Termination of Species
A.
- Extinction rate accelerated during the past 100 years to roughly 1,000 times what it was before humans showed up
- humans appear to be causing a cataclysm of extinctions more severe than any since the one that erased the dinosaurs 65 million years ago may shock those who haven’t followed the biodiversity issue
- 70 percent of biologist said they believed that a mass extinction is in progress; a third of them expected to lose 20 to 50 percent of the world’s species within 30 years
- Environmentalists have ignored recent evidence that tropical deforestation is not taking the toll that was feared
- Three things are necessary to know:
- the natural extinction rate
- the current rate
- whether the pace of extinction is steady or changing
- Work our the mean life span of a species from the fossil record
- False assumptions:
- species of plants, mammals, insects, marine in- vertebrates and other groups all exist for about the same time
- all organisms have an equal chance of making it into the fossil record
- May and Wilson use an average life span when they should use a median
- Over the past 200 years, the rate of loss among mammal species has been some 120 times higher than natural
- The international conservation organization IUCN keeps “Red Lists” of organisms suspected to be extinct in the wild
- Ecologist have tried other means to project future extinction rates
- Biologists have some good theoretical reasons to fear that even if mass extinction hasn’t begun yet, collapse is imminent
- Conservationist are left with less of a sense of urgency with a handful of weak political and economic arguments.
B. Ever since humans have shown up, the extinction rate for many different species have started to rise. Us humans have caused many amounts of extinctions that is more severe than the meteor that killed all of the dinosaurs millions of years ago. Most biologist predict that a mass extinction is in progress. We are expected to lose 20 to 50 percent of the worlds species in 30 years. Environmentalists have ignored the recent evidence that tropical deforestation is not taking the toll that was feared. This is very dangerous considering how many species there are in this particular biome. When looking at extinction rates, there are three necessary fact that are essential to know: the natural extinction rate, the current rate, and whether the pace of extinction is steady or changing. After looking at these changes, we can then determine which species are most at risk of extinction and the reason why they are going extinct. Even though the extinction of many of these species are most likely to happen, biologist have good theoretical reasons to fear that even if mass extinction hasn't begun yet, collapse is still imminent. Even after all of this danger, conservationists are left with less of a sense of urgency with a handful of weak political and economic arguments.
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C. After reading this article, I am very concerned about all of these species that have a potential of becoming extinct. I believe that this is very much so a big threat and we should all try our hardest to try and conserve these animals. This is different from a species dying in a specific area. A species that goes extinct is very bad for our ecosystem. The benefits that they provide for their land will be completely 100% gone and their service that they provide can no longer be available. The whole fact that the extinction rate accelerated 1,000 times what it was before humans showed up is a very clear indication of what is really going on. Because of us, the acceleration of the extinction rate has gone up. This is because of our greed and how we have an obsession of just taking too much and not doing anything about our taking. This was very reminiscent of most of what we were learning in APES about how certain species not being in their respected habitat can change the entire dynamic of how it works.
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