Re: Where is the evolution when you need it the most.
In article <44d3p0F1kq0jU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Robert J. Kolker" <nowhere@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> nmp wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 23:25:45 +0000, it was decided that NashtOn should
> > write:
> >
> >
> >>Species are disappearing by the hundreds each year because of an altered
> >>environment caused by the abuse and pollution of Humans.
> >
> >
> > Yes, very unfortunate. We are a plague :(
> >
>
> A plague to whom?
> >
> > For animals that have evolved to become specialized into a particular
> > environment, or to live on a specific kind of food, the changes that
> > you mention are just happening too fast. Orang utan are completely
> > adapted to a life in the trees. Take away their trees, their forests, and
> > where are the orang utan going to go?
>
> To oblivion.
>
> However compare to previous extinctions what humans do to other animals
> and plants is small time.
>
> The Permian-Triassic (P-T or PT) extinction event, sometimes informally
> called the Great Dying, was an extinction event that occurred
> approximately 252 million years ago (mya), forming the boundary between
> the Permian and Triassic geologic periods. It was the Earth's most
> severe extinction event, with about 90 percent of all marine species and
> 70 percent of terrestrial vertebrate species going extinct. For some
> time after the event, fungal species were the dominant form of
> terrestrial life.
Over what sort of time scale did that happen? Hang on, Google is my friend.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/2/l_032_02.html
The die-off duration was probably longer than 2 min, 21 sec.
Ah, the old stand-by, Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian-Triassic_extinction_event
"it is commonly accepted that the event lasted less than a million years, from
252.3 to 251.4 MYA (both numbers ±300,000 years), a very brief period of time in
geological terms"
> Nothing humans have done or are capable of doing can match this.
Well, that event was a fundamental change in the chemistry of the ecosystem. In
any case, I don't think it's morally correct to conclude that since our effect
on the ecosystem is less than that one, it's okay. That's like saying that he
crimes of American soldiers were better than Saddam's atrocities. Big deal.
--
Timberwoof <me at timberwoof dot com> http://www.timberwoof.com
.
Relevant Pages
- Re: OOL X - The origin of the RNA world.
... > be some kind of environmental collapse causing an extinction event. ... continue until the offending species is obliterated or mends its ways. ... >> super-instability have occurred so far in the history of our planet. ... From: Robert Maas, see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t ...
(sci.bio.evolution) - Re: A simple model exhibiting Haldanes limit
... generation time is a good idea only for those cells that are already ... population collapse (with the survivors being randomly selected without ... It has been observed that the species in a ... family that survive an extinction event tend to be those with the smallest ...
(sci.bio.evolution) - Re: Where is the evolution when you need it the most.
... >>Species are disappearing by the hundreds each year because of an altered ... However compare to previous extinctions what humans do to other animals ... The Permian-Triassic extinction event, ... Bob Kolker ...
(talk.origins) - Re: A simple model exhibiting Haldanes limit
... like my slime mold cell. ... generation time is a good idea only for those cells that are already ... It has been observed that the species in a ... family that survive an extinction event tend to be those with the smallest ...
(sci.bio.evolution) - Re: Your Secrets are Safe Here
... It doesn't matter how much _you_ assert this is "THE primary law of ... I say the primary law of life is survival because the primary function ... Not only as an individual but also as a species. ... Some animals (even humans) exhibit weak or non-existent survival ...
(sci.physics) |
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