The Cellar - View Single Post

SamIam · 12-13-2009, 06:13 AM

I am in total agreement with that, Bruce. Species come and species go. The interaction of climate, ecology, and speciation is a very complex one. Presumably, we want the human species to be one of the winners.

I freely admit to being pessimistic about this, because the human species is beginning to outstrip its natural carrying capacity.

One of my fav organisms is the Trilobites, a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods. Trilobites first appear in the fossil record during the Early Cambrian period (540 million years ago) and flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before beginning a drawn-out decline to extinction when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders, with the sole exception of Proetida, died out. Trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 250 million years ago.

Now 290 million years is hardly the blink of a human eye. These critters, whose closest descendents resemble the horse shoe crab, were a big contender in the evolutionary sweep stakes. Some say that the rise of sharks
plus changes in climate did them in.

Theoretically we are smarter than trilobites. We might want to take a look at global warming and destruction of habitat to give ourselves a few more thousands years. I grow exhausted by posts such as UG's when he starts "dancing with sharks."

Oh, and please excuse my typo's in my last post. I've got a case of bronchitis that would make an amoeba scream.

12-13-2009, 06:13 AM	#524
SamIam Registered User Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Not here Posts: 2,655	I am in total agreement with that, Bruce. Species come and species go. The interaction of climate, ecology, and speciation is a very complex one. Presumably, we want the human species to be one of the winners. I freely admit to being pessimistic about this, because the human species is beginning to outstrip its natural carrying capacity. One of my fav organisms is the Trilobites, a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods. Trilobites first appear in the fossil record during the Early Cambrian period (540 million years ago) and flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before beginning a drawn-out decline to extinction when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders, with the sole exception of Proetida, died out. Trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 250 million years ago. Now 290 million years is hardly the blink of a human eye. These critters, whose closest descendents resemble the horse shoe crab, were a big contender in the evolutionary sweep stakes. Some say that the rise of sharks plus changes in climate did them in. Theoretically we are smarter than trilobites. We might want to take a look at global warming and destruction of habitat to give ourselves a few more thousands years. I grow exhausted by posts such as UG's when he starts "dancing with sharks." Oh, and please excuse my typo's in my last post. I've got a case of bronchitis that would make an amoeba scream. Last edited by SamIam; 12-13-2009 at 06:28 AM.