Extinction Pattern Reversal in the Oceans
Extinction Pattern Reversal in the Oceans
Disturbing findings about large sized species dwindling first.
H/T Gideon Rosenblatt
Originally shared by Gideon Rosenblatt
What the 'sixth extinction' will look like in the oceans: The largest species die off first.
The researchers conducted the work through a statistical analysis of 2,497 different marine animal groups at one taxonomic level higher than the level of species — called “genera.” And they found that increases in an organism’s body size were strongly linked to an increased risk of extinction in the present period — but that this was not the case in the Earth’s distant past.
Indeed, during the past 66 million years, there was actually a small link between smaller body sizes and going extinct, marking the present as a strong reversal. “The extreme bias against large-bodied animals distinguishes the modern diversity crisis from all potential deep-time analogs,” the researchers write.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/14/what-the-sixth-extinction-will-look-like-in-the-oceans-the-largest-species-die-off-first/?tid=pm_business_pop_b
Disturbing findings about large sized species dwindling first.
H/T Gideon Rosenblatt
Originally shared by Gideon Rosenblatt
What the 'sixth extinction' will look like in the oceans: The largest species die off first.
The researchers conducted the work through a statistical analysis of 2,497 different marine animal groups at one taxonomic level higher than the level of species — called “genera.” And they found that increases in an organism’s body size were strongly linked to an increased risk of extinction in the present period — but that this was not the case in the Earth’s distant past.
Indeed, during the past 66 million years, there was actually a small link between smaller body sizes and going extinct, marking the present as a strong reversal. “The extreme bias against large-bodied animals distinguishes the modern diversity crisis from all potential deep-time analogs,” the researchers write.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/14/what-the-sixth-extinction-will-look-like-in-the-oceans-the-largest-species-die-off-first/?tid=pm_business_pop_b
I was having such a good morning ...even after attending a talk on ocean acidification last night at https://goo.gl/MhU8SF
ReplyDeleteWe are living in interesting times Zara Altair Gideon Rosenblatt
Ron Serina Truly, as in cursed.
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