Mass Extinction And Its Impact On The World

Stephen Gould’s essay “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of the Dinosaurs” completely agrees with Joseph Williams and Gregory Colomb’s essay “Argument, Critical Thinking, and Rationality.” Gould’s essay deals with three theories for the extinction of the dinosaurs, two of which he argues are entirely invalid because they are not in accordance with the basic rules of argument laid out by Williams and Colomb in their essay. Gould also states that the third theory of dinosaur extinction, natural disaster, follows all the rules that Williams and Colomb espouse, and thus is a sound argument. Gould, Williams, and Colomb all state that the world has a problem with irrational arguments being shoved down people’s throats, and call for a

In the two essays being discussed we learn that science has a vast range of definitions. Science is the effort to understand (or to understand better), the history of the natural world and how the natural world works with observable physical evidence as the base of understanding. Science is about how the hypothesis is developed and how well it is defended.

Nearly two million years ago, the first of our genus migrated through Africa under the species name of Homo erectus, a new organism that walked on two legs, with sloping foreheads and protruding jaws. Later evolving in the Homo sapiens, and then modern Homo sapiens sapiens, the human we know today quickly came into the world’s view as the top of the food chain and the predators of the period. Since their evolution in the Cenozoic era, the population of our species has grown quite literally exponentially, spreading into Europe, Asia, and the Americas. In the year 2017, our population has reached a whopping 7.5 billion - a sign of near reproductive and selective perfection. Impressive without a doubt, but the environmental impact of a predator

• Fossil fuels • Mass hunting • Deforestation • Mass fishing 2. Do you agree or disagree with this suggestion? Justify your response. I was think that is true because this is what happens when you think you have a lot of something and than its gone and than you have none of that stuff left and people don’t think about after they are always think about now and now that its happening people are starting to make changes but its going to take a while because people have routines and its going to feel different because people are so used to doing things that they are not aware that its doing something to

The scientific community applauds Elizabeth Kolbert for her recently published The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, as it exceeds scientific and literary standards. Elizabeth Kolbert, born in 1961, is a American journalist and author and has won more than ten awards since 2005. In fact, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History recently won her the Pulitzer prize for general nonfiction writing. For a scientific overview of her book, it discusses quite exactly what the title states. There have been five mass extinctions throughout the history of this earth, and the sixth is currently happening and being driven by humans. Kolbert discusses several different species that have become extinct or are on the brink of extinction. She includes history of mankind discovering the concept of extinction as they gradually began to wrap their brains around the idea in the early eighteen hundreds. Lastly, Kolbert masterfully describes her own experiences face to face. She

Citizenship What impact are you having on the sixth extinction? After reading the novel The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, written by Elizabeth Kolbert, one wonders if indeed the sixth extinction is the result of actions taken by Homo sapiens. Kolbert describes the scientific theories supporting the five mass extinctions that took place in the past and provides a disturbing theory regarding the sixth extinction period. Kolbert writes, “. . . we are deciding, without quite meaning to, which evolutionary pathways will remain open and which will forever be closed.” (Kolbert, 2014, p. 268) Homo sapiens (humans) depend on earth’s natural resources, air, water, land and animals for survival. Therefore, because humans have the capability

By following the understanding of extinctions up to the present day, Kolbert addresses that extinctions are not strictly catastrophic or uniformitarian. Rather, by citing the major and minor extinctions such as the disappearance of the great auk the End-Cretaceous extinction Kolbert proves that extinctions have a wide variety of causes. Finally, with the grim depiction past and present day extinctions, Kolbert moves on to discuss the title topic: The Sixth Extinction. The term Anthropocene refers to the height of human alteration of the planet earth, which is thought to have begun during the Industrial Revolution. As humans dramatically alter the earth and its ecosystems, it is predicted that humans will eventually cause the sixth extinction if the current environmental trends continue. A combination of accelerated climate change, overhunting, deforestation, and natural ecosystem patterns have begun wiping out entire species at alarming rates. Truly, Kolbert emphasizes that all of humanity’s understanding of extinction is pointing to a devastating mass-extinction which could eventually affect the same beings which catalyzed

Five mass extinctions have occurred throughout the history of planet Earth. It is predicted by Author Elizabeth Kolbert, that a sixth extinction may be underway. The Sixth Extinction is a book in the viewpoint of Kolbert and narrates her travels around the globe while she studies numerous wildlife species. Kolbert

Although many people seem to have an understanding or guess as to how the dinosaurs and similar species may have become extinct around this time period, their are many theories out there suggesting otherwise. So in light of that my question is , What mite have been the primary cause or ( causes ) of the Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass extinction ?. This particular question interested me primarily on the fact that it not only took away many species from earth, but also the many different theories that associate with this mass extinction. Just as quick as these species were taken from the earth , their origin for their demise is just as important.

Over the course of its 4.5-billion-year history, the Earth has seen the rise and fall of many populations of organisms. However, in Earth’s history, there have been five big mass extinction events, characterized as “periods in Earth's history when abnormally large numbers of species die out simultaneously or within a limited time frame.” (BBC) These events are cataclysmic enough to wipeout at least 50% of all organisms living during that period. The causes of mass extinction are many from the asteroids that sealed the fate of the dinosaurs to the volcanoes that choked out air to 96% of the organismic population during the Permian extinction, however one of the most recent yet potent mechanisms of bringing upon a mass extinction are humans.

During Late Pleistocene a megafaunal mass extinction took place. It’s still debated whether humans are to blame for this, since this megafaunal extinction happened after the arrival of humans or if climate change is entirely to blame. Fossil evidence has been of great help in finding what factors might’ve caused this extinction. This mass extinction that took place is related to the Anthropocene because if humans were the main cause, humans need to be more careful now because their actions may lead to more extinctions. The observations made were the types of species that went extinct with climate change, and what humans did to contribute to this mass extinction.

Scientific importance. 2. Give 3 examples of biodiversity from my presentation (what does it include)? Earth has a large variety of ecosystems: hot and humid Depending on the climate and the environment and physical settings, spices biodiversity will differ greatly. For example, hot humid climate allows a lot of insects.

The Anthropocene Epoch Humanity is confronted by multiple environmental challenges which threaten to undermine the advances in health achieved over recent decades. The Rockefeller Foundation/Lancet Commission on Planetary Health showed how climate change, loss of biodiversity, land use change, ocean acidification and overfishing, nitrogen and phosphorus loading and environmental pollution more generally all have the potential to adversely affect health through a range of pathways1. A recent joint publication by WHO and Convention on Biological Diversity articulated the myriad connections between biodiversity and health and the threats to both posed by environmental change2. The dramatic changes in the global environment have led many scientists to conclude that we are living in a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – in which the activities of one species – homo sapiens -have become the dominant driving force transforming the Earth’s natural systems3. These natural systems provide food, clean water and air and modulate the global temperature within limits in which humanity has been able to flourish for around 11,500 years during the preceding Holocene epoch.

There have been five well known extinctions on this earth. The one most well known is the mass extinction that ended the dinosaurs. Mass extinction is often described as the elimination of a large number of species in a short period of time. Despite what many think, the elimination of species is almost commonplace at this point. The Earth is currently in the middle of a sixth mass extinction, and it’s been caused by the human race.

Holocene Extinction; How Humans Are Causing the Next Major Extinction Since before the industrial evolutions humans have been pumping green house gasses—carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons— into the atmosphere however, it wasn’t until recently that the amounts being produced are shoving the Earth into a sixth extinction. While the causes of this upcoming extinction are constantly debated on it has earned itself the name Holocene extinction. This name is derived from the theory that humans are the main contributors to this extinction. To investigate the cause Elizabeth Kolbert, and American journalist and professor at Williams College, took the world on a wild and saddening journey on the human contribution to this looming extinction in her novel, The Sixth Extinction; An Unnatural History. Not only does Kolbert’s book explain how humans have contributed to global warming and its effects on life on land but also ocean acidification and how life under the sea has changed over the years.