Posted on 11/12/2004 10:26:49 AM PST by Michael_Michaelangelo
Of the 12,200 species of plants and animals currently listed as threatened or endangered, a further 6,300 affiliate species should be classified as “co-endangered”. This is the bleak assessment offered by a new study attempting to quantify the phenomenon of co-extinction – the loss of an “affiliate” species when its host goes extinct.
Many plants and animals have a diverse selection of insects, fungi, and other organisms associated with them that are uniquely adapted to their host. This specialization makes these affiliate species vulnerable to host extinction. Using estimates of host specificity, Lian Pin Koh, Robert R. Dunn and colleagues calculated the expected levels of co-extinction across a diverse selection of host and associate systems. For the groups examined, the authors show that at least 200 affiliate species have historically been lost through co-extinction, and a further 6,300 are co-endangered with their hosts. These processes have been widely overlooked, perhaps because some of the most susceptible organisms are uncharismatic parasites. For example, many herald the success of conservation efforts to save the Californian condor from extinction, but who mourns the condor louse that went extinct as a result of efforts by well-meaning conservation biologists to rid the birds of their parasites? The authors suggest that co-extinction is a largely unexamined and potentially substantial contributor to the present global extinction crisis and that estimates of species extinction should be re-calibrated, taking estimates of co-extinction into account.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
Hrm. Seems to me that Evolutionists claim that their theory, aside from being the ONLY theory, is closest to the truth. The only people I see propounding your argument is.....you guys. Ironic.
Ridiculous leap of "logic" ping, PH.
ping
Perhaps a new form of affirmative action could be initiated with the goal of getting right leaning individuals on the MSM.
I can't remember the exact stat, but something like 99% of all species that have ever existed on earth are now extinct.
I've never been the same since the DoDo bird went extinct.
I believe the correct message is:
"Nuke the gay whales for Jesus"
How does anyone know what's endangered vs. what would, by nature, die out?
Biome change and adaptive radiation.
Effects of Past Global Change on Life (online book)
Table of Contents
1. Oxygen and Proterozoic Evolution: An Update
2. Impact of Late Ordovician Glaciation-Deglaciation on Marine Life
3. Global Change Leading to Biodiversity Crisis in a Greenhouse World: The Cenomanian-Turonian (Cretaceous) Mass Extinction
4. Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) Mass Extinction: Effect of Global Change on Calcareous Microplankton
5. Terminal Paleocene Mass Extinction in the Deep Sea: Association with Global Warming
6. Tropical Climate Stability and Implications for the Distribution of Life
7. Neogene Ice Age in the North Atlantic Region: Climatic Changes, Biotic Effects, and Forcing Factors
8. The Response of Hierarchically Structured Ecosystems to Long-Term Climate Change: A Case Study Using Tropical Peat Swamps of Pennsylvanian Age
9. The Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic History of Vegetation and Climate at Northern and Couthern High Latitudes: A Comparison
10. The Impact of Climatic Changes on the Development of the Australian Flora
11. Global Climatic Influence on Cenozoic Land Mammal Faunas
12. Biotic Responses to Temperature and Salinity Changes During Last Deglaciation, Gulf of Mexico
13. Pollen Records of Late Quaternary Vegetation Change: Plant Community Rearrangements and Evolutionary Implications
14. Climatic Forcing and the Origin of the Human Genus
"I've never been the same since the DoDo bird went extinct."
A group in California were so dismayed by the extinction of the Dodo bird that they set out to become Dodos themselves, thereby accomplishing the only known case of reviving an extinct species.
BTTT!!!!!!
THe evolutionist were very smug in their fairytale about the survival of the fittest, until it became apparent to them that we humans were not only the fittest, but pretty damn smart as well and more adaptable than any other species, including the dumbass evolutionists themselves.
All of a sudden and to defend their idiotic theory that they call fact, the inept Darwinites began demanding that humans have their hands and three fourths of our brains tied behind our backs , to make the playing field level for the inept and the inepter liberals who use the inept as an excuse to demand affirmative actions for themselves.
Is it presumptive to asume that dodo birds tasted exactly like chicken?
Thankfully, terrorists are now on the top of that list.
Indeed. But we have enough active threads going right now. I'm letting this one slide.
I can hardly sleep knowing the condor louse is extinct. I'm happy that someone noted its passing. That's probably it for the condor louse ameba, too. What a sad day. I'll miss its pseudopods. Sniff, :-(
Like the World Trade Center, species take a lot longer to create than to destroy. What's with the DADDY WILL BUY ME A NEW ONE attitude? If God made species, do you think he's going to make you a new one just because you broke the last one?
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