Earth In Midst Of Sixth Mass Extinction

[DanishDynamite]

"The current extinction event is due to human activity, paving the planet, creating pollution, many of the things that we are doing today," said co-author Bradley J. Cardinale, assistant professor of ecology, evolution and marine biology (EEMB) at UC Santa Barbara. "The Earth might well lose half of its species in our lifetime."
Exagertion? (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081020171454.htm)

[Ziggurat]

Dude, that ROCKS! Radically new life forms tend to emerge after mass extinctions. I'm planning on raising giant slug-beasts for gladiatorial pit fighting!

[bobrayner]

Perhaps more than six. This is a good read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_extinction

[shadron]

Dude, that ROCKS! Radically new life forms tend to emerge after mass extinctions. I'm planning on raising giant slug-beasts for gladiatorial pit fighting!

Providing, of course, that the gladiatorial pits survive.

No, I don't think it's too much an exaggeration. I also don't think its non-recoverable, up to some limit.

[Ziggurat]

Providing, of course, that the gladiatorial pits survive.

If there's one thing I've learned from movies, it's that gladiatorial pits always survive apocalypses.

[Floyt]

It should not be surprising, geologically speaking :|

Although it's probably the first time that there's a major single-species cause for the rollover*. And sucks for us (or rather our descendants) to be in the middle of it. The cockroaches will approve, at least.


* I vaguely remember a SF story that had some smart compsognathus-type saurian invent gunpowder and go blitzkrieg at the KT boundary, then had their nascent civilization flattened into Yucatan just when things were looking groovy. Crediting that one, we may just be performing the same stunt again, after all!

[Travis]

It should not be surprising, geologically speaking :|

Although it's probably the first time that there's a major single-species cause for the rollover*. And sucks for us (or rather our descendants) to be in the middle of it. The cockroaches will approve, at least.

Didn't Cyanobacteria once cause an extinction event?

[Corsair 115]

I'm planning on raising giant slug-beasts for gladiatorial pit fighting!Two slugs enter! One slug leaves!

[Ziggurat]

Two slugs enter! One slug leaves!

I was thinking more man against slug-beast battles, but we can mix it up. No sense in committing to only one format.

[DanishDynamite]

Dude, that ROCKS! Radically new life forms tend to emerge after mass extinctions. I'm planning on raising giant slug-beasts for gladiatorial pit fighting!
What makes you think you'll be one of the surviving species?

[dudalb]

Wow. This would make a great expansion for "Spore".

[Ziggurat]

What makes you think you'll be one of the surviving species?

Because I'll have an army of slug-beasts to do my bidding, and to protect me from the roach-raptors.

[DanishDynamite]

Because I'll have an army of slug-beasts to do my bidding, and to protect me from the roach-raptors.
Again, what makes you think you'll be one of the surviving species?

[GodMark2]

Because I'll have an army of slug-beasts to do my bidding, and to protect me from the roach-raptors.

Again, what makes you think you'll be one of the surviving species?

DD's got a point there. Giant Gladiator Slug armies aren't exactly well known for their loyalty. Best keep a lot of salt shakers handy, just in case.

[Twiler]

Someone needs to compile a data archive (or fifteen) and leave it (them) buried for future races to find.

The problem would be storing the information in a form that had any chance of being comprehensible to non-human intellects.

[Floyt]

Didn't Cyanobacteria once cause an extinction event?

Note my hedging my bets by saying "single species"... go thou ahead now and prove that wasn't a species assemblage of cyanobactaeria! :D
But you are right, that's actually another example of biogenic mass extinction. I think that compared to today, there was a lot less to extinguish in terms of diversity at that point, though.

Again, what makes you think you'll be one of the surviving species?

Yeah, you too are on the menu in the long run, dude. My roach-raptors are actually desert-proof while your slimebags will shrivel and die in the parched wastelands of Terra Nova. Don't bet on the wrong side, join Team Arthropod!

[X]

What makes you think you'll be one of the surviving species?


I'm left-handed. We'll always survive.
We might take out the righties, though...


And where do I sign up to be a pit fighter?
I'll need a career, and the opportunity to train hordes of roach-raptors.



In regards to the OP:

I think the term "mass extinction" qualifies for the current situation.
Out of curiosity, was there ever as time when species weren't going extinct for some reason or another? Not on this scale, mind you, just in general.

[Ziggurat]

Again, what makes you think you'll be one of the surviving species?
Maybe I won't be. Maybe I'll be the last of my kind. That's OK, though.
DD's got a point there. Giant Gladiator Slug armies aren't exactly well known for their loyalty. Best keep a lot of salt shakers handy, just in case.
Don't worry about that. I've already got plans to barter mind control technology from the Land Urchins in exchange for plasma rifles to use against their enemies, the Mountain Lobsters. Ordinary projectile weapons aren't very effective against their thick armor plating, but they're very susceptible to heat.

[arthwollipot]

Don't bet on the wrong side, join Team Arthropod!Yes?

Oh, hang on, sorry. Misread you there. Carry on.

[DanishDynamite]

To those who find the OP a source of fun and merrimaking, may I ask whether you just don't believe the findings or whether you just don't care whether the findings are true or false?

[Ziggurat]

To those who find the OP a source of fun and merrimaking, may I ask whether you just don't believe the findings or whether you just don't care whether the findings are true or false?

I don't believe the findings. We have little handle on how many species there are, so extrapolating estimates of fractions that will go extinct is essentially just a wild guess. And the arguments about why it's important are... problematic. Take this paragraph, for example:
"Recent studies show that ecological systems with fewer species generally produce less biomass than those with more species. Less plant biomass means that less carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere and less oxygen is produced. So, as the biomass of plants plummets around the globe, the composition of gasses in the atmosphere that support life could be profoundly affected."
This is a classic blurring of the distinction between causation and correlation. Yes, there's a correlation there, but chances are the causation is primarily backwards from what they suggest: biologically productive environments drive speciation, rather than a speciation driving greater biological productivity. Now, I'm not claiming that we're not causing any extinctions, or that extinctions don't matter, but this article is just full of holes.

But if you disagree, we can fight it out in the slug-beast arena.

[arthwollipot]

To those who find the OP a source of fun and merrimaking, may I ask whether you just don't believe the findings or whether you just don't care whether the findings are true or false?Personally, it's more of "it's happening, yeah - whether it's actually a mass extinction or not is pretty moot, and we're doing what we can, so in the meantime why not have a laugh?"