The Causes of Extinction: Setting the Modern Biodiversity Crisis in Context
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Date
2013-10-08
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security Studies
Abstract
This talk will delve into the basis of the linkage between the causes of ancient extinctions in the context of the modern biodiversity crisis. With its decidedly biblical overtones, the phenomenon of extinction has intrigued and puzzled religious leaders, philosophers, and scientists for (literally) millennia. If the capacity of humans to effect the environment has reached the intensity level of a major natural process, and this capacity cannot be curtailed over a reasonable time frame, it is disturbing to note that the state of the environment at present is, in many ways, similar to its state just prior to the end-Permian extinction event, which was the largest extinction event in the whole of Earth history and the last time sea level stood as low as it does today.
Description
The media can be accessed here: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/Mershon13/100813.mp4
Keywords
biodiversity, extinction, climate change