The problem of climate change has often been talked about by different governments across continents. The continuous increase in temperatures both in the atmosphere and the ocean have caused a drastic change in the lifestyle of species both on land and in water. Thousands of deaths have been reported on both terrestrial and marine animals and the rate continuously accelerates. How long does it take the Mother Earth to recover from all these?
A new study says shows a sobering response to this answer -- a million years. The researchers of the study looked into the possibility for biodiversity from ever recovering following massive deaths. The paper was published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. They looked into the survival of the planktons. The fossils of such species that existed for nearly 20 million years and survived the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs shows the possibility of ever surviving the one that may come.
According to the report released by Newsweek, the diverse species recovered from mass extinction, but it took them 10 million years to do it. "The study shows how reasonably possible it is for species to take an extremely long time to recover. It may take millions of years to recover from extinction particularly caused by climate change," said Dr. Andrew Fraass, co-author of the study.
"It remains to be an apt warning to the human race that it may take that long to recover from massive loss of species," he added.
The findings of the study have a striking effect on the long term plans of saving the planet. It is easy to predict the future of the human race as the world confronts problems brought about by climate change. Habitat destruction alongside the growing amount of greenhouse gases in the air is just two of the many reasons why mass extinction no longer comes as a surprise. All of these are parallel to the species extinction that happened during the ancient times, according to the press release from the University of Bristol.
"This should serve as a fair warning to everyone: some of the species that have become extinct due to the adverse effects of climate change may no longer exist again," the authors wrote in their report. The conditions may only worsen that it will change the world in more ways than one can ever imagine.
This problem is global. It does not affect only one country or one nation. The damage to the environment due to the rise of the industries and the people's demand for a more comfortable life is rather catastrophic. And if we do something about it today, we might just be able to save it.
