EARTH COULD TAKE 10 MILLION YEARS TO RECOVER FROM MASS EXTINCTION CAUSED BY HUMANS
Scientists investigating the possible effects of climate change have predicted it would take 10 million years for the diversity of species on our planet to recover after a mass extinction event.
The authors of the paper published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution wanted to calculate how long it takes for the Earth to return to former levels of biodiversity following a mass extinction event. “Humanity is undeniably causing elevated rates of biodiversity loss through climate change, habitat destruction, invasive species introduction, and so on,” the authors warned in their study.
To answer this question, paleobiologists looked to the fossil record of the tiny single-celled planktic foraminifera following the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event around 66 million years ago. This was the only major event in the history of our planet which unfolded faster than current climate change, and the most recent and quickest of the five major mass extinctions. Around 80 percent of animals were killed, including non-avian dinosaurs, during the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction.
The team compared different species of foraminifera which existed in the 20 million years towards the end of the Cretaceous mass extinction and into the subsequent recovery period. Only after approximately 10 million years did species diversity recover.
After a mass extinction, one might expect swathes of new species to quickly appear, the authors of the study explained. But fossil records show this can happen slower than predicted. The authors surmised this is because of the way species repopulate.
https://www.newsweek.com/earth-could-take-10-million-years-recover-mass-extinction-caused-humans-1388781?fbclid=IwAR1aUtoDDLqPh8RDaqZd2mN_rNiwOwPUsAFtDx3m5fDeVu2K35qs_RT33Rw
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