Stanford Biologist - What Now Approaches Is Comparable With KT Extinction

[hatrack]

EDIT

So what if we told you that according to many of the world's leading scientists, such changes have already begun -- not over an instant, but due to global warming, the next 100 years, and that we stand on the brink of a mass extinction. ABC7's Wayne Freedman: "It's the equivalent of?" Dr. Terry Root, Stanford biologist: "The extinction that was felt when the dinosaurs went extinct."

Dr. Terry Root, a biologist at Stanford University is home today from an international meeting of climate specialists who have reached a consensus, that from studying endangered species, they can link humans, fossil fuels and global warming. Dr. Terry Root: "We are going to have an increase in temperature by about two degrees. We really can't stop that."

The big deal about global warning is that wildlife is coordinated. In Southern California, for instance, the Checkspot butterfly relies on nectar from a wildflower that used to bloom at just the right time for the butterfly to spread its pollen. But if one reacts to temperature, and the other to sunlight, they fall out of sync and both disappear. Dr. Terry Root: "Right now, today, we have species A relying on species B, and species B relying on species C, species C relying on species D. Now if something happens to species D, (then) C, B and A all are in turmoil."


But unless we know where to look, this mass extinction, they say, remains subtle, affecting many little-known creatures in far away places. But in another context, they describe it as watching the wave of a deadly tsunami while still offshore. A rise of one degree in the last century may not sound like much, unless it accelerates into the next one.

EDIT

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=4610093

[nam78_two]

1. recommended/nt

[hvn_nbr_2]

2. What's a KT? nt

[hatrack]

4. It's the meteor strike that took out the dinosaurs

It's sometimes referred as the KT event, since it marks the split between the Cretaceous and the Tertiary.

Now, why Cretaceous got a "K" in front of it, I don't know - probably to avoid confusion with the Cambrian, I guess!

[kestrel91316]

3. Oh, goody gumdrops! This means we humans won't have to

share the world's resources with all those OTHER species.

We're NUMBER ONE!!!!! Rah rah rah! Sis boom bah!

[mom cat]

5. Yep! The last human standing can gloat ... until they succumb.

[hunter]

6. The cocroaches and jellyfish are casting lots for our remains...

I hope a few sea turtles survive, just to keep the jellyfish humble.

[Canuckistanian]

7. LOL

Yeah, those jellyfish are getting too big for their britches!

[Dead_Parrot]

8. Nothing but spineless jellys and inbred shit-eaters?

Sounds like congress.

[mom cat]

10. LOL!

:rofl:

[bemildred]

9. I was thinking more Permian-Triassic.

Because I expect dramatic changes in atmospheric gas fractions, but what the heck, it's the right idea.

[hatrack]

11. Maybe he was being conservative in his estimates

:evilgrin:

[bemildred]

12. True, don't want to spook the herd ... nt