Part A Permian/Triassic extinction event: The Permian/Triassic extinction event occurred approximately 252 million years ago, it is the most devastating known extinction event, eradicating up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of land dwelling creatures, its aftermath left earth with a significantly decreased biodiversity, resulting in a slow recovery of life, over 10 million years. Marine creatures, suffering a 96% decrease in species diversity was the major group of organisms which suffered the most, due to a variety of reasons, one being the ocean acidification after an increase in carbon dioxide which affects the ability to create skeletons, as well as preventing proper breathing. evidence of the eradication of marine creatures was found …show more content…
Invertebrates suffered, as the Permian/Triassic event is the only known mass extinction of insects, eradicating 8 or 9 orders, and greatly reducing the diversity of 10 more. Evidence indicates that over two thirds of amphibians, reptiles and mammal like reptiles became extinct. However, terrestrial plants, being in an entirely different kingdom, don’t have the same weaknesses as animals and thus, are relatively unaffected by many extinction events, however the ecological changes which occurred during this extinction meant that whole forests were disappearing as well as other ecosystems which supported …show more content…
The widespread Extinction of plants can be seen in both studies of fossil pollen, and fossil leaves. Approximately 57% of plant species became extinct in North America, whereas in the southern hemisphere the extinction only caused short-term changes in the abundance of different plant groups. Many different types of birds survived the extinction and are thus regarded as “the only surviving dinosaurs” they survived the event due to their various abilities in seeking shelter which assisted during the environmental aftereffects. Many scientists agree that all non-avian dinosaurs became extinct at the Cretaceous/Tertiary event, likely due to their inability to burrow, swim or dive, meaning that they were unable to protect themselves from the worst parts of any environmental aftermath that occurred at the K–T period. Additionally, unlike their crocodile relatives, the warm blooded dinosaurs needed a lot more food to sustain their metabolism, so even if there were survivors, they would have died of
The Permian-Triassic Extinction is a mass extinction that occurred between the Permian and Triassic geologic time periods approximately 250 million years ago; it is the deadliest of all extinctions that have occurred on Earth. In addition, during the Permian-Triassic extinction the continents of today existed as one supercontinent known as Pangaea. This was the first time in history where continental or land mass exceeded that of the ocean. This was also before dinosaurs of the Triassic period roamed Earth, during this time animals such as the therapsids, and Synapsids such as the Pelycosaurs, insects and amphibians also occupied Earth. Fauna that existed during the Permian period includes Gymnosperms, or seed producing plants such as the Conifers. Other animals that existed during this time include marine life such as brachiopods (clams), bryozoans (coral-like skeletons), bony fish and sharks, as well as crinoids (sea urchin like creatures). According to National Geographic, about 90 percent of all the animals and fauna of this period perished, the marine life was hit the hardest wi...
Even though the study of the deterioration of pteropods in high acidity water may seem unimportant in the grand scheme of the ocean, it is crucial to start somewhere. In this case the pteropods happen to be one of the most obvious examples of marine life that will be influenced by the ocean acidification. It is without a doubt clear that ocean acidification is an up and coming problem that will change the chemistry of the ocean and not only the effect the ocean’s ecosystem and creatures, but most likely the rest of the environment as well. Even though there is copious amounts of research available concerning ocean acidification, it is unclear whether model predictions will come to fruition in the future, or if actual results will completely differ from projections. Currently, the only clear path to try to delay the progression of ocean acidification is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions exponentially. The chart below (Fig. 5) gives a concise and detailed account of what is happening, what will happen and what needs to happen if ocean acidification is going to be
The Permian Triassic extinction was an event of cataclysmic disaster and almost the extinction of all species on planet earth. The Permian Triassic extinction is said to have occurred millions of years ago, geologist have estimated that its occurrences happened about 248 million to 286 million years ago. This rare occurrence of events proceeded the Triassic geologic periods and the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. This mass disaster was the largest dissipation of living life on planet earth; it is believed to be even superior to other crises such as the Ordovician and Devonian events and the conclusion of the cretaceous era that came upon the dinosaurs.
This breaking up of the mega continent of Pangaea allowed for more diversification of plant species and as the continents continued to break apart, plant life became even more diversified. As the continents shifted and moved from one area of the ocean to another the climates began to change drastically which allowed for plant and dinosaur species both to begin adapting to suit their new ecosystems. All the water that was produced by the split of Pangaea gave the previously hot and dry climate a more humid and drippy subtropical weather. Dry deserts took on a greener look. Before the Mesozoic Era, livings things were confined to only surviving in the oceans. It was not until the Jurassic Period that livings things evolved the capability of living on the land rather than just the ocean. Towards the beginning of the Jurassic, plant life evolved from Bryophytes, the low-growin...
Extinctions happen everywhere on the world that has increasingly fluctuating weather. Before the Industrial Revolution, the days prior to humans pumping the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, the earth was moderately temperate. Today, the average temperature is 64° F, almost 10° F above normal. Because of the climate change, the polar caps are melting, making the Artic inhospitable to a serious of taxonomic groups, which are now in danger of extinction. Since all the glaciers are thawing, the newly liquefied water is flooding into the oceans. The sea-level rise devastates coastally ecology, erodes beaches, and floods agriculture land. This affects the habitats of plants, birds, and sea life, meaning they no longer have a safe place to have their young. With no new offspring, the species cease to exist. The continents most affected by the Holocene extinction are North and South America because that is where a majority of the megafauna lived thousand of years ago; of these was the Woolly mammoth. In the 1800’s, the ecosystem (over hunted and deforested) was not resilient enough to protect themselves from the industrial e...
Throughout Earth’s history there have been many changes. These changes have consisted of temperature fluctuations, atmospheric differentiations, extinctions of various plant and animal life, etc. Over time everything seems to have evolved in some way form or fashion. However, the Permian Era extinction was different from all the rest. This extinction affected every form of life, but especially the marine life. Researchers have stated that 93-97% of all Earths species went extinct during this period of time. This essay will explain how a once blossoming progressive era turned into Earths most catastrophic event.
In “Chapter 6 – The Sea Around Us” of Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, the author reveals the fact that the ocean is acidifying due to human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. In this chapter, Kolbert notes that there was a lack of biodiversity near the vents at Castello Aragonese in order to present the oceans’ future possibility. One of the types of sea creatures that ocean acidification would devastate are the calcifiers, which are organisms that create shells or skeletons made of calcium carbonate (Kolbert 117-122). Credible sources of information, such as the EPA and the Smithsonian Institution, agree that ocean acidification poses a serious threat to marine calcifiers,
The most significant event of the Cretaceous era came at its end. Nearly 65 million years ago, the second most severe mass extinction in earth’s history occurred. This resulted in the loss of around 80% of species living at the time. Though nowhere near as severe as the end-Permian mass extinction, the end-Cretaceous extinction is the most well known mass extinction event. This is due to the violent event that caused it the extinction, as well as the chapter of earth’s history that it closed: the Dinosaurs. The Cretaceous Event ( often shortened to K-T event) Of the animals that were killed off were the flying reptiles (pterosaurs) and the last few mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, both early marine reptiles. Many mollusks and species of microscopic plankton were killed. Terrestrial plants suffered mass extinction as well. Almost 60% of terrestrial plants were lost. This led to high extinction rates among insect populations, especially insects that were highly specialized to feed on just a few types of plants had it the worst. It took approximately 9 million years for the global insect populations to recover from the Cretaceous extinction. Immediately after the extinction, the earth saw an explosion of short term species who respond well to fire, or other external disturbance. Evidence of the catastrophe comes from a thin rock layer deposited worldwide just after the impact. It is dominated by fossil plants whose descendants recover quickly after fires of other disturbances, such as Fire Weed in Alaska. The causes of the Cretaceous extinction are still being debated by paleontologists. Scientists agree that the main cause of the extinction was a...
Among the species that perished were the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, belemnoids, many species of plants, except ferns and seed-producing plants, ammonoids, marine reptiles and rudist bivalves. Severely affected organisms included planktic foraminifera, calcareous nannnoplankton, diatoms, dinoflagellates, brachiopods, mollusca, echinoids and fish. Mammals, birds, turtles, crocodiles, lizards, snakes and amphibians fared much better and were mostly unaffected by the End-Cretaceous mass extinction (“The End-cretaceous (K-T) Extinction”, accessed 2000...
Earth has gone through five fully major extinctions before. We currently are in the process of Earth’s sixth mass extinction. This mass extinction is closely related in severity to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Earth’s extinctions are broken into three different areas. The first area was the large number of animals caught by hunter-gathers. The discovery of agriculture led to the second area of extinction, wildlife habitats. These wildlife habitats were destroyed due to humans starting to stay in one area.
seems like it happened so sudden, as geologic time goes, that almost all the dinosaurs
The most popular theory of dinosaur extinction, the asteroid theory, says that dinosaurs died out because of a single, giant asteroid. They say that the asteroid that struck the earth near the Gulf of Mexico went 43,000 mph and spanned six miles wide (Erdman). When it hit the Earth the asteroid it left an enormous crater that measured 24 miles deep and 125 miles wide (Erdman). Just the impact of the asteroid destroyed the forests and landscape of the majority of North America due to its massive shock wave (Erdman). Many species went extinct when the asteroid hit, these species include dinosaurs, ammonites (certain ocean dwelling creatures), pterosaurs, and some plant groups dinosaurs, ammonites (mollusks related to the octopus and the chambered nautilus), pterosaurs, and certain plant groups. Although devastating, the asteroid did not wipe out all of the animals on Earth, it didn’t exterminate fish, frogs, turtles, birds, mammals and croco...
Almost 23% of all families, 48% of all genera (20% of marine families and 55% of marine genera) and 70% to 75% of all species went extinct (Beaz). Although the cause of this mass extinction is debatable, many speculate that global warming was the killer. Because Pangea was breaking up into Laurasia and Gondwanaland, there was widespread volcanic activity caused by the rifting, increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. The massive release of this greenhouse gas increased global air temperatures and resulted in acidified oceans along with rising sea levels. If this is the case, the life in the ocean would have died at a significant rate. Many families of brachiopods, gastropods, bivalves, and marine reptiles became extinct (Rafferty). An important trace fossil known as the phylloceratid ammonoid was able to survive, and they gave rise to the explosive radiation of cephalopods later in the Jurassic Period, as well as evolved into many different forms during the later Cretaceous (End Triassic Extinction). This extinction event ranks fourth in severity of the five major extinction events over geologic history
Did you know that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct? According to Pandey, the author of Humans Pushing Marine Life toward ‘Major Extinction’, nearly 10,000 species go extinct each year, and this rate is estimated to be 1,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate (1). Human beings are causing irreversible damage to the oceans and their wildlife, which is being led by two major reasons: Commercial fishing or over-fishing, which damaged the marine environment and caused a loss in the marine life diversity, and pollution, which is a primary way of the extinction causes that drastically modifies the marine life habitat. As a result of the commercial fishing and pollution, many of the marine species will start disappearing of the oceans. Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more (10).”
Lotze, Heike K., Marta Coll, Anna M. Magera, Christine Ward-Paige, and Laura Airoldi. "Recovery of Marine Animal Populations and Ecosystems." Trends in Ecology & Evolution 26.11 (2011): 595-605. Print.