Latest news with #TheGreatDying
USA Today
04-07-2025
- Science
- USA Today
'The Great Dying' mass extinction was a warning from the trees, study says
As climate change threatens tropical forests, a new study shows how the loss of those forests can be devastating to life on Earth. It happened before, and could happen again…. That's the message in a new study about the catastrophic collapse of Earth's tropical forests due to natural volcanic causes 252 million years ago. The collapse of tropical forests was the primary cause of the prolonged global warming that followed, according to a new study published July 2 in the British journal Nature Communications. This coincided with a mass extinction, likely the worst in Earth's history. 'There is a warning here about the importance of Earth's present-day tropical forests," study co-author and University of Leeds professor Benjamin Mills said, in a statement: "If rapid warming causes them to collapse in a similar manner, then we should not expect our climate to cool to preindustrial levels, even if we stop emitting CO2. 'Indeed, warming could continue to accelerate in this case even if we reach zero human emissions. We will have fundamentally changed the carbon cycle in a way that can take geological timescales to recover, which has happened in Earth's past.' 'The Great Dying' The huge climate changes back then occurred during the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction – sometimes referred to as the "Great Dying," which happened around 252 million years ago, leading to the massive loss of marine species and significant declines in terrestrial plants and animals. The event has been attributed to intense global warming triggered by a period of volcanic activity in Siberia, known as the Siberian Traps, the study says. This rapid increase in carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere and the resulting temperature increase is thought to be the primary kill mechanism for much of life at the time, according to the Conversation. However, scientists had been unable to pinpoint why super-greenhouse conditions persisted for around five million years afterwards. Now, in the new study, researchers have gathered data that supports the theory that the demise of tropical forests, and their slow recovery, limited carbon sequestration – a process where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in plants, soils or minerals. What caused Earth's tropical forests to collapse 252 million years ago? Our current understanding is that it was high temperatures which resulted from huge volcanic carbon dioxide emissions over thousands of years, Mills said in an e-mail to USA TODAY. "This volcanic event is called the Siberian Traps and may be the biggest to ever have occurred." Did the lack of tropical forests cause the climate to change? "Yes," Mills said, adding that the climate had already warmed, which initially caused the tropical forests to die back, but the removal of forests took away one of the planet's most important carbon removal processes – photosynthesis. The lack of this "carbon sink" caused CO2 levels to build up even further, which drove excess warming. Is this happening now? Could it happen again? "While the climate is currently warming (and is doing so faster than during the event 252 million years ago), we are not yet at the temperature where tropical forests are expected to reach a tipping point and transition into a carbon source rather than sink," Mills told USA TODAY. "So it is not happening now, but we may not be that far away." We have warmed the planet by about 1 degree C since the Industrial Revolution, and estimates for Amazon rainforest tipping points range from 2 to 6 degrees C. It is hard to estimate this accurately. How soon would the climate change after the tropical forests collapse? The Triassic super-greenhouse took thousands of years to establish, but because we are emitting carbon dioxide much more quickly than in the deep past, we might expect effects to begin to occur "over hundreds of years," Mills said. "To see 'super greenhouse' conditions we would need to remove almost all of the tropical forested area. It is debatable whether this could occur in the present day where the plants are different, and the shape of the continents is different than in the past. But personally I do not want us to run this experiment!" Speaking about the new study, co-author Jianxin Yu of the China University of Geosciences added: 'Let's make sure our work transcends academia: it is a responsibility to all life on Earth, today and beyond." "Earth's story is still being written, and we all have a role in shaping its next chapter," Yu said.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Ancient catastrophes could provide keys to climate future
New funding in Norman could help scientists understand how to preserve biodiversity in a world that has alarming similarities to one mass extinction in particular. David Wright, a paleontologist working at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, has just been awarded a fellowship to continue his research into mass extinctions – those events that typically have eliminated at least 75% of life on Earth. All hope is not lost, he said. 'The line isn't drawn yet. It doesn't have to be. The future is what we put in it now,' he said. 'We can make comparisons with what we know has happened, and we can use our knowledge of history as a baseline for what could happen in the future.' Wright, who teaches The History of Life on Earth, said that today's greenhouse gasses bear a striking resemblance to the factors before the End Permian event – an extinction that eliminated around three-quarters of marine animals alive at the time. This event happened about 250 million years ago. Knowledge from studying the past can be applied to the future, helping preserve biodiversity in a shifting world, according to Wright. When he looks at the fossil record, Wright sees more than ancient bones and shells—he sees a laboratory containing 500 million years' worth of ecological experiments that have already played out. His newly awarded fellowship will fund research into mass extinctions, with findings that could prove crucial for understanding and responding to today's climate crisis. 'The fossil record provides a series of natural experiments,' Wright explained from his office at the Sam Noble Museum. 'Sometimes we think of sciences as setting up experiments, but as a paleontologist, the experiments have already played out—our laboratory is the fossil record.' Wright's fellowship focuses on understanding the End Permian mass extinction, which occurred around 250 million years ago—before the first dinosaurs ever evolved. This event, known as 'The Great Dying,' eliminated roughly 90% of marine species and 75% of terrestrial species, making it the most severe extinction event in Earth's history. 'What's concerning is that the End Permian and today have a lot of these parallels in terms of the environmental causes,' Wright said. 'What's even more concerning is that the rate of CO2 put into the atmosphere today is higher than what we estimate during the End Permian.' Mass extinctions, Wright explained, occur when 'somewhere around 75% or more species go extinct within perhaps less than a million years.' While that timeframe might seem comfortingly distant, the acceleration of current environmental changes suggests humanity is operating on a more compressed timeline, according to the scientists who assisted with the Paris Climate Agreement. However, there are many factors going into the current situation – and it may not involve mass extinction at all, Wright assented. There are just ecological stressors that coalesce when considered together. 'It's usually not just one thing that pushes ecosystems across the brink,' Wright said. 'It often involves a whole cascade of bad things that are happening. It usually involves changes in Earth's greenhouse system and changes in carbon dioxide.' He explained rising CO2 levels lead to ocean acidification, which 'lowers the pH of seawater, makes it difficult for organisms that build skeletons like corals and clams to live.' Simultaneously, oceans carry less oxygen, 'making it even more difficult for organisms to breathe.' However, Wright said that there are a lot of ways to prevent disaster, as well as many scientists working on ways to preserve biodiversity. He said funding the sciences is critical to their collaboration and success. The paleontologist's work on crinoids—marine animals related to starfish and sea urchins—serves as a case study in both extinction and recovery. Wright said his fellowship will create 'an evolutionary timeline and timescale of the evolution of Crinoids,' examining how modern species relate to their ancient predecessors and what this reveals about survival and adaptation in the age of a changing climate. The future remains unwritten, he said. 'It is up to us.'
Time of India
26-04-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Meet the ancient predator that ruled the Earth 10 million years before the dinosaurs were even born!
Approximately 250 million years ago, during the Permian-Triassic extinction event , which is also popularly known as the period of "The Great Dying", the Earth experienced its most catastrophic biodiversity loss, with about 90% of species vanishing. This mass extinction was triggered by a massive volcanic eruption in the Siberian Traps that led to severe climate shifts, including global warming, ocean acidification, and widespread anoxia. The aftermath left ecosystems in turmoil, paving the way for the rise of dinosaurs. Amidst this chaos, the saber-toothed predator Inostrancevia came up as the most terrifying apex predator. Research says that the Earth took around ten million years to recover from the Permian-Triassic extinction. Who was this formidable predator? Inostrancevia was a large gorgonopsian , a group of carnivorous therapsids that predated true mammals. Their most prominent trait was its saber-like canine teeth and strong build; it resembled a reptilian mammal with tough, possibly leathery skin much like that of modern rhinoceroses or elephants. Weighing between 300 to 400 kilograms and measuring up to 4 meters in length, Inostrancevia was among the largest of its kind. It likely preyed upon dicynodonts and pareiasaurs or mammal-like reptiles with pointy tusks, dominating its ecosystem with few competitors. Where were the fossils discovered? Previously, Inostrancevia fossils had been confined to Russia. However, in 2010 and 2011, paleontologists discovered two partial skeletons in South Africa's Karoo Basin, approximately 7,000 miles from its known range. These specimens were cataloged as NMQR 4000 and NMQR 3707, included nearly complete skulls and other skeletal remains, suggesting that Inostrancevia had migrated across the ancient supercontinent Pangaea. This transcontinental existence indicates that the species adapted to diverse environments, filling ecological niches left vacant by other predators. The presence of Inostrancevia in South Africa shows the dynamic nature of prehistoric ecosystems. As the Permian period drew to a close, many top predators in southern regions went extinct. Inostrancevia appears to have migrated southward to occupy these vacant ecological roles. This rapid change of apex predators shows the instability and ecological turmoil of the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Fossils reveal the predator's desperate struggle to survive Earth's worst extinction Studies of the fossils suggest that despite the catastrophic environmental changes, Inostrancevia managed to move across vast distances and establish itself in new territories. However, the eventual extinction of Inostrancevia is a sign of the fragility of life in the face of rapid and extreme environmental changes. As current global ecosystems face unexpected challenges due to climate change and habitat loss, understanding past extinction events can inform conservation efforts and highlight the importance of preserving biodiversity.
