Atheistforums.com

Science Section => Science General Discussion => Topic started by: Blackleaf on April 19, 2017, 08:25:03 PM

Title: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Blackleaf on April 19, 2017, 08:25:03 PM
This is something I've been wondering for a while. These days, we hear a lot about protecting the environment, using renewable energy, protecting endangered species, protecting natural habitats. Of course, humanity is hurting the planet. That much has been proven. But in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? I mean, Earth has had multiple ice ages in the past. Living conditions during those times were horrific, but life adapted to the harsh conditions. Then when the ice age was over, many of the animals that evolved during the ice age went extinct. What physical features helped them to survive before (such as thick fur coats and stumpy legs) no longer worked to their advantage.

So what's different now? Won't life adapt to our destructive ways? Won't animals evolve so that they won't walk into busy streets and get run over? Won't they eventually come to accept cities as their new habitats? Aside from nuclear fallout scorching every inch of the earth, do we really have the power to end nature?

Note: I'm just asking this out of pure curiosity. Don't shoot me.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on April 19, 2017, 08:28:05 PM
If humans become extinct, particularly at their own hands, I will be unhappy about that.  But as others point out, nobody, including nature, gives a damn about my feelings.  But if we do become extinct, the surviving life forms will flourish.  Same as what happens with a good compost pile made from our table scraps of former animals and plants.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on April 19, 2017, 08:28:33 PM
(http://www.mamieyoung.com/dailydawdle/Create%20a%20better%20world%20for%20nothing.jpg)
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Blackleaf on April 19, 2017, 08:34:30 PM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on April 19, 2017, 08:28:33 PM
(http://www.mamieyoung.com/dailydawdle/Create%20a%20better%20world%20for%20nothing.jpg)

(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjNvh9ECUAAbdxr.jpg:small)
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on April 19, 2017, 08:44:12 PM
Quote from: Blackleaf on April 19, 2017, 08:34:30 PM
(http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjNvh9ECUAAbdxr.jpg:small)
"I bring scientists, you bring a rock star."
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Hydra009 on April 19, 2017, 10:05:25 PM
Quote from: Blackleaf on April 19, 2017, 08:25:03 PM
This is something I've been wondering for a while. These days, we hear a lot about protecting the environment, using renewable energy, protecting endangered species, protecting natural habitats. Of course, humanity is hurting the planet. That much has been proven. But in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter?
Short answer: yes.  Long answer: hell yes.

It's not really about protecting the planet.  It's about protecting ecosystems that are vital to our survival.

The Amazon rainforest is a great example of this.  The motivation behind protecting that isn't that these plants are pretty and the world would be a less awesome place without it.  It's that this area of land is rightly called "the lungs of the world" and "the world's largest pharmacy".  Losing out on that for a few more Whoppers is a terrible trade.

QuoteSo what's different now? Won't life adapt to our destructive ways?
Life in general, yes.  Specific species, almost certainly not.

One example of life adapting in response to humans is smaller fish stocks (http://www.nature.com/news/ocean-conservation-a-big-fight-over-little-fish-1.12325).  The big ones are more likely to get eaten, so there's selective pressure to be small.  It's evolution, baby.

QuoteWon't animals evolve so that they won't walk into busy streets and get run over? Won't they eventually come to accept cities as their new habitats?
Some have.  Roaches.  Pigeons.  Guidos.

QuoteAside from nuclear fallout scorching every inch of the earth, do we really have the power to end nature?
Currently, probably not.  Nature would bounce back from almost any kind of manmade catastrophe.  Runaway global warming would eventually reverse with no humans left to burn fossil fuels.  Even nuclear winter wouldn't last forever.  It'd be one hell of a global climate disruption for a few decades, but it'd eventually subside.

Humans don't have the power to destroy the world, just ourselves.

QuoteNote: I'm just asking this out of pure curiosity. Don't shoot me.
*lowers gun slightly*
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: fencerider on April 20, 2017, 02:46:13 AM
drivin on country roads you see that some deer have learned to stay off the road and some have not. Some will stay where they are off the road and watch when you pass. Others will leave their safe spot off the road and run into the road when you get close.

Part of the Amazon basin goes through Ecuador. The government of Ecuador resisted the oilmen a couple times to protect their forest. Then the oil men came back and strong armed Ecuador (Exxon has a bigger bank account than Ecuador) into signing a deal. Turns out the oil men did as much damage as Ecuador's government was afraid of.

If we take care of our ecology, other species will adapt with us in the picture. If we suicide with nuclear war, we change the pic for a lot of species. The survivors will all adapt to life without us. Then there is the part about dying in a nuclear war being painful
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on April 20, 2017, 06:50:30 AM
I'm relying on the black smokers to get things going again. Beyond that I don't have much hope.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Sorginak on April 20, 2017, 10:50:43 AM
Hopefully, before things become irrepairable, nature will create a world-wide catastrophe that will wipe out humanity so that the planet can fix itself and life can begin anew. 
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on April 20, 2017, 11:19:44 AM
Quote from: Sorginak on April 20, 2017, 10:50:43 AM
Hopefully, before things become irrepairable, nature will create a world-wide catastrophe that will wipe out humanity so that the planet can fix itself and life can begin anew. 

(http://www.impawards.com/2008/posters/happening.jpg)
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Ananta Shesha on April 20, 2017, 01:48:12 PM
Quote from: Hydra009 on April 19, 2017, 10:05:25 PM
Short answer: yes.  Long answer: hell yes.

It's not really about protecting the planet.  It's about protecting ecosystems that are vital to our survival.

The Amazon rainforest is a great example of this.  The motivation behind protecting that isn't that these plants are pretty and the world would be a less awesome place without it.  It's that this area of land is rightly called "the lungs of the world" and "the world's largest pharmacy".  Losing out on that for a few more Whoppers is a terrible trade.
Life in general, yes.  Specific species, almost certainly not.

One example of life adapting in response to humans is smaller fish stocks (http://www.nature.com/news/ocean-conservation-a-big-fight-over-little-fish-1.12325).  The big ones are more likely to get eaten, so there's selective pressure to be small. 
It's evolution, baby.
Some have.  Roaches.  Pigeons.  Guidos.
Currently, probably not.  Nature would bounce back from almost any kind of manmade catastrophe.  Runaway global warming would eventually reverse with no humans left to burn fossil fuels.  Even nuclear winter wouldn't last forever.  It'd be one hell of a global climate disruption for a few decades, but it'd eventually subside.

Humans don't have the power to destroy the world, just ourselves.
*lowers gun slightly*
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aDaOgu2CQtI
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Unbeliever on April 20, 2017, 05:14:05 PM
Quote from: Baruch on April 19, 2017, 08:28:05 PM
If humans become extinct, particularly at their own hands, I will be unhappy about that.
How could you be unhappy about that, since you, too, will be gone?

Oblivion means never again having to be sad...
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: aitm on April 20, 2017, 07:07:19 PM
If god were the universal "force dejour" that one new member claims, the very first thing it would do is to remove humans from the universe...so...one strike agains the universal god thingy that exists infintively beyond the quantum particles of up the kazoo.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Cavebear on April 21, 2017, 05:30:25 AM
Evolution takes time, and climate change is acting faster than that.  My average last frost date for the gardening used to be April 22nd; now it is April 15.  2016 was the hottest global average before 2015 before 2014 and back a decade.

Refusal to see facts is an indicator of ignorance.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on April 21, 2017, 09:27:48 AM
Quote from: Cavebear on April 21, 2017, 05:30:25 AM
Evolution takes time, and climate change is acting faster than that.  My average last frost date for the gardening used to be April 22nd; now it is April 15.  2016 was the hottest global average before 2015 before 2014 and back a decade.

Refusal to see facts is an indicator of ignorance.
Here is Missouri our trees sprouted leaves in the middle of March. That's scary.

Evolution: Change through time. (Attributed to Charles Darwin. ;) )
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Blackleaf on April 21, 2017, 10:01:02 AM
Quote from: Cavebear on April 21, 2017, 05:30:25 AM
Evolution takes time, and climate change is acting faster than that.  My average last frost date for the gardening used to be April 22nd; now it is April 15.  2016 was the hottest global average before 2015 before 2014 and back a decade.

Refusal to see facts is an indicator of ignorance.

Nobody's refusing to see anything. I'm not a global warming denier, nor am I suggesting we don't try to protect the environment. As I said, "I'm just asking this out of pure curiosity."
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Hydra009 on April 21, 2017, 10:45:49 AM
Quote from: Cavebear on April 21, 2017, 05:30:25 AMEvolution takes time, and climate change is acting faster than that.
Sort of.  Climate change is rapid and you won't get major evolutionary changes in just a few years.  But there may be some minute evolutionary changes already underway (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ten-species-are-evolving-due-changing-climate-180953133/).

However, adaption doesn't guarantee survival.  Species can change to make the best of a bad situation, but there's only so much they can handle.  When that bad situation gets worse, even relatively resilient species can bite the dust.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on April 21, 2017, 11:50:06 AM
And humans aren't going to "evolve" fast enough, I think. Given that evolve is driven by random, "unscheduled" changes it just doesn't seem likely. We might learn how to survive, but it's not going to be fun. Ask the Tauregs.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on April 21, 2017, 12:53:59 PM
Quote from: Sorginak on April 20, 2017, 10:50:43 AM
Hopefully, before things become irrepairable, nature will create a world-wide catastrophe that will wipe out humanity so that the planet can fix itself and life can begin anew.

Only if Gaia has agency.  without agency, the planet just randomly cracks a fart ... nothing says that black smokers aren't a dead end ... I know from family member that white smokers are a dead end ;-(
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on April 21, 2017, 12:55:51 PM
Quote from: Unbeliever on April 20, 2017, 05:14:05 PM
How could you be unhappy about that, since you, too, will be gone?

Oblivion means never again having to be sad...

As a demigod, I am immortal ... don't you know your Greek mythology, barbarian?
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on April 21, 2017, 01:00:46 PM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on April 21, 2017, 11:50:06 AM
And humans aren't going to "evolve" fast enough, I think. Given that evolve is driven by random, "unscheduled" changes it just doesn't seem likely. We might learn how to survive, but it's not going to be fun. Ask the Tauregs.

Tuareg?  Better ask the Kurgans .. those are the ancestors of most Europeans, invaded Europe from S Russia during the late Neolithic.  They have super weapons ... not only cattle, but horses, wagons and bronze weapons.  Putin's ancestors and many of ours was well.  They invented Germans, Italians and Greeks.  Later they invented Celts too in S Germany.  They were violent folk ... still are.

The Tuareg have the displeasure of living in the deep Sahara desert.  Nothing new has happened there in the last 4000 years ... due to lack of water and other resources.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Hydra009 on April 21, 2017, 01:06:30 PM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on April 21, 2017, 11:50:06 AM
And humans aren't going to "evolve" fast enough, I think. Given that evolve is driven by random, "unscheduled" changes it just doesn't seem likely. We might learn how to survive, but it's not going to be fun. Ask the Tauregs.
Human evolution doesn't matter.  Humanity runs little risk of being directly killed off by climate change.  What we really have to worry about is the rug being pulled out from under us.

The real threat is the plants and animals we need to survive getting wiped out and previously hospitable parts of the world quickly becoming inhospitable - not just from desertification but also from sea level increases.  Add to that disease outbreaks and diminished access to fresh water, and we're in a bumpy ride.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on April 21, 2017, 01:18:17 PM
You are more optimistic than I am.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Cavebear on October 11, 2017, 06:53:18 AM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on April 21, 2017, 09:27:48 AM
Here is Missouri our trees sprouted leaves in the middle of March. That's scary.

Evolution: Change through time. (Attributed to Charles Darwin. ;) )

It gets earlier and later every year.  I am probably going from Zone 7a to Zone 7B in the next couple years.  And new invasive plants are sneaking in lately.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on October 11, 2017, 07:22:50 AM
Quote from: Cavebear on October 11, 2017, 06:53:18 AM
It gets earlier and later every year.  I am probably going from Zone 7a to Zone 7B in the next couple years.  And new invasive plants are sneaking in lately.

Better put up a wall, Mr President ;-)  The kudzu and fire ants are coming ...
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Cavebear on October 11, 2017, 02:42:12 PM
Quote from: Baruch on October 11, 2017, 07:22:50 AM
Better put up a wall, Mr President ;-)  The kudzu and fire ants are coming ...

Don't laugh too loud.  Thety ARE coming.  And just last week, a person in the zone was bitten by  copperhead.  And if you make a joke about non-unionist Civil war Dems, I will have to come over and slap you.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on October 17, 2017, 04:57:53 AM
Quote from: Cavebear on October 11, 2017, 02:42:12 PM
Don't laugh too loud.  Thety ARE coming.  And just last week, a person in the zone was bitten by  copperhead.  And if you make a joke about non-unionist Civil war Dems, I will have to come over and slap you.

You get a like anyway, for knowing that ;-)
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Shiranu on October 17, 2017, 07:28:15 AM
It depends. Do you value self preservation or living beings? If so, then yes... yes we should be very worried about the environment. If not, you probably have more important things to worry about.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on October 17, 2017, 01:10:13 PM
Quote from: Shiranu on October 17, 2017, 07:28:15 AM
It depends. Do you value self preservation or living beings? If so, then yes... yes we should be very worried about the environment. If not, you probably have more important things to worry about.

As a human being (feral ape man) of course I am concerned about my own situation ... just not concerned about yours.  Never put power into the hands of an elderly man .. he doesn't have much time to live anyway.  Elderly women ... same deal.  Their job is to kill off elderly men, so they can enjoy the life insurance ... for a little while.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Cavebear on October 18, 2017, 01:22:34 AM
Quote from: Baruch on October 17, 2017, 01:10:13 PM
As a human being (feral ape man) of course I am concerned about my own situation ... just not concerned about yours.  Never put power into the hands of an elderly man .. he doesn't have much time to live anyway.  Elderly women ... same deal.  Their job is to kill off elderly men, so they can enjoy the life insurance ... for a little while.

If you want to consider yourself "feral" be my guest.  But I doubt you could survive a week in the woods on your own.  I can.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on October 18, 2017, 07:18:57 AM
Quote from: Cavebear on October 18, 2017, 01:22:34 AM
If you want to consider yourself "feral" be my guest.  But I doubt you could survive a week in the woods on your own.  I can.

At least I don't have to shave my fur ;-)
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Cavebear on October 18, 2017, 09:53:22 AM
Quote from: Baruch on October 18, 2017, 07:18:57 AM
At least I don't have to shave my fur ;-)

If you have it, you probably should.  Meanwhile, what did that have to do with anything?
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: pr126 on October 18, 2017, 10:13:37 AM
Meh, fuck the planet.  Here is how:

Sexecology  (https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Sexecology)

Ecosex Manifeto  (https://theecosexuals.ucsc.edu/ecosexualmanifesto/)

Ecosex research  (http://sexecology.org/research-writing/the-journal-of-ecosex-research/)

Ecosex Herstories (http://sexecology.org/research-writing/ecosex-herstories/)
QuoteMY NAME IS ANNIE SPRINKLE AND I AM A SYBARITIC COUGAR WITH ECOSEXUAL TENDENCIES. I am new bride, recently married to the Earth, the Sky and the Sea, and engaged to marry the Moon. Never had I imagined that I’d be so lucky in love, or become so consumed with seemingly crazy, taboo, sexual desires. Nothing prepared me for this kind of relationship, and for this strange, new sexual identity. There is so much to learn that I feel like a total eco-virgin, sun kissed for the very first time.



Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Cavebear on October 18, 2017, 10:16:58 AM
Quote from: pr126 on October 18, 2017, 10:13:37 AM
Meh, fuck the planet.  Here is how:

Sexecology  (https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Sexecology)

Ecosex Manifeto  (https://theecosexuals.ucsc.edu/ecosexualmanifesto/)

Ecosex research  (http://sexecology.org/research-writing/the-journal-of-ecosex-research/)

Ecosex Herstories (http://sexecology.org/research-writing/ecosex-herstories/)

Outstanding fictional phrase.  Is there a fantasy story to go with that?
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: pr126 on October 18, 2017, 10:25:37 AM
Quote from: Cavebear on October 18, 2017, 10:16:58 AM
Outstanding fictional phrase.  Is there a fantasy story to go with that?
Of course. Californication.

Environmentalists Champion Having Sex With Mother Earth  (http://www.dailywire.com/news/20647/dont-tell-dad-environmentalists-champion-having-hank-berrien#)
QuoteWe make love with the Earth. We are aquaphiles, teraphiles, pyrophiles and aerophiles. We shamelessly hug trees, massage the earth with our feet and talk erotically to plants. We are skinny dippers, sun worshippers, and stargazers. We caress rocks, are pleasured by waterfalls, and admire the Earth’s curves often. We make love with the Earth through our senses. We celebrate our E-spots. We are very dirty.
QuoteIn summer 2017, Stephens also co-led an “Ecosex Walking Tour” in Germany that offered “25 ways to make love to the Earth, raise awareness of environmental issues, learn ecosexercises, find E-spots, and climax with the planetary clitoris,” according to UC Santa Cruz’s website.
Oh, and don't forget grassylingus.

I think the earth has long passed the age of consent, so it is not illegal to rape the planet.

And the planet shows her appreciation with earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions.

So be careful when you have sex with the planet. Don't get her too excited.

Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Cavebear on October 18, 2017, 10:29:14 AM
Quote from: pr126 on October 18, 2017, 10:25:37 AM
Of course. Californication.

Environmentalists Champion Having Sex With Mother Earth  (http://www.dailywire.com/news/20647/dont-tell-dad-environmentalists-champion-having-hank-berrien#)Oh, and don't forget grassylingus.

I don't think Mother Erth was in my dorm room.  Almost once, but she wanted more beer and left.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on October 18, 2017, 07:13:21 PM
Quote from: pr126 on October 18, 2017, 10:13:37 AM
Meh, fuck the planet.  Here is how:

Sexecology  (https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Sexecology)

Ecosex Manifeto  (https://theecosexuals.ucsc.edu/ecosexualmanifesto/)

Ecosex research  (http://sexecology.org/research-writing/the-journal-of-ecosex-research/)

Ecosex Herstories (http://sexecology.org/research-writing/ecosex-herstories/)

Silly hippies.  Weed is for stoners!
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Cavebear on October 23, 2017, 06:07:42 AM
The Earth can't care about us.  It isn't sentient. 

If we disappeared tomorrow, life on Earth would continue.

It would actually improve in diversity.

It wouldn't have sentient life, but that doesn't really matter to "life" per se.

Evolution "might" re-evolve sentience, but that is not certain.   

Evolution has no "purpose".

Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Unbeliever on October 24, 2017, 02:01:46 PM
According to Bill McKibben, in his book The End of Nature (http://www.billmckibben.com/end-of-nature-excerpt.html), what we once called "nature" no longer exists, since there isn't a square millimeter of the Earth that hasn't been affected by humans. So what we usually consider nature apart from human activity is gone, likely never to return while humanity still selfishly serves only itself.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Hydra009 on October 24, 2017, 02:22:20 PM
Quote from: Cavebear on October 23, 2017, 06:07:42 AM
The Earth can't care about us.  It isn't sentient. 

If we disappeared tomorrow, life on Earth would continue.

It would actually improve in diversity.
Definitely.  Fish stocks would bounce back, large carnivores (tigers, lions, and bears, oh my!) would increase dramatically, elephants and rhinos would be spared from poaching-induced extinction, amphibians would rebound, etc.

But it would suck for species that depend on people, domesticated plants and animals as well as city-dwelling animals like pigeons, mice, cockroaches, etc.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Unbeliever on October 24, 2017, 02:34:29 PM
After the other mass extinction events in Earth's past, only the most adaptable life forms would've made it through. This gives the next cycle of life a bit of a leg up, since things are starting at a higher level of organism. So I think mass extinctions help to "ratchet up" evolution to increasingly sophisticated life. After us, there will be many ecological niches open for new things to evolve into, and the biosphere may end up in better shape than it has ever been.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Hydra009 on October 24, 2017, 03:01:50 PM
Quote from: Unbeliever on October 24, 2017, 02:34:29 PMSo I think mass extinctions help to "ratchet up" evolution to increasingly sophisticated life.
Hmmm.  Interesting hypothesis.  Though I could see that working in the other direction, with truly extreme die-offs annihilating promising genera, turning back the clock, so to speak.  But apparently my intuition sucks because I just read about how the Permian Extinction (the mother of all extinctions) resulted in more complex sea life - a larger percentage of sea life became mobile as opposed to sessile and complex communities displaced simple ones (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061126121112.htm).
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Unbeliever on October 24, 2017, 05:24:00 PM
Interesting - thanks for the link!
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on October 24, 2017, 08:07:03 PM
(https://safr.kingfeatures.com/idn/cnfeed/zone/js/content.php?file=aHR0cDovL3NhZnIua2luZ2ZlYXR1cmVzLmNvbS9CaXphcnJvLzIwMDcvMDIvQml6YXJyb19wLjIwMDcwMjI0XzYxNi5naWY=)
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on October 24, 2017, 08:09:01 PM

Life goes on for marine ecosystems after cataclysmic mass extinction (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171020092226.htm)
Date:
October 20, 2017
Source:
University of Leeds
Summary:
One of the largest global mass extinctions did not fundamentally change marine ecosystems, scientists have found.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Hydra009 on October 24, 2017, 09:09:14 PM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on October 24, 2017, 08:09:01 PM
Life goes on for marine ecosystems after cataclysmic mass extinction (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171020092226.htm)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't our links about different extinction events?  That link is about the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event (~202 mya), while my link is about the Permianâ€"Triassic extinction event (~252 mya)

If the conclusion to be drawn is that extinction events can but don't necessarily lead to significant ecological changes, I'm fine with that.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Baruch on October 24, 2017, 10:27:11 PM
Quote from: Hydra009 on October 24, 2017, 09:09:14 PM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't our links about different extinction events?  That link is about the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event (~202 mya), while my link is about the Permianâ€"Triassic extinction event (~252 mya)

If the conclusion to be drawn is that extinction events can but don't necessarily lead to significant ecological changes, I'm fine with that.

That is why I keep live trilobites in my aquarium ;-)
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on October 25, 2017, 07:00:13 AM
Quote from: Hydra009 on October 24, 2017, 09:09:14 PM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't our links about different extinction events?  That link is about the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event (~202 mya), while my link is about the Permianâ€"Triassic extinction event (~252 mya)

If the conclusion to be drawn is that extinction events can but don't necessarily lead to significant ecological changes, I'm fine with that.
I didn't say my post was related. Just thought it was interesting.
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Unbeliever on October 25, 2017, 04:59:48 PM
Quote from: Baruch on October 24, 2017, 10:27:11 PM
That is why I keep live trilobites in my aquarium ;-)
Well where else would you keep them?




(https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/computers-caveman-neanderthal-salesmen-retailer-trilobite-cgon707_low.jpg)
Title: Re: Should we worry about nature?
Post by: Cavebear on October 27, 2017, 06:12:46 AM
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on October 24, 2017, 08:09:01 PM
Life goes on for marine ecosystems after cataclysmic mass extinction (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171020092226.htm)
Date:
October 20, 2017
Source:
University of Leeds
Summary:
One of the largest global mass extinctions did not fundamentally change marine ecosystems, scientists have found.

Still waters run deep, and hydrovents support life that does not survive on the surface.