Thursday, April 2, 2009
Climate Changes
On pages 251-252, Carroll talks about the great diversity of flora/fauna and other animal species that inhabited the area known today as Wyoming approximately 40 million to 50 million years ago, as he tells us of Ferdinand Hayden's correct conclusions that "what is now a semiarid desert of flat-topped buttes and badlands was once a lush tropical forest, with a climate and flora much like the southeastern United States today. " (251) He states that this dramatic change was a result of severe climate changes. What kind of climate change is he talking about? Why did this not affect he southeastern United States? With the current situtation regarding global warming, is it possible that we could view dramatic changes like this again? What kind of changes?
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In this part of the book, Carroll is discussing major climate changes in Wyoming that occurred 40 to 50 million years ago. Climate changes he is discussing are those such as drastic temperature drops on average over an extremely short period of time, maybe a few years, which would not be enough time for some species to adapt and develop selective advantages for. Essentially, these crazy climate changes caused massive extinctions among the flora and fauna in that area.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, Wyoming is going through similar climate changes. For example, Over the last century, the average temperature in Laramie, Wyoming, has increased 1.5°F, and precipitation has decreased by up to 20% in many parts of the state. Likewise, scientists are predicting that over the next century, climate in Wyoming may change even more. By 2100 temperatures could increase by 4°F in spring and fall, 5°F in summer, and 6°F in winter. Precipitation is estimated to decrease slightly in summer, in crease by 10% in spring and fall, and in crease by 30% in winter. These are major climate changes that most likely happened 40 to 50 million years ago that could cause extinction. The changes occurring presently are caused by global warming.
We can certainly see changes like this occur again because we have seen a trend like that begin happening again. This relates to the biological theme of regulation because species regulate their bodily functions and their entire lives around their environment. Thus it is important to have a relatively stable environment, or at least one in which different species can adapt for the most part. Regulation is an important part of specie’s life. They regulate themselves inside, with their thermoregulation, etc. and from the outside by changing their behaviors based on their environment. Likewise, they need to begin different adaptations from the inside that correspond to the environmental changes. It is impossible for an animal to regulate itself if the environment is changing too quickly.
According to one article, “Scientists warn that the gradual warming of the atmosphere as a result of human activity will have serious environmental consequences. The climate will change, resulting in more storms, more floods, and more droughts.” This means that humans will have difficulty regulating themselves and changing their daily lives quick enough to adapt to these extreme climate conditions. Although, the government is slow to act in this situation, it is important to notice such drastic changes and try to correct or prevent them.
http://www.nextgenerationearth.org/contents/view/49
http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/statements/main_stat8.html
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ReplyDeleteWyoming has a very unique climate, known as a semi-arid continental climate, which makes the state drier and windier than many other states. This climate also makes Wyoming more prone to extreme temperature changes. First of all, temperatures vary greatly between the summer and winter and change drastically throughout the year. Therefore, in years of greater climate change than normal, temperatures could possibly change up to 100°F within a year. If this happens, the flora and fauna might not be able to survive in these drastic climate changes since they wouldn’t be accustomed to the environment. Also, Wyoming is a very arid state, as some parts of the state receive less than 10 inches of precipitation a year. Therefore, if the state doesn’t receive enough water one year, then the flora and fauna may not be able to survive due to severe drought. Finally, Wyoming of often beneath jet streams from Canada. These jet streams bring blasts of arctic air, which could greatly decrease the temperature of the state. The climate changes that Carroll is talking about were probably due to a combination of all these factors. Short term drastic changes in climate could have amounted and severely changed the long term climate of Wyoming. After all of these drastic changes, much of the flora and fauna that faced these changes probably died off since they weren’t able to survive in this drastically different climate.
ReplyDeleteSoutheastern United States has a very different climate than that of the Rocky Mountain States such as Wyoming. First of all, many southeastern states lie relatively close to sea level, making them less prone to dramatic temperature change. Also, southeastern states receive much steadier amount of precipitation than Wyoming, which would allow flora of the area more access to water and therefore a better chance of surviving. For these reasons, the drastic climate change faced by Wyoming did not affect the Southeastern states nearly as much.
However, with global warming affecting nearly every region in the world, we could see dramatic climate changes in places where there has been relatively low climate change. Even though most of the temperature change would occur near the polar regions, where climate changes are usually more drastic, we could also see great temperature and overall climate change in other areas, such as Southeastern United States. This could affect the flora and fauna all over the world. This shows that this global warming is much more dangerous to the diversity of earth than other previous climate changes such as that in Wyoming, which were more concentrated in areas with climates prone to dramatic change.
The climate changes that occurred were most likely high increase in temperatures. The increased temperatures caused the rainforest to dry out and less rainfall to occur. Wyoming’s temperature is greatly determined by its altitude, latitude and local topography. The state of Wyoming is an arid state, lacking the necessary water that prevents certain plants and animals from surviving. With global warming increasing it has been predicted that Wyoming’s temperature will increase by 6 degrees Fahrenheit in the next 100 years. Since Wyoming is in the center of the United States and doesn’t border any body’s of water it has less precipitation, unlike the southeastern states. Also decreasing temperature over the southeast US is caused by increases in general cloud cover. While increases in temperature over the southwest US are caused by irrigation of desert lands.
ReplyDeleteWith global warming increasing dramatically due to the increase in carbon dioxide in the air, it is possible that dramatic changes in the environment could occur again. As the atmospheric concentration of CO2 increases it leads to warmer conditions, which lead to more water vapor in the air, which leads to even warmer conditions. Increasing global temperature will cause sea levels to rise and will change the amount and pattern of precipitation, likely including expansion of subtropical deserts. The continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice is expected, with the Arctic region being particularly affected. Other likely effects include shrinkage of the Amazon rainforest and Boreal forests, increases in the intensity of extreme weather events, species extinctions and changes in agricultural yields. Global; warming is a huge issue that is effecting different environments around the world. Global warming is not only affecting the global climate but also the biodiversity crisis. With many environments being destroyed many species of plants and animals are becoming extinct. Just like what happened in Wyoming millions of years ago, with the rainforests and all the animals in it that were destroyed, the same things are happening today.
Like Carroll stated we must be aware “how much conditions in any locale do change over time, and with those changes, how species vanish and other replace them” (252). This is the theory of survival of the fittest often seen in nature. Many species die out die to the environment, while others, like the icefish are able to survive and adapt to the environmental changes. In Wyoming the intense temperature increase changed the rainforests into deserts, destroying many of the species including “crocodiles, turtles, birds, bats, and horses” and “palm trees”. These species were not able to adapt and survive. And as the temperatures are increasing due to global warming more species will die out and not be able to survive, for example polar bears.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Climate_change_impacts_Wyoming
http://www.globalwarming.org/
http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/sco/climateatlas/climate_change.html
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1111-science.html