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.
Thursday, 28 April 2022
Finishing the Asteroid's Work?
It's well-established an asteroid strike in Mexico, about 66 million years ago, 'did for' the giant dinosaurs. Many smaller reptiles, however, continued to thrive. We often think that reptiles are 'inferior' to mammals. However, a reptile needs only a fraction of the food, required to maintain a Mammal of the same size. A paper in Nature, suggests that more than 20% of the planet's endemic reptiles are now facing extinction (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/27/one-in-five-reptiles-face-extinction-in-devastating-blow-to-biodiversity-aoe). The 1,800 currently-endangered reptile species, are mainly threatened by human-mediated habitat loss. So, what are called Anthropogenic effects, could finish the work of the asteroid. Disappearance of these reptiles would, however, have profound effects on ecosystems. Some of the endangered animals, for example, importantly consume copious quantities of insect pests.
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