I F–king Love Science: 6th Mass Extinction Will Happen Soon

 

mass extinction
PHOTOGRAPH BY RICHARD NOWITZ, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC


On the I F***ing Love Science page on Facebook, a headline caught my eye recently. The headline stated that Earth is heading for her sixth mass extinction.

From the website of the same name:

” The decline of various animal populations and species loss are occurring at alarming rates on Earth, contributing to the world’s sixth mass extinction. While these deadly events may ultimately pave way for the emergence of new species, Stanford scientists have warned that if this ?defaunation? that we are currently experiencing continues, it will likely have serious downstream impacts on human health. The study has been published in Science.

And, according to these same Stanford scientists, it may not be us that becomes extinct, but it will affect our health in poor ways and we are almost entirely to blame for this one.

Right Now.

Biodiversity is estimated to be at its peak in the history of our planet having life on it. This is the result of billions of years of evolution and it has created a rich tapestry of various living beings upon our planet.

However, it appears that the early days of mass extinction has begun.

Vertebrate species are experiencing a 25 percent decrease in abundance. In the vertebrate species, 33 percent are threatened or endangered.

Out of the monitored invertebrate species, 67 percent are experiencing a 45 percent average decline in abundance.

Impact.

The larger animals, as shown by previous fossil records, seem to be the ones who are having the most trouble from this. This could eventually have an impact on our health as well.

But there is something even more troubling.

A Cornell study was conducted concerning honey bees and other pollinating insects.

It was found that in 2010 they contributed $29 billion to the United States’ farm industry. ? However, the study further stated that the populations of this insects have suffered due to mites, pesticides, habitat fragmentation, pathogens, and development of the land. The research further showed that the contribution of these insects could be hard to replace, should their numbers continue to decline.


 

The Numbers.

Studying the mammal population has raised these concerns of a sixth mass extinction. The reason for this is because it has been found, comparing the fossil record to the rate of extinction that we are currently witnessing, and it has found to match the rate of extinction that is written in fossil records from the last five.

Here are some numbers to consider.

However, there is no need to despair because it is still reversible. From Professor Anthony Barnosky, a professor from the University of California at Berkley, and courtesy of the dailymail, So far, only 1 per cent to 2 per cent of all species have gone extinct in the groups we can look at clearly, so by those numbers, it looks like we are not far down the road to extinction. We still have a lot of Earth’s biota to save. It’s very important to devote resources and legislation toward species conservation if we don’t want to be the species whose activity caused a mass extinction.

Let us know your thoughts at the Liberal America page on Facebook!