SCIENTISTS HAVE DETERMINED THAT THEY CAN’T STOP THE NEXT MASS EXTINCTION

LINK TO SOURCE: https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/we-can-t-stop-our-planet-s-next-mass-extinction-event-researchers-say-1.5746554

PART-1: WHAT THE SOURCE ARTICLE SAYS

Not only is Earth in the middle of its next mass extinction event, but it may be too late to undo the harm inflicted upon the planet’s species. This is according to a new study assessing evidence of what it calls an “ongoing extinction event.” The study was published in Biological Reviews, and conducted by biologists from the University of Hawaii and the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. While researchers say that conservation initiatives have been put in place to combat the crisis and protect certain species, the study suggests that the damage has already been done. These initiatives cannot target all species, and they cannot reverse the overall trend of species extinction. A mass extinction event occurred 30M years ago and scientists have only just learned about it. The sixth mass extinction is happening faster than expected. Scientists say it’s our fault. Robert Cowie is the lead author of the study and a research professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Pacific Biosciences Research Center. He and the study’s co-authors estimate that since the year 1500, as many as 7.5 to 13 per cent of Earth’s two million known species have already gone extinct. That translates to between 150,000 and 260,000 species. These numbers were extrapolated from estimates obtained for land snails and slugs. Including invertebrates was key to confirming that we are indeed witnessing the onset of the Sixth Mass Extinction in Earth’s history,” said Cowie in the press release.According to experts, there have been five mass biodiversity extinction events in Earth’s history, each wiping out between 70 and 95 per cent of plant, animal and microorganism species. The most recent one was 66 million years ago and resulted in the disappearance of dinosaurs. Each was caused by natural phenomena. The idea that the world is confronting yet another mass extinction event isn’t new, with previous studies showing that the rate at which the world’s species are dying out has accelerated in recent decades. Research also suggests this latest crisis is caused entirely by human activities. GREATER IMPACT ON ANIMALS THAN PLANTS: Based on the study, extinction appears to affect different populations of species in different ways depending on their habitat. Although marine species face significant threats, there is no evidence that the crisis is affecting the oceans to the same extent as the land. Additionally, island species, such as those inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands, are more impacted by extinction events than continental species, and the rate of extinction for plant species appears to be lower than that of terrestrial animals. The study analyzes many other investigations into plant extinctions across different regions of the world, noting that such research has generally produced low figures. About 0.55 per cent of the overall flora in Mediterranean Europe has gone extinct, for example, while 2 per cent of the native flora of Europe and Israel has been lost. Researchers also note that while examining studies comparing local extinction rates among taxonomic groups, it appears as though “plants usually have lower extinction rates than invertebrates.”

While this has yet to be demonstrated on a global level, researchers said it’s possible that plants may indeed have a lower rate of extinction than animals.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?
A mass extinction event generally involves the loss of at least 75 per cent of species. While the study noted that the current ongoing extinction crisis has not yet hit such a high rate of extinction, there is still potential for this to happen in the future, and scientists argue it’s in the process of happening right now.

Going forward, the study’s researchers state that conservation efforts should be maintained in order to prevent further damage to species, and that more research on existing species must be prioritized.

“The biodiversity that makes our world so fascinating, beautiful and functional is vanishing unnoticed at an unprecedented rate,” the study reads. “In the face of a mounting crisis, scientists must adopt the practices of preventive archaeology, and collect and document as many species as possible before they disappear.

“Denying the crisis, simply accepting it and doing nothing, or even embracing it for the ostensible benefit of humanity, are not appropriate options and pave the way for the Earth to continue on its sad trajectory towards a Sixth Mass Extinction.”

PART-2: CRITICAL COMMENTARY

LINKS TO RELATED POSTS ON THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE ANTHROPOCENE AND OF HUMAN CAUSED MASS EXTINCTIONS

RELATED POST#1: HUMAN CAUSED MASS EXTINCTION

LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/11/28/human-caused-mass-extinction/

RELATED POST#2: CLIMATE CHANGE MASS EXTINCTION:

LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/08/15/climate-change-mass-extinction/

RELATED POST#3: ANTHROPOGENIC MASS EXTINCTION

LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/02/22/anthropogenic-extinction/

RELATED POST#4: SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION

LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/02/18/sixth-mass-extinction-2/

RELATED POST#5: END TRIASSIC EXTINCTION

LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2018/12/07/ete/

RELATED POST#6: OVERPOPULATION – CLIMATE CHANGE – MASS EXTINCTIONS – WORRY WARTISM

LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2010/10/20/overpopulation-to-cause-mass-extinctions/

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

THE FIVE GREAT MASS EXTINCTIONS

SUMMARY OF THE FIVE GREAT EXTINCTION EVENTS PROVIDED BY SAMNOBLE MUSEUM: LINK: https://samnoblemuseum.ou.edu/understanding-extinction/mass-extinctions/end-permian-extinction/

(#1: END PERMIAN) When did it happen?: There were two significant extinction events in the Permian Period. The smaller, at the end of a time interval called the Capitanian, occurred about 260 million years ago. The event at the end of the Permian Period (at the end of a time interval called the Changshanian) was much larger and may have eliminated more than three-quarters of species of marine animals. It happened about 252 million years ago and geological evidence shows that it may have taken no more than 200,000 years. In terms of geological time the extinction occurred quickly. Who became extinct? Important groups of marine animals disappeared at the end-Permian extinctions. Trilobites, which had lived in the oceans for more than 250 million years, were lost, along with tabulate and rugose corals. Reef building in shallow seas stopped for about 14 million years until the middle of the following Triassic Period. At that time, an entirely new group of corals, the stony or scleractinian corals, appeared in the oceans. Although they did not become entirely extinct, rhynchonelliform brachiopods, crinoids, shelled cephalopods and snails also suffered significant losses. On land, primitive synapsids (relatives of mammals) disappeared. Some estimates suggest that up to 70 percent of vertebrate genera were lost. Below are some groups of marine animals that became extinct at the end-Permian event. trilobites, Tabulate corals, Rugose corals, goniatitic cephalopods, Productid brachiopods, cladid crinoids. What caused the extinction? Warming of the Earth’s climate and associated changes to oceans were the most likely causes of the extinctions. At the end of the Permian Period volcanic activity on a massive scale in what is now Siberia led to a huge outpouring of lava. The eruptions also produced carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that helps warm the planet. The lava flows erupted onto carbon rich rocks like coal and as they were heated by the hot lava, greenhouse gases, including methane, were also produced. The global warming that followed may have increased average ocean water temperatures by as much as 14.5°F (8°C). Much of the carbon dioxide released by the eruptions would have been absorbed by the oceans. High levels of dissolved carbon dioxide in seawater are toxic to many marine invertebrates. Also, the dissolved carbon dioxide would have produced changes in seawater chemistry that may have made it difficult for some marine invertebrates, such as corals, to grow shells or skeletons. If that wasn’t bad enough, there is also geological evidence that the amount of oxygen dissolved in sea water (which invertebrates and fishes breath with their gills) was reduced, probably as a result of changes in ocean circulation.

(#2: END TRIASSIC): When did it happen?: The extinction occurred near the end of the Triassic Period, about 201 million years ago. Who became extinct?: All major groups of marine invertebrates survived the extinction, although most suffered losses. Brachiopods, shelled cephalopods, sponges and corals were particularly hard hit. On land, casualties included the phytosaurs, a group of crocodile-like animals. What caused the extinction?: At the end of the Triassic, the supercontinent of Pangea, which combined all of the modern continents into a single landmass, began to break (rift) apart. As North America separated from Africa and the Atlantic Ocean began to form, volcanic activity on a massive scale introduced carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This led to global warming and changes to the oceans that were similar to (although not as large) those that occurred at the end-Permian extinction. Reconstruction of Late Triassic global geography: All of today’s continents were combined into the supercontinent of Pangea. Pangea was beginning to break apart. As North America and Africa began to separate there was a vast outpouring of lava. The area of volcanic rocks that formed at this time is shown in yellow. Gases, including carbon dioxide, produced during the eruptions led to global climate change.

(#3: LATE DEVONIAN): When did they happen?: The end-Frasnian extinction happened about 375 million years ago. The oldest of the three extinctions, towards the end of a time interval called the Givetian, occurred about 10 million years before the Frasnian event. The youngest extinction happened near the end of the Devonian period, about 365 million years ago, during a time interval called the Famennian. Who became extinct?: The end-Frasnian extinction was most pronounced in tropical environments, particularly in the reefs of the shallow seas. Reef building sponges called stromatoporoids and corals suffered losses and stromatoporoids finally disappeared in the third extinction near the end of the Devonian. Brachiopods associated with reefs also became extinct. Groups of trilobites disappeared at each of the three extinctions and very few survived into the following Carboniferous Period. Examples of groups of brachiopods and trilobites that became extinct are: Odontopleurid trilobites, Dalmanitid trilobites, Phacopid trilobites, Atrypid brachiopods, Pentamerid brachiopods. How did they happen?: As extinctions were mostly of tropical groups climate change may have been involved, and there is geological evidence for cooling of the global climate at the end-Frasnian event and near the end of the Devonian Period. Cooling may have been caused by a drop in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that helps warm the planet, so if levels fall, cooling will follow. In the Late Devonian, large trees evolved and formed the first forests. As plant life expanded, they used up more carbon dioxide in photosynthesis. When dead plant material decays, carbon dioxide is returned to the atmosphere, but some plant material (e.g., leaves) will be buried in swamps, lakes and rivers. This buried plant material removes carbon permanently from the atmosphere and often forms coal. When we mine coal and burn it we return carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and warm the planet.

(#4: END-ORDOVICIAN): When did it happen?: There were two distinct extinctions roughly a million years apart. The first of these began about 443 million years ago. Together, these extinctions may have removed about 85 percent of species of marine animals. Who became extinct?: All of the major animal groups of the Ordovician oceans survived, including trilobites, brachiopods, corals, crinoids and graptolites, but each lost important members. Widespread families of trilobites disappeared and graptolites came close to total extinction. Examples of fossil groups that became extinct at the end-Ordovician extinction: Trilobite family Trinucleidae, Trilobite family Bathyuridae, Brachiopod genus Thaerodonta, Brachiopod genus Plaesiomys, Graptolite family Climacograptidae, Graptolite family Diplograptidae. What caused the extinction? The evidence indicates that climate change caused the extinctions. A major ice age is known to have occurred in the southern hemisphere and climates cooled world-wide. The first wave of extinctions happened as the climate became colder and a second pulse occurred as climates warmed at the end of the ice age. Reconstruction of Late Ordovician global geography (southern hemisphere), showing the south polar icecap (white). The Ordovician continent of Laurentia corresponds to most of present day North America; Baltica included part of modern western Europe. Gondwana was a super-continent composed of most of the major modern continents.

(#5: END CRETACEOUS): When did it happen?: The extinction occurred at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 65.5 million years ago. Who became extinct?: In addition to the non-avian dinosaurs, vertebrates that were lost at the end of the Cretaceous include the flying pterosaurs, and the mosasaurs, plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs of the oceans. Important marine invertebrates also disappeared, including ammonites, groups of cephalopods and some bivalves, such as the reef-building rudists and some relatives of modern oysters. Examples of invertebrate groups that became extinct at the end_Cretaceous event. tes that disappeared at the end-Cretaceous extinction. Ammonite (Cephalopod), gryphaeid oyster (Bivalv), Inoceramid (Bivalve). What caused the extinction?: Several lines of geological evidence indicate that an asteroid that was as much as 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter hit the Earth at the end of the Cretaceous Period. This evidence includes an ancient impact crater in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico (now filled in by younger rocks) that dates to the time of the extinction. The impact would have produced an enormous dust cloud that would have risen up into the atmosphere and encircled the planet. The dust cloud greatly reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface and prevented photosynthesis by plants on land and plankton in the oceans. As plants and plankton died, extinctions expanded up the food chain, eliminating herbivores and carnivores. If that was not bad enough, dust and debris falling back to Earth was hot and may have triggered widespread wildfires. There is some debate over whether the asteroid was the sole cause of the extinction or whether other factors were also involved. Towards the end of the Cretaceous, volcanic activity in India produced lava flows over a vast area. Some paleontologists and geologists have suggested that gases (e.g., sulfur dioxide; carbon dioxide) released by the volcanoes might have altered the climate. Others point to geological evidence for a fall in sea level that would have reduced the area of shallow seas and, possibly, coastal plains.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS:

The characteristics of the five mass extinctions described above show that the two essential things that they all have in common are signficant global geological upheaval involving enormous amounts of energy and time scales of millions of years. Humans appeared on earth 66 million years ago and we could have been a creation of the End Cretaceous Extinction event but we surely could not have caused it. Human civilization did not appear until this Holocene interglacial about 8,000 years ago and the industrialization of human civilization did not occur until 100 years ago. The time scale needed for mass extinction events excludes any role for humans and the geological nature of these events also excludes any significant role for humans. That humans are causing a sixth mass extinction in the sequence of the five described above is a fanciful idea of extreme environmentalism but not credible.

It should also be noted that published research papers on the coming of a human caused mass extinction have two things in common – they are published by the same journal (PNAS) and they always include a common co-author (Paul Ehrlich). In terms of Ehrlich’s failed population bomb hypothesis and his obsession with human population and climate change, his interest in the theory of a human caused sixth mass extinction can be understood in terms of his obsession with the imminent end of the humans.

It is possible that the sixth mass extinction idea derives from a need in climate science to inject additional fear into the fear based activism against fossil fuels that is not going well for them. The need for climate change science to include a sixth mass extinction in its fear porfolio is also seen in the way the 5 great mass extinctions are now described. These descriptions include the idea that the planetary scale geological holocaust had increased or decreased atmospheric CO2 and had thereby caused global warming or global cooling – in other words a role for AGW-like climate change is inserted.

We therefore agree with the presentation at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America by Professor Douglas Erwin that the sixth mass extinction is a fanciful extension of the climate change discussion with imagination but without substance.

OUR OBSESSION WITH A COMING HUMAN CAUSED MASS EXTINCTION IS BEST UNDERSTOOD IN THE CONTEXT OF THE WOKE WORRYWARTISM OF THE WOKE AND ENVIRONMENTISM HUMANS THAT USED TO BE RATIONAL ONCE UPON A TIME.

RELATED POST#7: THE INSIGNIFICANCE OF HUMANS ON A PLANETARY SCALE

LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/03/30/the-humans-must-save-the-planet/

SUMMARY OF THIS POST:

22/2/2022 UPDATE

YET ANOTHER CLIMATE SCIENCE EXTINCTION SCARE IN THE HEELS OF THE ONES DISCUSSED ABOVE.

LINK TO SOURCE: https://www.iflscience.com/environment/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-begun-argue-researchers/

WHAT THE IFLSCIENCE ARTICLE SAYS

Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction Has Begun, Argue Researchers. The five previous mass extinction events in our planet’s history have all been caused by dramatic natural phenomena, yet the authors of a new study claim that a sixth great die-off is now in progress and that this time, humans are to blame. Writing in the journal Biological Reviews, the researchers estimate that up to 13 percent of all invertebrate species may have become extinct in the last 500 years, and warn that the onus is now on us to take action in order to avoid a catastrophic decline in biodiversity.According to the authors, the true extent of the current predicament is somewhat masked by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, which gives the impression that the present rate of species loss remains in line with the background rate. “However, the Red List is heavily biased,” write the researchers. “Almost all birds and mammals but only a minute fraction of invertebrates have been evaluated against conservation criteria. Incorporating estimates of the true number of invertebrate extinctions leads to the conclusion that the rate vastly exceeds the background rate and that we may indeed be witnessing the start of the Sixth Mass Extinction,” they say.To prove their point, the study authors reference a 2015 study on molluscs which concluded that around seven percent of land snail species have become extinct since 1500. Assuming that this figure represents extinction rates for all non-marine invertebrates and that such species outnumber marine invertebrates by about three to one, the researchers calculate that between 7.5 and 13 percent of the two million known species have now disappeared. In absolute figures, this equates to between 150,000 and 260,000 extinctions, which is significantly higher than 882 species listed as extinct by the Red List. Admittedly, this finding is based on a “bold assumption” and has not been definitively verified, yet the researchers nonetheless conclude that a sixth mass extinction event “has surely begun, and is being caused by human activities. While this statement may sound alarming, the authors go on to explain that there is no evidence to suggest that marine species are being affected in the same way as land-based invertebrates, while plants also appear to have been spared from the present crisis. Summing up the need for mankind to assume responsibility for averting this impending disaster, study author Robert Cowie explained that “humans are the only species capable of manipulating the biosphere on a large scale,” and that “we are the only species that has conscious choice regarding our future and that of Earth’s biodiversity. The argument that our actions and their consequences are simply part of the natural evolution of life on Earth, therefore, doesn’t wash with the researchers. On the contrary, Cowie warned that “denying the crisis, accepting it without reacting, or even encouraging it constitutes an abrogation of humanity’s common responsibility and paves the way for Earth to continue on its sad trajectory towards a Sixth Mass Extinction.

CONCLUSION:

CLIMATE SCIENCE FEARMONGERING WITH EXTREME WEATHER, FLOODS, DROUGHTS, POLAR ICE MELT, SEA LEVEL RISE, TROPICAL CYCLONES, HEAT WAVES, AND WILDFIRES, AND SUCH IS NOT WORKING OUT. THE PEOPLE AREN’T SCARED ENOUGH TO LISTEN TO THEM. CLIMATE SCIENCE NEEDS A NEW STRATEGY TO SCARE THE HELL OUT OF US AND TO FINALLY SCARE US INTO BEING MORE OBEDIENT WHEN CLIMATE SCIENTISTS ORDER US TO STOP BURNING FOSSIL FUELS. CAPICHE???

SO PLEASE BE OBEDIENT AND DO WHAT CLIMATE SCIENTISTS TELL US TO DO FOR THEY ARE THE SCIENTISTS AND THEY KNOW ALL ABOUT THINGS LIKE CLIMATE AND MASS EXTINCTIONS.

THANK YOU