Understanding the extinct event in history could provide a glimpse into what lies ahead – and a warning if global action is not taken.
That’s why an international team of researchers looked 252 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period when a major event erupted, collectively known as “The Great Dying, “Out of 19 out of every 20 species on Earth, the California Academy of Sciences reported.
For the first time, in a study published on Wednesday, researchers identified what made “The Great Dying” harder than other extinct times. The scientists studied this time because of the appearance of a crisis that has happened then and is happening now – “that is, extinction after the massive release of carbon dioxide and household gases another glass into the atmosphere, ”they wrote, adding that this time also in the face of global warming, bitter water. and acidification.
But unlike other catastrophes throughout history, species in the late Permian period were difficult to recover, perhaps for 10 million years, the California Academy of Sciences reported. To find out why, scientists reconstructed food webs, sampled from northern China, spanning the Permian and Triassic periods, which showed how one region responded to the collapse of an ecosystem. .
“By examining the fossils and evidence from their teeth, stomach contents, and excrement, I was able to identify who ate who,” Yuangeng Huang Academy lead author and researcher told the California Academy of Sciences. “Building a proper food web is important if we are to understand these ancient ecosystems.”
By observing food webs during this time, scientists found that when animals died, which were replaced by nothing, they created an “unbalanced ecosystem,” according to the Academy. California Sciences.
“We found the end-Permian event to be unique in two ways,” Professor Mike Benton of Bristol University told the California Academy of Sciences. “First, the decline in diversity was much worse, but in the other two catastrophes ecosystems were low in sustainability before the last phase fell. And second, it took a long time for ecosystems to recover. back. “
The new study coincides with two other forward-looking studies that also draw a comparison between “The Great Dying” and the present day. In one of these studies, scientists developed a record of ocean acidity, which allowed them to monitor the occurrence of “The Great Dying,” CBS said.
Extinction did not occur all at once but instead occurred as a series of events, from volcanic activity, carbon gas emissions, global warming, ocean acidification, fire and erosion, spanking. million years, professor Uwe Brand, a geologist from Brock University in Canada, who was involved in an ocean chart study, told CBS News.
“These are not individual and separate causes, but they all worked together, they worked together, which is why I call it the perfect storm,” Brand told CBS News. “You were hit on this side by temperature, on this side by acidification and then finally the punch came out of deoxygenation.”
While it may be possible to avoid this same ecological collapse, discussions about how you can respond are happening, even on a global scale.
“Human well-being lies in protecting the health of the planet,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said recently, according to UN News, following the release of a report, Making peace with nature, which calls for urgent action to combat environmental crisis. “The benefits will be enormous. With a new awareness, we can direct investment into policies and activities that protect and restore nature.”
Yuangeng Huang and his team’s research on food figs also shows which species recovered from “The Great Dying,” giving us an insight into how today’s species can do the same. .
“This is an amazing new product,” professor Zhong-Qiang Chen of China University of Geosciences, Wuhan told the California Academy of Sciences. “The combination of brilliant new data from long rock sections in northern China with advanced computing techniques allows us to access these old examples in the same way we can study food webs in the world. today. “