Posted on 07/25/2014 3:48:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Approximately 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs went extinct, 75% of the planet's many species went with them. It was the world's fifth, and most recent, mass extinction event.
Now, according to a July 25 review in the journal Science, the Earth seems to be at the cusp of a sixth mass extinction. Only this time, an asteroid is not to blame. We are.
"Human impacts on animal biodiversity are an under-recognized form of global environmental change," the team of ecologists and biologists warn in Science. "Among terrestrial vertebrates, 322 species have become extinct since 1500, and populations of the remaining species show 25% average decline in abundance."
A third of all vertebrates, the scientists write, "are threatened or endangered."
There are several long-time drivers of what researchers call "defaunation" — the decline of various animal species. The study points to " overexploitation, habitat destruction, and impacts from invasive species" as continuing threats, but notes that soon, human-caused climate change will be the number one driver of defaunation. Diseases that come from pathogens introduced by humans are another growing threat.
The good news? We're not yet totally doomed.
As David Biello writes in Scientific American:
To avoid the sixth mass extinction we will probably have to employ more aggressive conservation, such as moving species to help them cope with a changing climate . Think re-wilding: reintroducing species like wolves or beavers that were once present in a given ecosystem but have since disappeared. Aggressive conservation might also mean killing off newcomer species to preserve or make room for local flora and fauna.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
The Earth has been pulverized before and its species,, and could be again.. someday..
Til then , Party like Bill Clinton is in the WH!!
Does that include communists, socialists, liberals, demonrats, and other assorted lefties?
Lord be praised!
species, not ‘special interests’. lol
The arrogance of these idiots to think they need to artificially control nature.
Oh wait a minute. It’s what liberals do with everything.
Some anal retentive chrome dome has always got a Big Idea about all the things YOU should be doing.
It never ends, and it’s been going on since forever.
Astoundingly, we’re still here.
Those animals marked for extinction gotta’ figure a way to keep up. Simple.
Survival of the fittest: Liberals are doomed as mooching is not a survival skill.
It’s estimated that over 90% of all marine species and over 70% of terrestrial vertebrates got whacked during the Permian extinction, but you know, things worked out.
Yep...and all this is gonna happen overnight....*LOL*
The horseshoe crab seems to be doing ok.
So who’s going to ultimately say which “newcomer species” should be killed off to make way for local fauna? What if these newcomers demonstrate superior adaptive & survival skills that would weather a REAL extinction event ?
Hey liberal earth worshipers, did Gaia goof up when she evolved you? Maybe this is the way she corrects problems like this. How dare you interfere!
Interesting that the ‘Science’ article is just what the Agenda 21 crowd wants. How convenient!
And I feel fine.
I thought liberals called it “The Circle of Life”? Wasn’t there a song about it meant to indoctrinate kids? LOL
As long as they’re all liberals.
That was my first thought. It’s Agenda 21 plain and simple. Warehouse the people and let loose the animals. I wondered when someone else would recognize it.
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