Notes

http://www.contentextra.com/bacconline/bacContentFiles/essFiles/Worksheets/PDF/Worksheet_42_answers.pdf
http://science.opposingviews.com/extinctions-other-creatures-affect-humans-directly-23240.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140218-kolbert-book-extinction-climate-science-amazon-rain-forest-wilderness/
http://www.batswithoutborders.org/role-of-bats-in-our-ecosystems.html
https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/faqs
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bat_crisis_white-nose_syndrome/Q_and_A.html



Extinction 1: Ordovician-Silurian, caused by dropping sea levels as glaciers formed, then the rising sea levels as they melted. 25% of marine families, and 60% of marine genera. 439 million years ago.

Extinction 2: Late Devonian, caused by ???????. 22% of marine families and 57% of marine genera. 19% of families lost. 364 million years ago.

Extinction 3: Permian-Triassic, caused by asteroid impact (maybe), volcanoes (maybe), and impact causing volcanoes (maybe). Worst, 95% of species, 53% of marine families, 84% of marine genera, 70% of land animals. 54% of all families lost. 251 million years ago.

Extinction 4: End Triassic, caused by massive floods of lava, possibly causing global warming. 22% of marine families, 52% of marine genera, 23% of all families lost. 199 to 214 million years ago.

Extinction 5: Cretaceous-Tertiary, caused by asteroid impact. 16% of marine families, 47% marine genera, 18% land animals, 17% of all families. 65 million years ago.

Each of the extinctions were caused by a sudden change, one that a lot of species were not prepared from an evolutionary point of view.

Humans are causing a global change fast enough that species can't catch up.

Humans could have less food sources, due to a domino effect with the food chain.

Medicine comes from plants, which pollinate via insect. No insects, no pollination, no medicine.

A big example that comes to me is the bats. Humans have (most likely) caused white nose syndrome. It seems to have been transported from Europe.

Bats are very important to the ecosystem. They eat about 1,000 insects an hour each night. If the bats went extinct, we would have a lot more stinkbugs, mosquitoes, and other insects, which could start to take over our farms, causing us to use large amounts of pesticides, which ruin the environment even more, etc. It's a vicious cycle.