Some image not from the article.
Posted on 12/16/2015 9:29:45 AM PST by fishtank
Exploring the influence of ancient and historic megaherbivore extirpations on the global methane budget
Felisa A. Smith a,1, John I. Hammonda , Meghan A. Balka , Scott M. Elliottb , S. Kathleen Lyonsc , Melissa I. Pardia , Catalina P. Toméa , Peter J. Wagnerc , and Marie L. Westovera
a Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131;
b Climate, Ocean, Sea Ice Modeling, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545; and
c Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013 Edited by Christopher E Doughty, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, and accepted by the Editorial Board August 25, 2015
(received for review March 7, 2015)
Globally, large-bodied wild mammals are in peril.
Because “megamammals†have a disproportionate influence on vegetation, trophic interactions, and ecosystem function, declining populations are of considerable conservation concern. However, this is not new; trophic downgrading occurred in the past, including the African rinderpest epizootic of the 1890s, the massive Great Plains bison kill-off in the 1860s, and the terminal Pleistocene extinction of megafauna. Examining the consequences of these earlier events yields insights into contemporary ecosystem function. Here, we focus on changes in methane emissions, produced as a byproduct of enteric fermentation by herbivores. Although methane is ∼200 times less abundant than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the greater efficiency of methane in trapping radiation leads to a significant role in radiative forcing of climate.
(Excerpt) Read more at pnas.org ...
Title edited for length.
Where's the methane???
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Headline: Big Plant Eaters Cause Climate Change; Rise in Temperature Killed Them Off due to Their Huge Gaseous Discharges
Serves them right! Melting the Ice Cap and all! Why it even caused humans to grab their guns and shoot all the buffalo during the 1860s. How does this square with ‘Animal Rights activists’ demanding every one stop eating meat and eat only plants?
Or more simply: They Farted Themselves to Extinction!
Really?
South America’s primitive canids survived the Pleistocene extinction and their sole American representative, the gray fox and its dwarf cousin, the Channel Islands fox, are are still with us.
So are the xenarthans, hystricomorphs and metatherians.
Of course, the large representatives all went extinct.
Methane had nothing to do with the extant fauna we witness today.
Yes indeed especially those GD awful stinky buffalo which caused humans to shoot them
Stinky bison removed and replaced with stinky methane laden cattle.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Bison is better eating - leaner meat. Or there will soon come a moment when humans will again see cattle shedding their hides and, in a methane coughing fit, grab their guns and repeat the buffalo trick ...
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