St.

Paul College Pasig

High School Department
SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND SUSTAINABILITY II

Name: Danica Flor M. Lim Grade 12 Room 2 Class Number 22

Article Number 4
Article Title Past extinctions point to a current and future biodiversity crisis

SCIENCE SOCIETY SUSTAINABILITY

Science explains that Everyone, especially those Sustainability is threatened
although extinction has been who are poor and are living as the ecosystems are
a phenomenon that had in urban areas, are most disturbed. Coexistence
been happening since billions affected by rapid extinction. between species are affected
of years ago, several culprits Humans have coexisted with and survival becomes harder
such as pollution aid to its several species that are now for all species. Sustainability
rapidity. Global warming, endangered. Because of the is threatened as the
climate change, sea level increase in the rate of problems are doomed to
changes, added with current extinction, the quality of life become worse if men
issues of pollution, and survival of men Is continue to do activities that
introduction of evasive affected. The most affected increase the rate of
species, and other harmful are those who are not able to extinction rapidly.
environmental activities, afford needs for survival. For Sustainability is threatened
makes the extinction of instance, some species acts as biodiversity is threatened.
several species closer and as buffers between humans More and more species are
closer to the present. Science and pathogens. When these being lost. It may seem like
explains that drastic changes species die, those who are the numbers are not yet
in the climate bring about not able to afford medicine alarming, but it would take a
extinction as species are not suffer the most. Another thousand years before we
able to cope, adapt, and reason why they are the see the effects of mass
survive. Science also explains most affected are due to the extinctions. Sustainability
the desperate need to extinction of pollinators such requires the handing down of
protect the Earth’s as bees. In order to produce the earth’s natural resources
ecosystems and restore more food, pollination is to the future generation in its
destroyed environments. needed. The lack of supply of best possible state and with
Science lets people food increases the price for the current issues that bring
understand the importance these commodities, in which about extinction, this is
of their actions and its effects the poor cannot afford. certainly not the case.
to the world.
ROLE
As a student, I will start living a sustainable life wherever I go. It is a must to understand that
everything I do, big or small, has an impact on the environment. I must minimize my
ecological footprints. For starters, I will save water whenever I take a bath. Water that I used
to wash off may be used in flushing the toilet. When disposing trash, I must follow the proper
segregation. I will also support products that eco-friendly to minimize the trash that comes
with my consumption.
Past extinctions point to a current and future biodiversity crisis

At one level extinction is normal and natural. Most of the diversity of life on Earth that has ever
existed is now gone, and all species will one day pass from being extant to being extinct. But
although it is normal for species to die out, the normal rate is considered to be quite low. On
average perhaps just one or two species go extinct in any given year out of all of the bewildering
diversity of beetles, mammals, plants, microbes, worms, fungi and fish. In short, a tiny percentage
of the literally millions of species.
The current rate of loss though, while naturally hard to measure (not least when we have perhaps
only described around 20% of the species on Earth) is considered to be considerably higher. There
is a growing list of species we know have gone extinct in the last century and plenty of others are
critically endangered or already doomed to extinction (some species have no known breeding
animals, or are known from populations of only males). Even though many species are still
apparently flourishing they are at a fraction of their previous distribution and populations – there
may be tens of thousands left in one forest, but if they formerly numbered in the millions and
were much more widespread, then they are now clearly very vulnerable to an outbreak of disease
or a single disaster like a flood or fire. Naturally then, there is huge concern about what is
happening to these species and what it might mean in the future and scientists are keen to show
how bad this may be and for people to respond.
There have been suggestions for many years that the Earth is in the process of a sixth mass
extinction, which of course somewhat glosses over the fact that palaeontologists recognise five
previous mass extinction events (as well as many more others which also accounted for
significant fractions of the Earth’s diversity at the time). These go by the names of the geological
ages that they ended, or the names of the two ages that they separated.

The oldest is the Ordovician-Silurian extinction which is linked to mass glaciation leading to rapid
cooling and then falling sea levels. This accounted for the deaths of around 85% of marine
species, though life on land was not very diverse at this point and we have a limited idea of its
effect on terrestrial plants and animals.

Next is the Late Devonian extinction which was responsible for around 75% of species being lost.
In geological terms, this was rather protracted and may have had multiple causes. Major
candidates for part or all of these effects are sea level changes and ocean anoxia which would
then leading to rapid cooling.
The End Permian extinction is known as ‘the great dying’ and with good reason. Volcanic
eruptions and the mass release of carbon dioxide and methane led to rapid warming. A staggering
96% of species are estimated to have died out during this event.
Not too long after this, the end Triassic extinction took out around 70% of species (and
incidentally paved the way for the takeover of the dinosaurs). The origins of this event are not
clear but suggestions include vulcanism and climate change and the planet may have warmed or
cooled rapidly.

Finally, there is the famous Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction which took out most of the dinosaurs
(the birds limped over the line and diversified) which is known to have been the result of a
massive impact from space, perhaps coupled with huge volcanic eruptions. This would have led
to rapid cooling and a dramatic shift in climate, and once more, around 75% of the species alive
are estimated to have been lost.
Although there is much uncertainty over exactly what triggered some of these five great
extinctions (and various other minor ones), they do have something in common – sudden and
dramatic changes in climate. Species have a variety of responses to such changes, some can
simply migrate to new environments (birds especially), of if they are already tolerant of wide
ranges of conditions they may be able to stay and simply get on with things. However, many lack
the first option (not least plants) and lack the adaptions to the latter, and so if such species are
to survive they need to evolve. This, though, takes time. It can take multiple generations to see
any kind of adaptation to a new environment or different climate (fur can’t evolve overnight) and
in the meantime if conditions are harsh, most individuals are dying or struggling. Not only that,
but inevitably they will rely on other species and other resources they need (light, water,
pollinators for plants, food from other organisms for animals) which may be in short supply or
themselves have moved or died. It’s no big surprise that any kind of disturbance to the climate
can have a massive and cascading effect – each species that is massively reduced in population
or killed will take with it multiple other species.
A big tree may provide leaves and nuts for dozens of other species, pollen for numerous insects,
wood for beetles and act as a home for various birds and bats, plus all the parasites and predators
associated with these. It can take decades for trees to reach maturity, and if in that time the
climate has changed multiple degrees and become much drier (or wetter, or monsoonal etc.)
then both the current population is doomed and there’s no time for evolution to act on their
offspring and these later generations to adapt.

Looking back, it is hard not to look at some of the major extinction culprits (mass release of
carbon dioxide and methane, rapid warming, climate change, sea level changes) and wince. Add
to that the ongoing issues of pollution, fragmentation of landscapes and habitats, introduction
of invasive species and things like overfishing and it is hard not to appreciate that the suggestions
of an ongoing mass extinction are no exaggeration. Certainly we have not wiped out 75% of the
living species around us, but mass extinctions take perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of
years to have an effect and reach the point where so many species have been lost and entire
ecosystems have collapsed or gone. Areas like coral reefs and rainforests are especially diverse
and especially vulnerable – a few percentage points of the global species total really can be found
in surprisingly small pockets of high diversity and we know that these are in grave danger and
could be gone in a single human lifetime, let alone the year 7000.
It is hard not to worry that while the numbers of losses might not seem dramatic now, the
problems are ongoing and only likely to worsen. Species we do not even know exist are being
lost, and it’s impossible to know what cascades may follow. The lesson from the past though is
clear, such rapid changes will lead to dramatic losses and if we are to preserve the world’s
biodiversity in the wild, we desperately need to protect and indeed restore lost environments,
and restore lost populations as well as trying to halt the man made effects of climate change and
our other destructive tendencies.