is that it is impossible for humans to become extinct. Tobin Lopes and his coauthor associated with Global Energy Management Program at the University of Colorado, Denver created several scenarios in which humans can become extinct. These scenarios ranged from airborne viruses, side effect of a cure for cancer and a complete nuclear world war but concluded that for humans to become extinct, “it would have to be the result of some kind of intent, malicious or not, by some group of people, in some place of power on this planet.” (Payne, Tiffani. "Human Extinction Scenario Frameworks," Futures, vol. 41,
In this paper Martin is arguing that late quaternary or near time extinctions where caused by human activity or as he calls it “overkill”. Martin recognizes that there have been many forces that have triggered extinctions in the planet on the past but disagrees with the idea that near time extinctions where caused by some commonly believed causes like climate change, disease or nutrient shortage. He argues that the arrival of humans to different continents, islands and the subsequent excessive hunting, the introduction of diseases and other competitors and predators was the cause of extinction of a great number of species “As our species spread to various continents we wiped out their large
For some people the numbers and facts don’t really matter, they read through Manning’s description of extinction and focus on the conclusion he created. Others will focus blindly on the increased extinction rate and rue the day mankind was created. But, there is one group of people who will see “before human domination” (pg. 1) and lose their scientifically accurate minds. Manning is unknowingly referring to the ratio between the background extinction rate and the actual distinction rate, i.e. what scientist think is the extinction rate right now with humans vs. no humans, and referring to it as if it is two completely different rates at two completely different points in time. Small flaws like these are insignificant to the average reader but comparable to kryptonite to credibility from a scientific audiences view. Throughout the essay, these inaccuracies consistently occur, those who know the law of thermodynamics know is not the same as energy transformation in a food-chain and that the scientific method that you simply can’t make conclusions drawn from two different fields of inaccurately portrayed science based on your opinion and call it
The question of what caused the extinction of megafauna during the Late Pleistocene period is one that archaeologists have struggled to answer for decades, but why should it matter? Discovering with certainty the cause of megafaunal extinction would simultaneously prove or disprove any of the proposed implications of each existing theory regarding this massive extinction.
I’ve always wondered how the human race will go extinct. I’m not a survivalist or have a cabin in the middle of nowhere with canned food that will last me the next five years. I don’t spend hours pondering this question or losing sleep, but I am simply interested in this puzzle. The answer to this question can have numerous answers, but no one knows for certain how it will happen. The discussion about how the world will end would lead me to present this topic at a UVA Flash Seminar if given the opportunity.
Earth will outlive us all and when the human species eventually dies out, Earth will still be here fixing itself from the damage we have caused, yet continuing with the natural disasters. I do admit, we are polluting the planet, but there will always be some sort of life on Earth even if humans are not. People should not be too worried about destroying the planet because it will heal itself. If people begin to pollute it too much, Earth will kill us off. Roderick Nash, along with many other people, underestimates the power of the Earth. It can take care of itself just like how it has been for over a billion years.
In, The Fate of the Earth by, Jonathan Schell, he starts with the extinction of dinosaurs then moves onto how it’s not possible to judge on human extinction. He also talks about how the extinction of animals and how we have learned from our mistakes. He states how we live, then we die. And how different catastrophes could kill everyone or how they could slowly become extinct from those catastrophes. He mainly talks about population and how the extinction of human beings and once we are extinct we are done.
The most significant event of the Cretaceous era came at its end. Nearly 65 million years ago, the second most severe mass extinction in earth’s history occurred. This resulted in the loss of around 80% of species living at the time. Though nowhere near as severe as the end-Permian mass extinction, the end-Cretaceous extinction is the most well known mass extinction event. This is due to the violent event that caused it the extinction, as well as the chapter of earth’s history that it closed: the Dinosaurs. The Cretaceous Event ( often shortened to K-T event) Of the animals that were killed off were the flying reptiles (pterosaurs) and the last few mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, both early marine reptiles. Many mollusks and species of microscopic plankton were killed. Terrestrial plants suffered mass extinction as well. Almost 60% of terrestrial plants were lost. This led to high extinction rates among insect populations, especially insects that were highly specialized to feed on just a few types of plants had it the worst. It took approximately 9 million years for the global insect populations to recover from the Cretaceous extinction. Immediately after the extinction, the earth saw an explosion of short term species who respond well to fire, or other external disturbance. Evidence of the catastrophe comes from a thin rock layer deposited worldwide just after the impact. It is dominated by fossil plants whose descendants recover quickly after fires of other disturbances, such as Fire Weed in Alaska. The causes of the Cretaceous extinction are still being debated by paleontologists. Scientists agree that the main cause of the extinction was a...
Several mass extinctions have occurred during the Earth’s history. The Cretaceous – Tertiary Boundary (K-T) Extinction caused the loss of at least three-quarters of all species known at that time including the dinosaurs. The cause of this mass extinction is a controversial subject among scientists but the fossil evidence of it’s occurrence is abundant.
Earth has gone through five fully major extinctions before. We currently are in the process of Earth’s sixth mass extinction. This mass extinction is closely related in severity to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Earth’s extinctions are broken into three different areas. The first area was the large number of animals caught by hunter-gathers. The discovery of agriculture led to the second area of extinction, wildlife habitats. These wildlife habitats were destroyed due to humans starting to stay in one area.
Extinction is when the birth rate fails to keep up with the death rate, it is
...a faster rate than ever. Data from graphs evidently prove this theory. From the graph the greatest leap of extinction is seen 1920s till now. This trend line is drastically increasing (figure 4). Experts say that approximately half of the world’s current species will be entirely gone by the end of the century, hence proving that we are in the middle of an anthropogenic mass extinction.
Biodiversity loss can lead to extinction, and hurt human life. It is our responsibility to take care of the environment. We bring in machines that harm the environment and destroy animal life. We need to limit ourselves on how much land and resources we consume. There are major issues that are causing species to become extinct and hurt our way of life and other animals do to the change in food chain.
Because the CO2 levels are rising, the ice caps are melting and many more animals can become extinct. When pangea started splitting, there was a lot of volcanic activity, which cause the death of many dinosaurs. A meteor also hit earth and the mass extinction of many land and marine animals happened. There have been five mass extinctions in Earth’s history. The worst one wiped out ninety-six percent of marine life and seventy percent of land organisms. This took millions of years to recover.
this is causing multiple events to happen. Species will start to go extinct and this can cause many
Nowadays it is common to read articles in newspapers and magazines regarding biodiversity issues. Human beings have been knowingly and unknowingly destroying biodiversity since their existence. Biodiversity is the measure of the variety of species of animals living in an area. Forests are usually areas with high biodiversity while deserts are the opposite. Human beings have always destroyed biodiversity either by deforestation, or by some other means. Biodiversity depletion is a natural phenomenon. But the present levels of biodiversity depletion are many times higher than the natural rate. Recently the levels of loss in biodiversity have started causing global concern. Some of the main causes for loss in biodiversity are alteration of habitats, increasing levels of pollution and human population growth.