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Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

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31–40 of 62 posts

Re: Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

#31
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (United Nations Climate Change conference) will be held by United Arab Emirates's minister for industry and CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil https://unwatch.org/u-n-elects-saudi-arabia-to-womens-rights... A lot of regulatory bodies, commissions, councils, are for optics and captured by the governments or corporations they should be regulating in some way. Put another way we have the fox watching the hen house. Put…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture I mean, if the sidewalks outside your house were government controlled, the most likely people to try to take control of them would be people with an interest in making money from them (somehow). Most people don't enter government to be the "Minister of Forestry" without some previous industry experience, and a plan of what to do with the forests. The people with indus…

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Re: Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

#32
post #16

> The process outlined in the study — known scientifically as eutrophication — is remarkably similar to modern, albeit smaller-scale, phenomenon currently fueling broad “dead zones” in the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, as excess nutrients from fertilizers and other agricultural runoff trigger massive algae blooms that consume all of the water’s oxygen. Meanwhile, the next COP28 (United Nations Climate Change co…

Ocean oxygen depletion (and atmospheric oxygen depletion as marine life like plankton dies with a double whammy of reduced oxygen and greater acidity) comes up in the scarier corners of climate change awareness but I've never known if it was something to take seriously or if it was overblown. Will we stop being able to breathe?

Yes, we have 2 years left until everyone in the world (except the super rich who can afford bottled air) will suffocate and die

Re: Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

#33
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ocean oxygen depletion (and atmospheric oxygen depletion as marine life like plankton dies with a double whammy of reduced oxygen and greater acidity) comes up in the scarier corners of climate change awareness but I've never known if it was something to take seriously or if it was overblown. Will we stop being able to breathe?

Yes, we have 2 years left until everyone in the world (except the super rich who can afford bottled air) will suffocate and die

On the bright side, our carbon emissions will go way down

Re: Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

#35

The article says that tree roots released massive nutrients into the oceans during the period of decay causing algae bloom depleting the Oxygen and triggering the extinction. Why just the roots and not the entire trees? Wouldn't the entire tree be decayed and end up in the ocean?

Yes, but trees were not really possible until roots evolved.

Re: Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

#36
> others have made the argument that pollution from fertilizers, manure and other organic wastes, such as sewage, have placed the Earth’s oceans on the “edge of anoxia,” or a complete lack of oxygen.

This is nonsense, obviously. Would apply only for shallow bottom or fresh waters

Re: Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

#37
post #27

> the evolution of tree roots may have triggered a series of mass extinctions [...] during the Devonian Period over 300 million years ago > the evolution of tree roots likely flooded past oceans with excess nutrients, causing massive algae growth > these rapid and destructive algae blooms would have depleted most of the oceans’ oxygen, triggering catastrophic mass extinction events > these past events were likely fue…

Terrestrial animal life actually evolved during the Devonian.

Re: Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

#38
post #16

> The process outlined in the study — known scientifically as eutrophication — is remarkably similar to modern, albeit smaller-scale, phenomenon currently fueling broad “dead zones” in the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, as excess nutrients from fertilizers and other agricultural runoff trigger massive algae blooms that consume all of the water’s oxygen. Meanwhile, the next COP28 (United Nations Climate Change co…

Ocean oxygen depletion (and atmospheric oxygen depletion as marine life like plankton dies with a double whammy of reduced oxygen and greater acidity) comes up in the scarier corners of climate change awareness but I've never known if it was something to take seriously or if it was overblown. Will we stop being able to breathe?

From the abstract of the paper linked in the article: "A full-scale OAE would take thousands of years to develop, but some of today's processes are reminiscent of those thought to have promoted OAEs in the distant past." (OAE = oceanic anoxic event) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaj2321

Re: Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

#39
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ocean oxygen depletion (and atmospheric oxygen depletion as marine life like plankton dies with a double whammy of reduced oxygen and greater acidity) comes up in the scarier corners of climate change awareness but I've never known if it was something to take seriously or if it was overblown. Will we stop being able to breathe?

Yes, we have 2 years left until everyone in the world (except the super rich who can afford bottled air) will suffocate and die

Hmm will be for the super rich for sure. Lets say one air canister is 160 breaths. And this canister is premium lol, and cost 32 bucks. cost per breath is $.20. Avg person = 16 breaths per minute. Cost per minute : $2.30. Cost per hour $192. Cost per day $4608. Cost per year: $1,618,920!

Re: Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions (2022)

#40
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ocean oxygen depletion (and atmospheric oxygen depletion as marine life like plankton dies with a double whammy of reduced oxygen and greater acidity) comes up in the scarier corners of climate change awareness but I've never known if it was something to take seriously or if it was overblown. Will we stop being able to breathe?

Yes, we have 2 years left until everyone in the world (except the super rich who can afford bottled air) will suffocate and die

Don't be ridiculous. As President of HN, I can assure both you and the other readers that there's absolutely no air shortage whatsoever. Yes, I've heard the same rumors myself! Thanks for calling, and not reversing the charges.
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