Risk of man-caused mass extinction within decades

[pismoe]

From CNN

Sixth extinction: 20 years to stop ecological collapse - CNN.com

"(CNN)The Earth's next mass extinction -- the first caused by people -- is on the horizon. And the consequences are almost unthinkably dire: Three-quarters of species could disappear.

This has happened only five times in the planet's history -- including the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs.
What's different now is that humans are causing these changes."

...

"Another frightening data point in this trend toward extinction emerged on Thursday in a report from the World Wildlife Fund, an environmental advocacy group. The report claims 58% declines in certain vertebrate animal populations since 1970 and says that if trends continue, then two-thirds of all of these individual birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals will be gone by 2020."

...

"I agree with Pimm that these numbers can be misleading, but that's only if people misunderstand them. I also spoke with Anthony Barnosky, executive director of the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve at Stanford University. He told me the most important thing to remember is that this report is limited in scope -- it has little data from some important tropical regions, for example, and only covers animals with backbones. But it highlights an important and little-considered fact: It's not just that species are going extinct at an alarming rate -- at least 100 times what could be considered "normal," and maybe much higher than that -- but that populations of still-common animals are declining very rapidly."

"Species are going extinct at... at least 100 times what could be consideered "normal"" Nothing to worry about. Man's influence on the climate is beneficial to life. God guarantees it.

Right.

Yes, we've been displacing, killing and eating other critters since we first came on the scene.

So, let us just continue to do so until the natural world no longer exists. That seems to be what you are saying. One hell of an attitude there, boy.

So, let us just continue to do so until the natural world no longer exists.

What are your suggestions to end this massacre?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- more herds of beef , bigger hog lots , more turkey and chicken farms are needed for the USA plus stop importing people that EAT into the USA and everything will be alright Crick and OldRocks , Ace .

 

[Crick]

That's not what the data say.

Thats the truth..........maybe if more countries were developed enough to sustain an economy that didnt require eating anything that moves this wouldnt be happening

You seem to be contradicting yourself. And the extinctions taking place now and foreseen into the future have nothing to do with what we're eating. The cow, the chicken and the pig are extremely unlikely to experience population losses.

Most of the extinctions will happen where they dont have staples like that and eat anything that moves ergo extinction

No. Species are going extinct from habitat loss through alteration. Temperatures increase, plant, prey and predator species relocate when they can, starve when they can't. The world would not be saved by vegetarianism if that's where you're headed.

 

[Crick]

From CNN

Sixth extinction: 20 years to stop ecological collapse - CNN.com

"(CNN)The Earth's next mass extinction -- the first caused by people -- is on the horizon. And the consequences are almost unthinkably dire: Three-quarters of species could disappear.

This has happened only five times in the planet's history -- including the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs.
What's different now is that humans are causing these changes."

...

"Another frightening data point in this trend toward extinction emerged on Thursday in a report from the World Wildlife Fund, an environmental advocacy group. The report claims 58% declines in certain vertebrate animal populations since 1970 and says that if trends continue, then two-thirds of all of these individual birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals will be gone by 2020."

...

"I agree with Pimm that these numbers can be misleading, but that's only if people misunderstand them. I also spoke with Anthony Barnosky, executive director of the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve at Stanford University. He told me the most important thing to remember is that this report is limited in scope -- it has little data from some important tropical regions, for example, and only covers animals with backbones. But it highlights an important and little-considered fact: It's not just that species are going extinct at an alarming rate -- at least 100 times what could be considered "normal," and maybe much higher than that -- but that populations of still-common animals are declining very rapidly."

"Species are going extinct at... at least 100 times what could be consideered "normal"" Nothing to worry about. Man's influence on the climate is beneficial to life. God guarantees it.

Right.

Yes, we've been displacing, killing and eating other critters since we first came on the scene.

So, let us just continue to do so until the natural world no longer exists. That seems to be what you are saying. One hell of an attitude there, boy.

So, let us just continue to do so until the natural world no longer exists.

What are your suggestions to end this massacre?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- more herds of beef , bigger hog lots , more turkey and chicken farms are needed for the USA plus stop importing people that EAT into the USA and everything will be alright Crick and OldRocks , Ace .

Stop importing people that eat. Got it. Did you get that off the Trump website?

 

[pismoe]

no Sir , Trump got the idea off my website , it is little known but I am very influential advisor to the TRUMP Crick !!

 

[pismoe]

That's not what the data say.

Thats the truth..........maybe if more countries were developed enough to sustain an economy that didnt require eating anything that moves this wouldnt be happening

You seem to be contradicting yourself. And the extinctions taking place now and foreseen into the future have nothing to do with what we're eating. The cow, the chicken and the pig are extremely unlikely to experience population losses.

Most of the extinctions will happen where they dont have staples like that and eat anything that moves ergo extinction

No. Species are going extinct from habitat loss through alteration. Temperatures increase, plant, prey and predator species relocate when they can, starve when they can't. The world would not be saved by vegetarianism if that's where you're headed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- we have ZOO's and little and big cages , test tubes and DNA preservation plus breeding expertise . Nothing that is desirable will be lost forever Crick .

 

[12icer]

Well lets see we have given hundreds of governments billions of dollars, we have lost the most cost/kw efficient fuel sources, and energy costs have climbed drastically al gore has made tens of millions from the Green Energy Initiative failures, and we have seen absolutely NO scientific proof that they are doing anything whatsoever. Someone needs to do a REAL cause/cost/result analysis on the Global warming INDUSTRY, it is NOT a Science, it is an INDUSTRY and the science is an AD CAMPAIGN. THE CO2 facts are manmade atmospheric CO2 is a small enough to be a pencil line width on a pie chart. The largest producer of atmospheric CO2 is deep ocean warming due to the change of direct sunlight warming the deep trenches of the oceans. It also reabsorbs that CO2 in decades of low angle exposure. When the Magna Carta was signed there were grapes grown a hundred miles farther north of the areas where the climate is too cold to grow them now. You liberal Johnny come to the table recentlys need to get a real education and find out that the liberal shit of the world is just pulling the chain in your nose ring and taking your money.

 

[Manonthestreet]

That's not what the data say.

Thats the truth..........maybe if more countries were developed enough to sustain an economy that didnt require eating anything that moves this wouldnt be happening

You seem to be contradicting yourself. And the extinctions taking place now and foreseen into the future have nothing to do with what we're eating. The cow, the chicken and the pig are extremely unlikely to experience population losses.

Most of the extinctions will happen where they dont have staples like that and eat anything that moves ergo extinction

No. Species are going extinct from habitat loss through alteration. Temperatures increase, plant, prey and predator species relocate when they can, starve when they can't. The world would not be saved by vegetarianism if that's where you're headed.

Evolution to the rescue.......no prob

 

[Old Rocks]

no Sir , Trump got the idea off my website , it is little known but I am very influential advisor to the TRUMP Crick !!

Is that why the asshole comes off as so fucking stupid.

 

[Old Rocks]

Well lets see we have given hundreds of governments billions of dollars, we have lost the most cost/kw efficient fuel sources, and energy costs have climbed drastically al gore has made tens of millions from the Green Energy Initiative failures, and we have seen absolutely NO scientific proof that they are doing anything whatsoever. Someone needs to do a REAL cause/cost/result analysis on the Global warming INDUSTRY, it is NOT a Science, it is an INDUSTRY and the science is an AD CAMPAIGN. THE CO2 facts are manmade atmospheric CO2 is a small enough to be a pencil line width on a pie chart. The largest producer of atmospheric CO2 is deep ocean warming due to the change of direct sunlight warming the deep trenches of the oceans. It also reabsorbs that CO2 in decades of low angle exposure. When the Magna Carta was signed there were grapes grown a hundred miles farther north of the areas where the climate is too cold to grow them now. You liberal Johnny come to the table recentlys need to get a real education and find out that the liberal shit of the world is just pulling the chain in your nose ring and taking your money.

Perhaps you like to try that again in something resembling English?

 

[Indeependent]

If the world's coming to an end...to hell with my diet!

 

[Crick]

That's not what the data say.

Thats the truth..........maybe if more countries were developed enough to sustain an economy that didnt require eating anything that moves this wouldnt be happening

You seem to be contradicting yourself. And the extinctions taking place now and foreseen into the future have nothing to do with what we're eating. The cow, the chicken and the pig are extremely unlikely to experience population losses.

Most of the extinctions will happen where they dont have staples like that and eat anything that moves ergo extinction

No. Species are going extinct from habitat loss through alteration. Temperatures increase, plant, prey and predator species relocate when they can, starve when they can't. The world would not be saved by vegetarianism if that's where you're headed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- we have ZOO's and little and big cages , test tubes and DNA preservation plus breeding expertise . Nothing that is desirable will be lost forever Crick .

You seem to be just another ignorant whack job, falling woefully short of the intellect necessary to justify the time required to type: "God, are you stupid".

So, consider that charity.

 

[pismoe]

like I say , we have zoos, big cages and little cages , DNA preservation and freeze drying , nothing important will be lost forever Crick !!

 

[Crick]

AS you say, you don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about. You haven't read the OP's article. You don't understand the issues. Your responses are ignorant and irresponsible.

It was pointed out here by Old Rocks sometime back that the last time the ocean's pH changed as rapidly as it has been changing for the last 50 years, the Earth suffered the greatest of all mass extinctions: the Permian-Triassic. More than 70% of all terrestrial species and 96% of marine species went extinct. And you think such a thing could be prevented with zoos and freeze drying. What a fucking idiot.

 

[pismoe]

not concerned with preventing it just saying that we will have examples in ZOO cages , test tubes and freeze dried samples Crick. As far as marine and other species going extinct . Well , all my 68 years in the 20th and 21st century and I have been eating GOOD Crick !!

 

[Shrimpbox]

58 per cent decline. Please tell me which animals have declined by almost 60 per cent in the last 50 years in the USA, because I can name a number,of species that have increased in pop. As far as,this country goes, this is pure bullshit.

 

[Old Rocks]

58 per cent decline. Please tell me which animals have declined by almost 60 per cent in the last 50 years in the USA, because I can name a number,of species that have increased in pop. As far as,this country goes, this is pure bullshit.

Thirteen may be unlucky for humans, but for the birds of North America, one-third is a much more ominous number.

Earlier this week, Audubon scientists published a study in Ecosphere revealing that one-third of wintering North American bird populations have declined since 1966. That's on top of last week's news from the tri-national North American Bird Conservation Initiative(NABCI) that more than one-third of North American bird species are at risk of extinction, unless significant conservation actions are taken.

Thirty Percent of North American Bird Species Face Decline Across Seasons

Birds

 

[Old Rocks]

Florida panther: The Florida panther once ranged throughout the southeastern United States, but now survives in a tiny area of South Florida representing just 5 percent of its former range. It was listed as an endangered species in 1967 because of habitat destruction and fragmentation through urban sprawl. Large numbers of panthers died as the expanding network of roads connecting Florida's rapidly growing human population spread throughout its range. As of 2011, there are only 100 to 120 panthers left.

As Florida's panther numbers plummeted, the state's human population nearly doubled over the past 30 years. Recent development patterns pose extreme threats to panthers. As the Florida coasts approach full buildout and have become unaffordable to most people, development has moved inland to the same places panthers retreated to as safe havens decades ago.

Top 10 U.S. Endangered Species Threatened by Human Population

San Joaquin kit fox: The San Joaquin kit fox was relatively common until the 1930s, when people began to convert grasslands to farms, orchards and cities. By 1958, 50 percent of its habitat in California's Central Valley had been lost, due to extensive land conversions for agriculture, intensive land uses and pesticides. By 1979, less than 7 percent of the San Joaquin Valley's original wildlands south of Stanislaus County remained untilled and undeveloped.

The kit fox was listed as endangered in 1967. Today there are fewer than 7,000 scattered among fragmented populations. The four counties with known San Joaquin kit foxes have grown by 60 percent — by another 1.5 million people — since 1983.

Besides habitat loss, the San Joaquin kit fox is threatened by pesticides and rodenticides associated with intensive agricultural use, industrial activities and residential areas in the Central Valley. Kit foxes' small-mammal prey base has been significantly reduced by rodenticides, which not only kill life-sustaining prey but can also kill kit foxes when they build up in the foxes' bodies. Kit foxes have adapted to get their water from the prey they eat making them even more dependent on their food source. They also often burrow in other animals' dens, leaving them vulnerable to other human activities such as fumigants used to kill coyotes.

Mammals

 

[Old Rocks]

Why Are Fireflies Disappearing?
Nobody knows for sure. But most researchers blame two main factors: development and light pollution.

Most species of fireflies thrive as larvae in rotting wood and forest litter at the margins of ponds and streams. And as they grow, they more or less stay where they were born. Some species are more aquatic than others, and a few are found in more arid areas—but most are found in fields, forests and marshes. Their environment of choice is warm, humid and near standing water of some kind—ponds, streams and rivers, or even shallow depressions that retain water longer than the surrounding ground.

The problem is that in America and throughout the world, our open fields and forests are being paved over, and our waterways are seeing more development and noisy boat traffic. As their habitat disappears under housing and commercial developments, firefly numbers dwindle. Logging, pollution and increased use of pesticides may also contribute to destroying firefly habitat and natural prey.

Why Are Fireflies Disappearing? Information on the Decline of Fireflies - Firefly.org

Insects

 

[Old Rocks]

As a addendum to this, we have seen a radical decline in tame and wild bees and bumblebees in the last two decades. Radical enough to impact our agriculture.

 

[Shrimpbox]

of its historic range. In the 1970s, there were an estimated 20 Florida panthers in the wild, and their numbers have increased to an estimated 100 to 160 as of 2011.[5] In 2013, it was reported that there are only 160 Florida panthers in the wild.[6]

Well there you go. Increase in pop. Since 1970.

Bears, too many to count esp. in our area.

Alligators have come back so bad they are now hunted.

Manatees have been seen as far west as Alabama.

Turkeys are seen in every state on the eastern seaboard in astounding numbers.

Deer are so plentiful in some parts of Georgia they are starving to death.

Eagles and ospreys are now common sites anywhere along the coast.

Strippers,are back in the cheasapeak bay.

If you people would get out in the wild instead of being armchair environmentalists you might see what is really happening. Your figures are wrong by light years but because so few people really get out in nature, the tree huggers can con the public.. Oh yeah, and the,people here in north Florida swear there are panthers here but the wildlife people would never tell you if there were. Armadillos,were not even native here 50 years ago but now they are everywhere, same with coyotes. Like I said, it is bullshit if you are talking about the US.