The Answer is....
Forty- Two
Life on Earth gets wiped out every 27 million years, say boffins
Much of life on Earth gets regularly wiped out every 27 million years, according to boffins. It had been thought that this was caused by a dark star named "Nemesis", but apparently that was wrong. The next globo-extinction event is due in about 16 million years' time. A plot of extinction intensity in the past. Credit: Richard …
-
Tuesday 13th July 2010 08:10 GMT Retired Geek
Didn't Anyone Notice? It's Already Happened.
All the ecologists are screaming about the loss of bio-diversity caused by over development and habitat loss. The extinction of mega-fauna in the western hemisphere "coincidental" to the arrival of humanity 15,000 years ago (those native Americans who were so-o-o in harmony with Nature) is well documented. The deserts of the Middle East were the Garden of Eden, where agriculture started.
I see no reason for anything more exotic than a recurring biological cycle of evolving dominant life forms that reduce biodiversity by successfully out breeding the other species. We see micro examples of this here in the Gulf of Mexico when there is an algae "bloom" called "Red Tide" that kills off large numbers of fish and other bottom dwellers by blocking sunlight and reducing the oxygen in large (hundred mile) swaths of ocean.
The pattern could be trending towards fewer extinctions because all the species alive are descendants of survivors from previous cycles. We are clearly this cycle's dominant life form and we have been doing an admirable job of killing off the weaker species.
It doesn't require intelligence to muck up the ecology. Intelligence just lets us do it more quickly and on a global scale. Maybe as much as 16 mega years faster? Yea, us.
-
-
-
Tuesday 13th July 2010 08:54 GMT Anonymous Coward
Argh! I can't find my ....
.... towel and the dog has eaten the peanuts.
Looking at the accuracy of the statements made vs. the data available, I'd say a Pension Fund Manager has been involved somewhere along the line. Hey, there's a thought; perhaps another use for Paul the Octopus could be in Pension Fund Management?
This topic is closed for new posts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
