Mass Extinction

[Lalaith_Elf]

I've just seen something on the news about how the world could be heading for a sixth mass extinction - the type of extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Studies have proved that the UK's wildlife has declined over the years and this could spread to the rest of the world, although it is hard to gather reliable information concerning the whole Earth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3520372.stm

Any views?

[Jonathan]

One day you read of how animals are threatened with excinction and the next day you read of how the animal populations are growing in numbers. So my view is, with so many contradictory scientific articles that are published, you can never really trust any of them. Especially not the extreme ones that states that nature itself is dying or that the earth is coming to an end.

Of course one should worry about nature, but to believe that the world is going towards a sixth mass exctinction might be a bit too much. I wonder if we haven't forgot about this 'crisis' in the UK a few years from now. Hopefully, the British animals will do just fine

Btw, a sixth mass exctinction must happen sometime. We're heading for it, or it heads for us - we don't know.

[Bombadillo]

That doesn't sound like any type of new study to me. Mankind has known for centuries that we're killing off other inhabitants of the Earth with our own greed for natural resources and large living space. What the planet needs is a mass exctintion of humans, and then it can recover.

Because the reality is that everyone's ignorant of these studies.

[Lizra]

I saw that on the BBC news tonight also. I found it a little amusing....not about the mass extinction (I thought it was fairly accepted that we are in a mass extinction right now) ...but because the british entomologist took it from British butterflies gone missing, to mass extinction.... in three sentences.

[mithrand1r]

Originally posted by Lizra
I saw that on the BBC news tonight also. I found it a little amusing....not about the mass extinction (I thought it was fairly accepted that we are in a mass extinction right now) ...but because the british entomologist took it from British butterflies gone missing, to mass extinction.... in three sentences.

Sometimes, jumping to conclusions is the only exersice that some people get.

I couldn't resist that pun.

I doubt that we (people alive today) will be around when the next mass extinction occurs.

[The Gaffer]

I doubt that we will be aware when the next mass extinction occurs.

Just because scientists don't all agree (even though 90% of them agree we're heading for some sort of environmental crisis) is no reason for complacency.

[Lizra]

Shoot! What can I do! Course I did buy 15 acres of land, planted 100 trees, and don't use chemicals( ....except for the 6 acres the farmer rents and grows corn and soybeans on ...he uses the common chemical of choice today in the US...Atrazine, on the market it's called "Roundup" but that is only once a year, and the common practice now is "no till" farming, better than the old erosion prone ways.....) but the other nine acres around my house is a wildlife haven. The obvious part is, when we first moved, you could not even see another house on the horizon, now there are five or six, off in the distance. The human population explosion is the cause. And that is something that will not slow down ...in a way that a single person, in a single lifetime can see.

Is it just me being old and jaded...when I was young, (early 1960's) learning about nature was "big" and exciting, diverse and full of hope. Then "Silent Spring" came and the ensuing news has been so depressing (and true...I believe it all) ever since. When I talk about the natural world now....it's all prefaced with the gloomy. I suppose bad things were happening in the fifties and sixties, everyone wasn't so aware of it though. The decline of habitat has just been running so rampant for so long though.

I've mentioned before, my major in college was environmental science, one of the reasons I dropped out was that field became totally depressing (in 1977, and things don't seem to have changed much)...I was a wimp and couldn't stay postive. (Well...there was also the advanced math requirement... ) Heh! I rememeber working in the computer lab, with my floppy disks....ick!

[Beor]

Lizra, what is "Silent Spring"?

Sorry, I'm not learned.

[Draken]

Let's bear in mind folks that this is an exceptionally cool part of the planet's history, we've dodged asteroids for 65m years and the last 5,000 or so years have been geologically quite benign. The planet will probably warm up no matter what - though of course it does look like humans are accelerating that. And that warming up could paradoxically spark another period of glaciation. Yes let's do what we can to not make things worse, but things change, and there's only so much we can do to prevent it.

[Lizra]

Originally posted by Beor
Lizra, what is "Silent Spring"?

Sorry, I'm not learned.

It is the 1960's landmark book by Rachel Carson (I hope I got her last name right ? ) that sort of triggered the environmental movement. The "Silent Spring" refered to the loss of birds species...brought on by over use of DDT and other pesticides, which caused the egg shells to thin out. (I may have got that last bird bit a little skewed...that's what I recall though! )

[Beor]

Oh, okay, thank you, Lizra. That would suck.

note to self: read books

[Earniel]

The dinosaurs wasn't the only mass extinction, but it is the most well known one. There have been more along the course of history. It's in a way a natural phenomenon, but what is happening today isn't so natural. Human pressure on ecosystems and species is speeding up the process and raising the extinction rate of species.

But of course there are a number of species that thrive in the environment we've created. Take for example pigeons, I can't imagine a city without huge flocks of them. Think of stray cats whose numbers can grow that large that they have a huge impact on bird populations in some areas.

Unfortunately we're killing off more than we help. So most species are indeed declining. I've always found that the concept of a Silent Spring is terribly frightening. I don't want to imagine a spring when there isn't a single bird singing because we all poisoned them to kingdom come. In a 10 years or so I think we can say bye-bye to our cousin the urang-utan and at least one kind of tigers in the wild. If they even last that long.

If I think of my granddad tales how he caught fish like pikes and eels in our rivers, saw frogs in every pond and could go swimming in clear water a good 60 years ago, I only realise what has been lost. I have only seen one real pike in the wild and that is saying a lot.

I don't think we'll have a real mass extinction in the near future but I do think we'll have a very poor biodiversity very soon at the least.


PS: Lizra, Atrazine causes demasculation in male frogs at levels lower than the safe limit for humans. Just thought you'd like to know.

[Lalaith_Elf]

Originally posted by Lizra
I saw that on the BBC news tonight also. I found it a little amusing....not about the mass extinction (I thought it was fairly accepted that we are in a mass extinction right now) ...but because the british entomologist took it from British butterflies gone missing, to mass extinction.... in three sentences.

Yeah I thought it was a little amusing that it was based on butterflies, but I thought it would make an interesting conversation (it was late when I made this thread and I was half asleep). My attempt of a decent conversation as well. I don't do many of these!

Hopefully, the British animals will do just fine

I don't see any worry - I saw more butterflies in my garden last summer than I have ever!

I totally agree with the fact that it's mankinds fault. There are so many ways to limit pollution yet people are too lazy to do anything about it.

Where I live the council was thinking of putting up those wind turbines up on the moor - around a mile from my house. Yet they didn't go ahead with the plans because people were complaning that they'd ruin the [sarcasm]lovely[/sarcasm] view of silage and brown dead heather. I can't really see the complaint - I find wind turbines very hypnotic to watch, I like them. I mean I could understand that they may be noisy if you live quite near them. For one thing turbines look alot better than electricity pylons!

[Lizra]

Originally posted by Eärniel



PS: Lizra, Atrazine causes demasculation in male frogs at levels lower than the safe limit for humans. Just thought you'd like to know.

And they say it's safe!

[Nerdanel]

Extinction is a natural thing. Species have disappeared naturally in all ages, partly as a result of natural selection. But, according to some studies, man has accelerated this extinction so much, that it's 10,000 times bigger now. That's partly because of the felling of the rainforests; if one plant disappears, many insects and animals go with it.

I think that is very alarming.

[The Gaffer]

Lizra, that's true about so many things. In the 50s and 60s we were sold the belief that technology could solve all our problems, and that progress was inevitable. Sadly, we still haven't fully woken up to the fact that it's a load of hogwash.

The earth, and life, will continue after we're gone, for sure. I just don't like the idea of my kids fighting water wars in 30 years' time.

[Ruinel]

Oh, hooray! Another reason to ban fox hunting.

[Insidious Rex]

Originally posted by Draken
we've dodged asteroids for 65m years

did you hear about that asteroid that ALMOST hit us just last week? Came within 26,000 miles. And you may say oh so what thats a big distance but its NOT believe me. Thats a fraction of a hairs width on a solar system scale. And this puppy was a good sized one. 100 meters accross. No not 10 miles like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs but you take a 100 meter rock going 40,000 miles an hour and slam it into new york and see what damage you do. I think we should all collectively heave a sigh of relief over this one. And hope the next one doesnt come even closer.

[Jonathan]

That has happened before. In 1996, a guy was able to record a video of an asteroid which bounced off our atmosphere. Don't remember the size of the rock, but it looked huge in the video.

[Insidious Rex]

yeah you know things are getting too close when they go UNDERNEATH many of our satellites.