People have heard the insinuating steps of the Apocalypse almost ever since they migrated from the animal state to the human state. But for the time being, all "alarming symptoms" turned out to be a deception - hearing, sight and other senses. And now scientists are talking about the inevitable catastrophe: the sixth extinction is coming! Moreover, it has already begun. For reference: the previous five killed the dinosaurs and many others - big and strong …
You say: where are we, and where are the dinosaurs? Yes, everything is there - in the biology textbook. Cast aside arrogance: Homo sapiens is just a species of the genus people (Homo) from the family of hominids in the order of primates. So it's not worth getting in. Better think: if the previous periods of extinction affected some species - large and strong, then where is the guarantee that the current - the sixth in a row - will spare the highbrow Homo?
Moreover: practice shows that most of the species that have ever lived on our planet have become extinct. And in itself the conclusion suggests itself that every creature on Earth, regardless of its strength or intelligence, has its own "shelf life", and man is no exception.
FLOWERS AND BERRIES
The very first mass extinction (of those known to science) happened 440 million years ago. During the Ordovician-Silurian extinction, more than 60% of marine invertebrates disappeared from the face of the earth. We say - from the face of the earth, but, to tell the truth, the land in those distant times was empty and uncomfortable. All life was in full swing in the seas and oceans. So they were emptied. And all because Gondwana - a gigantic continent from which Africa, South America, Australia and Antarctica later "hatched" - went into a drift and headed exactly to the South Pole.
The water boundaries have changed, and with them the habitual habitats of all kinds of brachiopods and molluscs. It all ended with a global cooling - water and land. What is today the Sahara Desert was then a solid glacier. The ice significantly changed the terrain: the water level in the ocean dropped sharply. In short, all - or rather 60% of marine invertebrates - have died.
Molluscs were replaced by more advanced fish. The dry land also acquired plants and the first tetrapods - terrestrial tetrapods. However, their music did not play for long (on a geological scale, of course). The Devonian extinction occurred 364 million years ago. It again hit the inhabitants of the sea, reducing the number of jawless fish by 50%. What caused it, scientists argue: some sin on increased volcanism, others on a cold snap, others on a comet, and still others suspect that a sharp reduction in oxygen is to blame. One thing is clear: the end of the fish has come.
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CHRONICLE OF DISAPPEARANCE
• 1/4 of all species of flora and fauna of the planet will cease to exist in the near future. We use 70% of the world's fish stock. She does not have time to recover naturally.
• 35% of all species of marine animals disappeared without a trace from the face of the earth.
• Every second more than 1.5 hectares of virgin forests disappear on Earth, and more than 65% of virgin forests, which are the habitat of many species of flora and fauna, have been destroyed. About 17 million hectares of forest disappear annually on the planet.
• 34 thousand species of plants and animals are included in the CITES list - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
• 36 species of wild plants are annually destroyed in the world.
• Over the past 25 years, the biological diversity of the Earth has decreased by 1/3.
But these were all just flowers. The berry "happened" 251.4 million years ago, when more than 95% of all living beings disappeared on the planet. The Permian extinction is called great, because it was the largest disaster of the biosphere in the history of the Earth. The reasons for it are not fully established: again there are words about volcanism, the greenhouse effect, cold snap, falling of a meteorite … None of the versions finds unequivocal confirmation. Be that as it may, the "pestilence" put an end to insects, parareptiles, trilobites dear to the heart of any paleontologist, and a good hundred or two other species of living beings.
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For the fourth time, the extinction - this time the Triassic - passed through our planet 199.6 million years ago and took with it half of the species that then lived on Earth. Scientists blame the increase in volcanism and, as a result, the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The unfortunate - distant, distant relatives of reptiles and eels - simply suffocated. But let's not be sad, for their ashes had not yet cooled down when they appeared on the stage - attention! - dinosaurs!
Dinosaurs ruled the show for millions of years, but the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction happened 65.5 million years ago. 76% of the species disappeared, leaving only bones and a good memory. Only crocodiles, lizards and turtles survived - hibernated and slept through the "nuclear winter".
The audience's favorites ruled the show for millions of years, but their play was played, and the curtain fell: 65.5 million years ago, the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction happened. 76% of the species disappeared, leaving only bones and a good memory. Only crocodiles, lizards and turtles survived. Researchers suggest that they simply went into hibernation and slept safely throughout the "nuclear winter."
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And when they opened their sleepy eyelids, they discovered that instead of dinosaurs, a man was walking around the planet. Moreover, the temper of this "frog" turned out to be more abrupt than that of the tyrannosaurs …
GREAT FROG
A man lives on Earth for a negligible number of years. Just compare the 160 million years that fell to the dinosaurs, and the miserable 6-7 million years that scientists assign to such a species as Homo sapiens. However, in this short time, people have managed to destroy more species of flora and fauna than all asteroids, glaciers and volcanoes combined.
Until the time when man became firmly convinced that he was the crown of creation and the king of nature, no more than two species of living beings disappeared in one million years. But over the past 11,000 years, the rate of extinction has skyrocketed. Saber-toothed tigers, mastodons, mammoths, cave bears and wolves disappeared. Previously, their deaths were blamed on the climate, the ice age, and global warming. But today it is obvious: they were destroyed by arrows, spears, traps and insatiable greed. The more perfect weapons became and the more civilized the human community, the fewer representatives of the fauna remained.
ROYAL MANTLE
We know about the dodo bird only from pictures and memories of travelers, as well as its wingless New Zealand friend in misfortune, the moa. Steller's cow, Falkland fox, marsupial wolf - this is not a complete list of victims of the "accession of man". You can also understand the cavemen: they killed in order to survive. They needed skins and meat, but, for example, a beautiful bird from the family of honey guides was exterminated at the end of the 18th century for … beauty. All that remains of these creatures is the yellow mantle of King Kamehamea I, displayed in the Honolulu Museum (capital of the state of Hawaii).
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The monarch's vestment is made of the feathers of 80 thousand birds … In general, it is a great mistake to consider Hawaii as a paradise on Earth. It is rather an intensive care unit: the surviving 27% of bird species protected by the US state live here. The remaining 73% are already extinct. So Hawaii is their last hope. Well, there is at least she. The feathered and tailed aborigines of Australia, New Zealand and a number of Pacific islands did not get it either. According to ecologists, the situation in the Southern Hemisphere is close to catastrophic: according to a number of signs, the sixth mass extinction has already begun there.
Agriculture in Australia has already dealt a tangible blow to forests and their inhabitants. Only 30% of the former splendor remains, but even they are under the threat of logging.
The problem is that there are no prerequisites for the situation to change for the better: the population is growing. Scientists predict that by 2050 there will be 35% more people in Australia than it is now. New Zealand is threatened with a 25% increase, while Papua New Guinea is at 76%.
People are simply driving all other living beings out of the planet. Yes, all of us were badly spoiled by the housing issue …
DON'T THINK ABOUT VYSOSO SECONDS
Scientists believe that the current extinction will reach its peak in three hundred years. By geological standards, this is a second, not more. What can humanity do during this time? At least arrange another Fukushima, another oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and finally fill up the entire planet with plastic bottles and plastic bags. To pollute the atmosphere, to triple global warming or cooling, to ditch natural plants by introducing GMOs … The terms of death can be summed up ad infinitum. But will living organisms inhabiting our planet withstand all these tests? An inflamed imagination draws an army of monsters: pigs with horns, horses with piglets, etc., etc.
But, based on the experience of previous extinctions, we can safely say: those who are better able to adapt will survive. And, alas, this is not a man. As a species, it heads the food chain. Simply put, he constantly needs food, and varied. And, as you know, the higher an organism is in the food chain, the more it is subject to changes in the environment. Not so long ago, University of Chicago scientists Dave Rop and Jak Sepkoski discovered that mini-apocalypses happened in between the great extinctions. They even calculated their cycle: once every 26 million years. Based on this frequency, scientists have calculated the life expectancy of different species. Invertebrates were lucky: they were given 4-6 million years. While vertebrates got only 2-4 million years. That's it: the more complex the organism is, the shorter its eyelids. Amoeba in this sense is much more viable than Homo sapiens …
WANT TO EAT
Already, according to scientists, 925 million people are hungry or malnourished. Another 1 billion suffer from latent hunger, which means that their diet is without vitamins and minerals. But another 1 billion is literally overeating, causing a whole bunch of problems to life, from overeating to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
By 2050, the world's population will grow to 9.5 billion. It will need at least 40% more food, 30% more water and 50% more energy than today. Where can I get them? Question. Of course, you can eat food made in a chemical laboratory. Great hopes are pinned on GM foods. But in general, forecasts for the future look bleak.
So, in passing, exterminating living organisms the circle of itself, the crown of creation brings its own end closer. The sixth extinction has begun. And this time its reasons are clearer than ever. The only pity is that it doesn't change anything. According to official data from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), three species of animals disappear from the face of the earth every hour, 70 species of flora and fauna disappear every day …
According to the World Conservation Union in 2008, 844 species of animals have completely died out over the past 500 years. And everything speaks for the fact that these murderous rates will not decrease, but will only grow. According to experts - biologists and ecologists - in the next 20 years the rate of extinction of animals will grow 10 times!