Sep 28, 2023
What is good for the human species is generally not so good for all the other species. -- Michael Lipsey
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What is good for the human species is generally not so good for all the other species. -- Michael Lipsey
most tragic mass extinction? I'm not including the current one because we're all biased towards it cause we're witnessing it in real time and feel guilty cause humans started it.
Great Oxygenation Event (assume it was a mass extinction for poll purposes)
End-Ediacaran
End-Ordovician
End-Devonian
End-Permian
End-Triassic
End-Cretaceous
like, yeah, I could include the current one, but everyone would vote for it, and that's a boring poll
Scientists just found a hidden 6th mass extinction in Earth's ancient past | Live Science
A global drop in oxygen levels about 550 million years ago led to Earth's first known mass extinction, new evidence suggests
The height of the Ediacaran period, about 550 million years ago, was a boom time for life in Earth's oceans. Petalonamids shaped like feathers sucked nutrients from the water, slug-like Kimberella grazed on microbial mats, and the ancestors of jellyfish were just beginning to make waves.
But then 80% of life on Earth disappeared, leaving no traces in the fossil record.
Now, a new study suggests that these missing fossils point to the earliest known mass extinction event on Earth. These first communities of large, complex animals were killed by a steep global decline in oxygen — a finding that may have implications for modern ocean ecosystems threatened by human activities. ...
The world’s nations are hammering out a new deal to preserve Earth’s biodiversity. Here’s what you need to know.
Excerpt from this story from Sierra Club:
The richness of life on Earth—its biodiversity—is in trouble. Scientists estimate that a million plant and animal species like Madagascar’s flowering forest coconut palm and the African white-backed vulture are at risk of extinction, many within the next few decades. This rate of species loss is unprecedented and could be as devastating for the planet as climate change. World leaders are now meeting to thrash out a new global deal to save what’s left. Here’s what you need to know.
Human activity is mostly to blame. Converting land and sea for agriculture and aquaculture among other uses is the most destructive force, say scientists. Harvesting animals and plants in excessive amounts for use in legal and illicit trade is also hugely damaging. For example, endangered pangolins—demure-looking anteaters endemic to Africa and Asia—are hunted for their scales, which are used in traditional medicines. Tropical big-leaf mahogany trees are felled for use in luxury furniture and musical instruments, threatening their survival. Climate change and pollution also makes life difficult for many species. As temperatures rise, coral reefs are struggling to cope. Nitrogen pollution from agricultural runoff and sewage leaks fuels algal blooms that smother sea life. This problem is felt in the east coast of Florida, for example, where regular episodes of thick algae choke out seagrass and manatees in the area. Lastly, invasive species like the toxic cane toad can wipe out local native species. “Collectively as a planet we are doing horribly,” says Paul Todd, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC. “The scale of the problem is shocking.”
The United Nations Convention on Biodiversity‘s new deal proposes 21 targets to stem the loss of biodiversity and protect ecosystems. It includes goals to protect at least 30 percent of all land and seas across the globe, to cut in half the rate of harmful species invading new habitats, and reducing by at least half nutrients from fertilizer and sewage leaking into the environment. It also suggests that governments cut by at least $500 billion per year subsidies that are harmful to biodiversity, such as those encouraging farmers to produce more crops than necessary, and proposes that the freed-up funds go to conservation and sustainable development projects instead.
What are dugongs? Why nature’s ‘sea cows’ need protecting from extinction
Via Euronews: What are dugongs? Why nature’s ‘sea cows’ need protecting from extinction
The tranquil ocean mammals are receiving much needed support by the global conservation community.
Yet another species at extinctions door.
A new pop-up book imagines how Chicago’s ecosystem might evolve in a world with fewer humans.
Though Beyond the Sixth Extinction can be enjoyed solely for its dystopian yuks, its elegant paper sculptures tell a deeper story.
