Extinction events

struck by cataclysmic events, ones so severe and swift they obliterated most living things before they ever had a chance to adapt. With the developing technologies and industries, humans now possess the ability to impact the Earth immensely. In the articles, “Numerous Signs Point to Parasite Mass Extinctions” by Tracy V. Wilson and “Mass Extinction and Biodiversity Loss” by David Hosansky, are concerned on this topic and explain how the Earth is on the brink of a sixth mass extinction. Both…

first and most evidence backed theory is called the K-T event theory. This theory was created by a father and son duo Luis and Walter Alvarez. “In the 1980s, father-and-son scientists Luis (1911-88) and Walter Alvarez (1940-) discovered in the geological record a distinct layer of iridium–an element found in abundance only in space–that corresponds to the precise time the dinosaurs died. This suggests that a comet, asteroid or meteor impact event…

that there were some common factors separating these groups. One of the largest contrasts discovered was that one hundred percent of concerned believers feel that climate change is man made, while one hundred percent of cool skeptics believe that the events of global warming are natural changes in the planet. Furthermore concerned believers are more likely to feel that the news on global warming is either correct or underestimated. Cool skeptics on the other hand think that the news on climate…

AMERICANA SO IMPORTANT? Before I give the importance to these amazing creatures I would like you to know first what this creatures are. These creatures have existed for more than 300 million years. Meaning they have survived at least one massive extinction event and numerous catastrophes. Scientists have identified approximately 4,500 species of these creatures and 30 are classified as pests. And guess where Periplaneta Americana is identified? These creatures are hard to kill and they are…

forests of South China until climate change struck. The fruit eaters failed to adapt to the new dominant food sources of grass, roots, and leaves. Evidently, they soon went extinct because they refused to take a risk and change their diet. This extinction represents the consequence of not taking a risk, and if humans do not take risks today by exploring Mars, it could lead to the same unfortunate fate. Mars, also known as The Red Planet, is the fourth planet away from the sun. Recently, the…

The Cenozoic spans only about 65 million years, from the end of the Cretaceous Period and the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs to the present. The Cenozoic is sometimes called the Age of Mammals, because the largest land animals have been mammals during that time. Large snakes named Titanoboa, giant crocodiles, Cave lions, sabre-toothed cats, cave…

sedimentary layer were brought there via volcanic eruptions (“What killed the dinosaurs?” n.d. para. 5). Because iridium is common in the Earth’s core, this supports the volcanism hypothesis. Iridium could have been brought to the surface by these explosive events, forming the high levels we now see in the sediment layer. In addition, there is evidence of lava flow, covering 200,000 square miles at depths of more than 6,500 feet in the Deccan region of India (“What killed the dinosaurs?” n.d.…

Did one single disaster cause the K-T extinctions? Some scientists and people are committed to just one reason the K-T extinctions occurred but in this paper many possibilities will be explored with evidence to back up why they could have been a cause as well to the extinctions. Everyone will ultimately make his or her own decision/thoughts on what could have happened, and of course all hypotheses would be subject to analysis. Asteroid impact theory. The impact of a 10 km+ asteroid would blow a…

Permian-Triassic mass extinction (Benton et al. 2014). Transient episodes of unusually warm and wet conditions, interrupting long periods of cool and dry conditions, may have played a role in mass extinctions and long-term evolutionary trends (Retallack 2013). Although the Permo-Triassic mass extinction wiped out nearly 85% of species, the crises marked the beginning of the Mesozoic Era, a time period often associated with the Age of Reptiles (Benton et al. 2014). The Permo-Triassic extinction…

will it take before this number starts plummeting?3 We all are all aware of how terrible species extinction is, and are constantly being told how it is all a human caused problem. It is common for species to go extinct naturally, but at a low rate. The annual background extinction rate is believed to have been somewhere around 0.0001%, which amounts to about the extinction of 10 species per year.4 Extinction is not as dark and depressing as it is sold on…