Transcript the truth - in a secure place with other

Extinction: A large Scale Random Transformation
CO-EVOLUTION & NICHES
• Any species living in a niche has evolutionary
relationships with other species; some casual, some
crucial
• Therefore, the extinction of a species will have
repercussions in the niches of all species which have
co-evolutionary relationships with the newly extinct
species
New Evolutionary Niches Open
The Rats Become the Kings
 Evolutionary Clock gets periodically reset
 Life recovers (relatively rapidly) to fill new
ecological niches  this empowers species
diversification
 This means that “survival of the fittest” doesn’t
work on long timescales  random catastrophe is
MORE important
 Strangely, nature confirms that a “new world will
arrive out of the ashes of the old one”
 Asteroid Impacts = sudden
 Large CO2 changes which can affect atmospheric and
ocean chemistry (slow)
an “oh shit”
event
At least a dozen significant events
Five Agreed Upon Major Events
Many events of varying extinction
percentage amplitude
The struggle
Relatively stable
 KT extinction (dead dinosaurs) triggered by
asteroid impact.
 A 10km diameter asteroid, leaving a crater ~200 Km
in diameter
Impact caused acid rain, ash (from
global forest fire) that directly blocked
out the sun for months, severe global
cooling (nuclear winter).
 Before the end of the Cretaceous, flight evolved
independently three times:
 Insects, flying reptiles, birds (avian dinosaurs)
 By the end of the Cretaceous 65 Mya, most
dinosaurs along with other large marine reptiles
and various invertebrates died out
 No land vertebrate larger than a large dog survived
the KT boundary event
Toba catastrophe 74000 BC:
The most recent supervolcano.
Proximity to equator
ability to affect all latitudes of globe,
and for tephra circulation to be
affected by trade winds.
Here is Toba,
at 2 degrees north
of the equator.
(Probable) Climatic Effects of Toba
Global circulation of ash from
Mount Pinatubo, 1991 –
atmospheric presence of Toba Tuff
was undoubtedly far more extensive.
Ice core samples from Antarctica
and Greenland:
-6-year period of sulphur deposition
far above normal levels –
sulphur and volcanic ash remained
in atmosphere, blocking out
substantial amounts of sunlight. –
Nuclear Winter for 6—10 years.
Effect on Humankind
(controversial theory)
Out of Africa Migration time
line would place humans in
proximity to the worst effects
of Toba. Record shows
that, 70,000 years ago,
Homo Sapiens were the only
surviving humanoid.
-Homo sapiens is
remarkable for lack of
genetic diversity in
comparison to other
primates  Something
Happened
“Bottleneck” scenario:
Colossal near-species-extinction level event leaves small # of individuals
Remaining (est: 5-10,000 breeding pairs of Homo Sapiens), who become the g
Recent Extinctions
 Auroch (1627) & Dodo (1662)
 Stellar’s Sea Cow (1768)
 Mascarene Island Giant Tortoise
(1795)
 South African Cape Lion (1858)
 Quagga (1883)
 Passenger Pigeon (1914)
 Tasmanian Wolf (1936)
 Bali Tiger (1937) / Javan Tiger
(1976)
 Kaua’i ‘O’o (1987)
 Golden Toad (1989)
 Baiji White Dolphin (2006)
 Chinese Paddlefish (2007)
 Christmas Island Pipistrelle (2009)
 Vietnamese Rhinoceros (2010)
 Pinta Island Tortoise (2012)
By 2050 - 2100?
 50% of all species on the planet will be either
endangered or extinct
– Habitat destruction
– Global Warming
 25% mammalian species
 15% bird species
 In The Future of Life (2002), E.O. Wilson of Harvard
calculated that, if the current rate of human disruption
of the biosphere continues, one-half of Earth's higher
lifeforms will be extinct by 2100
*we have
operationally become GOD