This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Saturday, 30 April 2022
A New Planetary Permian Period?
A paper in the journal Science suggests that global heating risks triggering another cataclysmic extinction of marine life. This could be comparable to the mass extinction in the Permian era (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/28/global-warming-risks-cataclysmic-mass-extinction-marine-life). The Permian era was some 250 million years ago. Its mass extinction event involved 95% of marine and 70% of terrestrial animal species. At that time, marine organisms appeared driven to extinction by increased global temperatures. As seawater heats up, its oxygen content rapidly declines (especially in salty water). This made it very difficult for many aquatic animals to get enough oxygen for respiration. Today's global heating would produce similar problems for many marine animal species. Acidification of the seas (carbon dioxide dissolves in water to make carbonic acid), would compound the effect by making it impossible/difficult for some species (especially molluscs) to form shells. We could be heading for a new mass extinction of marine animals. That would obviously challenge the viability of marine ecosystems and the planet.
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