Global Warming Taking Earth Back to Dinosaur Era

[Barrett808]

Global Warming Taking Earth Back to Dinosaur Era
By Jeremy Lovell, Reuters

NORWICH, England — Global warming over the coming century could mean a return of temperatures last seen in the age of the dinosaur and lead to the extinction of up to half of all species, a scientist said on Thursday.

Not only will carbon dioxide levels be at the highest levels for 24 million years, but global average temperatures will be higher than for up to 10 million years, said Chris Thomas of the University of York.

Between 10 and 99 percent of species will be faced with atmospheric conditions that last existed before they evolved, and as a result from 10-50 percent of them could disappear.

"We may very well already be on the breaking edge of a wave of mass extinctions," Thomas told the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

...

"We are starting to put these things into a historical perspective. These are conditions not seen for millions of years, so none of the species will have been subjected to them before," he added.

(more)

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11213

[nam78_two]

1. k&r/nt

[kineneb]

2. do we then get exciting flora and fauna?

like giant dragonflies? Jurassic Park...heading our way...minus all the wonderful plants and animals we know today.:-(

[Richard D]

3. That won't happen

The climate change is happening too fast for that. It'll be a lot less pretty. Desertification of the Amazon, spread of tropical diseases into temperate climates, invasive species, like weeds and insects traveling North and South, etc. BTW, my dog was bit by a tick carrying a heretofore tropical disease. It almost killed her, has her on totally expensive medications, and simply shouldn't have happened. Thank you global warming.

[kineneb]

12. First to adapt

to a new environment are bacteria and then insects- short lifespans and fast reproduction rates = faster mutation rates.

We are dealing with West Nile here in CA, so we know about invader bugs.

...won't even go into invasive plant species here...star thistle...ugh.

[celestia671]

13. Insects are taking over!

Seriously, it was not cold enough to kill the bugs this year. I can't go out into my yard at night without being accosted by them!

[Barrett808]

4. I suspect some species will adapt quite well

Cockroaches, rats, algae...

[markam]

6. Cockroaches, rats, algae...

Republicans, religious nutjobs.

you forgot 2 of the nastiest species.

[Gregorian]

7. Just think, a three headed Rove.

I better turn off my computer for a while. It's getting ugly. :)

[populistdriven]

8. I for one will welcome the giant flesh eating worms

maybe they will drive the neocon worms extinct

[AlienGirl]

14. Not in our lifetimes, and no giant bugs

Giant bugs require more oxygen in the atmosphere than we have now, or are going to have for a long time.

We will see bigger, less nutritious leaves on plants and a consequent die-off of things that survive on leaves (koala bears and sloths come to mind). We'll see--we are seeing already--southern plants and creatures move northward, and mountain ones go extinct. We're probably going to be alive to see the Amazon burn off, though not the desert that will replace it.

Tucker

[TheFarseer]

5. k & r

The republican plan of just tell everyone there's no problem won't work.

[true_notes]

9. Gee!

Global Warming is Catching up to the Republicans on Earths Retrogression.

[truthisfreedom]

10. thanks for caring, bushco!

we're lovin' it!

[mom cat]

11. If we let this happen we deserve extinction.