Three Potential Effects of the Next Extinction When the 6th Mass Extinction does occur, the effects will be tremendous. Unlike the other extinctions, it is predicted that the changes associated with this extinction will not only create a new epoch in history, but also shape the Earth in the way microbes evolved into multicellular organisms did (Hance, 2015). The effects, however, will be somewhat similar to past extinctions. One predicted effect of the 6th Mass Extinction is the availability of empty niches-unoccupied habitats and places in an environment. When a species is killed off by some natural or anthropogenic event, the habitat it once lived in is left empty, unless that is also destroyed. The species of animals that weren’t harmed …show more content…
Many of the animals and plants that currently exist in this world are important pillars of the existing economy. Unless no dramatic alterations occur over the next couple decades, most likely, these organisms will continue to play and important role in society. Certain crops, such as corn and tomatoes, as well as animals, such as cows and pigs, serve as important food sources for the ever-growing human population (Extinction: Causes and Consequences, n.d.). Furthermore, insects such as bees are invaluable as they help fertilize food sources and help keep a healthy diet available for people. In the UK, as depicted in the graphic below, the value of honeybees to the economy is significantly greater than 400 billion euros, the total averaging about two billion euros. With an extinction of bees would come an extinction of plants and crops, and then animals that relied on those crops, and animals that relied on those animals and so on (Holland, 2009). Soon enough, food webs would be toppled, many would starve, and the 6th Mass Extinction would occur. With the depletion of resources because of it, any organisms left on the planet would have to adapt because everyone that was left would be in a state of poverty. The damage that was caused would take centuries to recover and build from (Extinction: Causes and Consequences,
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History details the continued loss of biodiversity that has occurred since the rise of mankind. Elizabeth Kolbert claims that we are now in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, and that, if precautionary measures are not taken, the loss of biodiversity would be catastrophic. Chapter one begins by describing the golden frogs in the town of El Valle de Antón, and how they were beginning to disappear. The frogs disappeared due to a fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. This fungus has spread around the world at a lightning-quick rate, killing all sorts of amphibious organisms at an unnatural rate. The cause of the rapid spreading of the fungus has been theorized to be due to humans inadvertently spreading
First of all if the bees go extinct, khaos would happen. This is because if honey bees go extinct then a lot of our food supply would be gone, most of which is fruits and vegetables, shown in a BBC article. And if that’s not enough, Greenpeace USA wrote this, “Seventy out of the top 100 human food crops — which supply about 90
We are slowly killing our planet and our co-habitants at such a high rate that some say we are responsible for the sixth mass extinction. In the book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History author Elizabeth Kolbert an American journalist and professor at Williams College travels to different parts of the world to search for evidence that the sixth extinction is in fact happening now. In The Sixth Extinction Kolbert demonstrates the many ways in which humans are speeding up the loss of so many species. The question is, is it possible to stop or even slow down the loss of other species due to human actions? When we think about extinction we tend to think of cataclysmic events such as the meteor that struck Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago.
The last mechanism of extinction is habitat fragmentation. This is the process by which habitat loss results in the division of large, continuous habitats into smaller, more isolated remnants. A perfect example of this is the Sumatran Rhino that was such a big population that was considered a pest until their habitat was fragmented. This decreased their population and when put in captive breeding they decreased even
In a summary, Kolbert explains the extinctions of a variety of different major animal species that became extinct. She also explains that if trends in the environment continue that the biggest extinction in history will occur soon. If global warming, deforestation, and glaciers continue to melt she says that more and more species will continue to become extinct. She explains how humans need to be more conservative and careful with what they’re doing to prevent extinction.
The economic worth of global food production supported by animal pollination is at a whopping $265 billion dollars. Bee’s themselves are responsible for the harvest of crops such as nuts, melons and berries, and plays varying roles in the production of citrus fruits, apples, onions, broccoli, cabbage, sprouts, courgettes, peppers, aubergines, avocados, cucumbers, coconuts, tomatoes and broad beans, as well as coffee and cocoa. ( Yes, that’s right without bee’s you wouldn’t be able to relax to/enjoy the sweet taste of, of a hot cup of chocolate after a long winter day). but with bee’s in consistent decline what does this mean for a growing population. Fewer bee’s would mean most likely result in higher prices for fruits, and vegetables. Less food available for mass consumption. So what can we do? In order to reverse the damage done to our bee populations, it is important that we now as a community make steps to encourage ecologically safe farming practices. That means start grocery shopping regionally, and locally and when the holiday/winter season is over and spring rolls around reduce the everyday use of pesticides, and other stuff while
Bee loss can eventually kill off all homo sapiens, plants, and animals because most plants depend on pollinators and homo sapiens depend on plants to live. Homo sapiens and animals need trees to live and plants need people and animals to live. when all the plants die off the whole animal population will start to die off and eventually the human population will die off because we will no longer have oxygen or food.
However, even more types of crops may disappear if honey bees go extinct. The bees are essential in the pollination of the crops that we eat. This means that some of our main sources of food would die along with the bees. It also means that the world we live in would become less beautiful, since without bee’s pollination, there wouldn’t be as many flowers.
In conclusion, without the bees that pollinate our crops it is not only the bees that will become extinct, it is the humans too! Without bees the human population will be dramatically
1. One of the endangered services in the United States is the pollination by bees, and by a decline of pollination the service of food production is endangered as well. This is due to the decline of bees, know as the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). It is believed to have various factors that causes this, such as pathogens, parasites, poor nutrition, habitat loss, pesticide, etc. Another factor that may contribute to CCD is the electromagnetic radiation. The economic cost of CCD is that farmers that need this bees for the productions of food would perhaps have to buy colonies of bees continually from other places since they disappear. This could raise the cost of food. If the collapse of bees is excessive to the point where farmers cannot obtain
Bees are going extinct at this high rate due to climate change, pesticides, diseases, and parasites.
According to savebees.org, a corporation trying to spread awareness and help raise awareness, one in three bites of food we eat is thanks to bees. Think coffee, nuts, seeds, berries, fruits and vegetables (and even many of our oils). The honey bee population is decreasing and the effects are changing the world as we know it and one part that is being majorly effect is agriculture. Honey bee populations have been declining all over the world. Without honey bees the world as we know it would be totally changed.
The impact of bees disappearing on the environment is not having enough food. Bees and other pollinators have a role in pollinating one out of every three bites of food you eat. Without bees to spread seeds, many plants, including food crops, would die off.
There have been crestfallen decreases in the population of bees because of pests and of our pesticides. While you may hate bees because of their stingers, they are an enormous part of the pollination process. To be sure, one of the crops that depend on their pollination the most are the almond crops, these crops would go extinct without bees. Without bees, a lot of our prices would sky rocket. They help grow a lot of our food but all they get in response are the disastrous effects of our pesticides. In the interim, the sharp increase of bee-fatal pesticides isn’t getting any better. At the same time, the bees are subjects to the deadly varroa mites and colony collapse disorder. Simultaneously, bees are a huge help agriculture, without them we would be in a huge predicament. There would be as many of diverse crops because when bees pollinate , they cross breed plants at the same time. Then we would have to pollinate most of the crops. In effect, I believe that we should care about bees more. Like Albert Einstein said, “If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.”
Albert Einstein once said, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man” (“Einstein Once Said…”). After careful thought on this matter, this can be a scary concept to process. Millions of years have passed with the honey bee gracing the earth, and in fact, the honeybee is the only insect that aids in the production of food that is consumed by the human race (“20 Amazing Honey Bee Facts!”). Imagine going to a grocery store and there being no almonds to buy, a scarce supply of apples to choose from, and a very limited