Latest news with #PermianPeriod
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Science
- Otago Daily Times
Ova achievement at hatchery
The Otago Acclimatisation Society's Clinton hatchery (clockwise from top left): Water flows through boxes containing 748,000 trout ova (eggs); views of the ponds; "eyed" ova in hatching boxes. Otago Witness, 13.10.1925 At the monthly meeting of the council of the Otago Acclimatisation Society last evening, the President laid before the meeting comparative figures showing the quantities of ova and fry distributed and the ova sold during the years 1921 and 1925. Tuatara's tūpuna He pointed out the success the society had achieved this year in collecting ova should result in a considerable reduction in the cost per 1000. Appreciation was expressed by members of the council at the trouble the president had gone to in the matter, and it was resolved that instructions be given to the curator to provide an accurate stocktaking of what was in the ponds at Clinton. The Angling Committee recommended that a filter-bed at the Clinton Hatchery to purify the water going into the hatchery be put in. The tuatara, one of the most interesting creatures in the world, zoologically, is still attracting the attention of investigators at Home. The problem of the origin of lizards depends largely on whether the superficial resemblance between them and the tuatara shows real affinity. Professor Huxley and Professor Parker, in their studies 40 years ago, regarded the tuatara as merely a primitive lizard. Later zoologists remove the tuatara a fair distance from the lizards and regard it as a link between them and the crocodiles, the turtles, and an extinct group of reptiles, mostly aquatic, with lizard-like bodies, very long necks, small heads, short tails and limbs modified to form swimming paddles. This extinct group dates to the Permian Period, which closed the long Palaeozoic Era. The tuatara's closest known relative left its bones in Jurassic rock in Wyoming, United States, but the tuatara was represented away back in the Permian Period by reptiles which, although they differ from it in some respects, are sufficiently near it to be classed in the same order. Crown sums up in flour case This was the seventh day of the hearing of the flourmillers' case. Mr Fair, replying to respondents, said that on certain undisputed matters the court should allow the appeal. It would decide against the combine irrespective of results, and base its decision on (a) the nature of the flourmilling operations; (b) the fact that flour was a staple product of food; (c) the nature of the agreement with flourmillers; and (d) the monopolistic operations of the combine. "The doctrine of economists was that if 75 percent of an industry were in the hands of one individual, then that exercised an effective control." Mr Justice Alpers: "Surely political economy is an exploded science." Mr Fair: "Then again, there is an arbitrary and autocratic power conferred by the agreement. The company must sell each mill's proportionate part whether good or bad. The court could not assume that under unrestricted competition the flourmilling industry would fall into chaos." The court reserved its decision. Education's arithmetic growth The annual report of the Minister of Education shows an expenditure of £3,723,000 on education during the past financial year — an increase of £373,000 for the year. Ten years ago, for the year 1915-16, the total cost of education was £1,704,000. In the past decade, therefore, the expenditure has been more than doubled. The Minister is evidently pleased with the results achieved so far in establishing junior high schools, but it would be of interest to know exactly what this experiment is costing the country. Increased expenditure upon education does not necessarily spell increased educational efficiency. The interests of economy cannot be served if there is a tendency to dissipate departmental energy as regards education along too many channels, — some of them probably quite unprofitable from any practical point of view. — editorial — ODT, 28.7.1925 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The ‘Great Dying' wiped out 90% of life, then came 5 million years of lethal heat. New fossils explain why
Around 252 million years ago, life on Earth suffered its most catastrophic blow to date: a mass extinction event known as the 'Great Dying' that wiped out around 90% of life. What followed has long puzzled scientists. The planet became lethally hot and remained so for 5 million years. A team of international researchers say they have now figured out why using a vast trove of fossils — and it all revolves around tropical forests. Their findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, may help solve a mystery, but they also spell out a dire warning for the future as humans continue to heat up the planet by burning fossil fuels. The Great Dying was the worst of the five mass extinction events that have punctuated Earth's history, and it marked the end of the Permian geological period. It has been attributed to a period of volcanic activity in a region known as the Siberian Traps, which released huge amounts of carbon and other planet-heating gases into the atmosphere, causing intense global warming. Enormous numbers of marine and land-based plants and animals died, ecosystems collapsed and oceans acidified. What has been less clear, however, is why it got so hot and why 'super greenhouse' conditions persisted for so long, even after volcanic activity ceased. 'The level of warming is far beyond any other event,' said Zhen Xu, a study author and a research fellow at the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Some theories revolve around the ocean and the idea that extreme heat wiped out carbon-absorbing plankton, or changed the ocean's chemical composition to make it less effective at storing carbon. But scientists from the University of Leeds in England and the China University of Geosciences thought the answer may lie in a climate tipping point: the collapse of tropical forests. The Great Dying extinction event is unique 'because it's the only one in which the plants all die off,' said Benjamin Mills, a study author and a professor of Earth system evolution at the University of Leeds. To test the theory, they used an archive of fossil data in China that has been put together over decades by three generations of Chinese geologists. They analyzed the fossils and rock formations to get clues about climate conditions in the past, allowing them to reconstruct maps of plants and trees living on each part of the planet before, during and after the extinction event. 'Nobody's ever made maps like these before,' Mills told CNN. The results confirmed their hypothesis, showing that the loss of vegetation during the mass extinction event significantly reduced the planet's ability to store carbon, meaning very high levels remained in the atmosphere. Forests are a vital climate buffer as they suck up and store planet-heating carbon. They also play a crucial role in 'silicate weathering,' a chemical process involving rocks and rainwater — a key way of removing carbon from the atmosphere. Tree and plant roots help this process by breaking up rock and allowing fresh water and air to reach it. Once the forests die, 'you're changing the carbon cycle,' Mills said, referring to the way carbon moves around the Earth, between the atmosphere, land, oceans and living organisms. Michael Benton, a professor of paleontology at the University of Bristol, who was not involved in the study, said the research shows 'the absence of forests really impacts the regular oxygen-carbon cycles and suppresses carbon burial and so high levels of CO2 remain in the atmosphere over prolonged periods,' he told CNN. It highlights 'a threshold effect,' he added, where the loss of forests becomes 'irreversible on ecological time scales.' Global politics currently revolve around the idea that if carbon dioxide levels can be controlled, damage can be reversed. 'But at the threshold, it then becomes hard for life to recover,' Benton said. This is a key takeaway from the study, Mills said. It shows what might happen if rapid global warming causes the planet's rainforests to collapse in the future — a tipping point scientists are very concerned about. Even if humans stop pumping out planet-heating pollution altogether, the Earth may not cool. In fact, warming could accelerate, he said. There is a sliver of hope: The rainforests that currently carpet the tropics may be more resilient to high temperatures than those that existed before the Great Dying. This is the question the scientists are tackling next. This study is still a warning, Mills said. 'There is a tipping point there. If you warm tropical forests too much, then we have a very good record of what happens. And it's extremely bad.'
CNN
02-07-2025
- Science
- CNN
The ‘Great Dying' wiped out 90% of life, then came 5 million years of lethal heat. New fossils explain why
Around 252 million years ago, life on Earth suffered its most catastrophic blow to date: a mass extinction event known as the 'Great Dying' that wiped out around 90% of life. What followed has long puzzled scientists. The planet became lethally hot and remained so for 5 million years. A team of international researchers say they have now figured out why using a vast trove of fossils — and it all revolves around tropical forests. Their findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, may help solve a mystery, but they also spell out a dire warning for the future as humans continue to heat up the planet by burning fossil fuels. The Great Dying was the worst of the five mass extinction events that have punctuated Earth's history, and it marked the end of the Permian geological period. It has been attributed to a period of volcanic activity in a region known as the Siberian Traps, which released huge amounts of carbon and other planet-heating gases into the atmosphere, causing intense global warming. Enormous numbers of marine and land-based plants and animals died, ecosystems collapsed and oceans acidified. What has been less clear, however, is why it got so hot and why 'super greenhouse' conditions persisted for so long, even after volcanic activity ceased. 'The level of warming is far beyond any other event,' said Zhen Xu, a study author and a research fellow at the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Some theories revolve around the ocean and the idea that extreme heat wiped out carbon-absorbing plankton, or changed the ocean's chemical composition to make it less effective at storing carbon. But scientists from the University of Leeds in England and the China University of Geosciences thought the answer may lie in a climate tipping point: the collapse of tropical forests. The Great Dying extinction event is unique 'because it's the only one in which the plants all die off,' said Benjamin Mills, a study author and a professor of Earth system evolution at the University of Leeds. To test the theory, they used an archive of fossil data in China that has been put together over decades by three generations of Chinese geologists. They analyzed the fossils and rock formations to get clues about climate conditions in the past, allowing them to reconstruct maps of plants and trees living on each part of the planet before, during and after the extinction event. 'Nobody's ever done that before,' Mills told CNN. The results confirmed their hypothesis, showing that the loss of vegetation during the mass extinction event significantly reduced the planet's ability to store carbon, meaning very high levels remained in the atmosphere. Forests are a vital climate buffer as they suck up and store planet-heating carbon. They also play a crucial role in 'silicate weathering,' a chemical process involving rocks and rainwater — a key way of removing carbon from the atmosphere. Tree and plant roots help this process by breaking up rock and allowing fresh water and air to reach it. Once the forests die, 'you're changing the carbon cycle,' Mills said, referring to the way carbon moves around the Earth, between the atmosphere, land, oceans and living organisms. Michael Benton, a professor of paleontology at the University of Bristol, who was not involved in the study, said the research shows 'the absence of forests really impacts the regular oxygen-carbon cycles and suppresses carbon burial and so high levels of CO2 remain in the atmosphere over prolonged periods,' he told CNN. It highlights 'a threshold effect,' he added, where the loss of forests becomes 'irreversible on ecological time scales.' Global politics currently revolve around the idea that if carbon dioxide levels can be controlled, damage can be reversed. 'But at the threshold, it then becomes hard for life to recover,' Benton said. This is a key takeaway from the study, Mills said. It shows what might happen if rapid global warming causes the planet's rainforests to collapse in the future — a tipping point scientists are very concerned about. Even if humans stop pumping out planet-heating pollution altogether, the Earth may not cool. In fact, warming could accelerate, he said. There is a sliver of hope: The rainforests that currently carpet the tropics may be more resilient to high temperatures than those that existed before the Great Dying. This is the question the scientists are tackling next. This study is still a warning, Mills said. 'There is a tipping point there. If you warm tropical forests too much, then we have a very good record of what happens. And it's extremely bad.'
