Mass Extinctions Could Shake Up Marine Life

The rate at which animals and plants are going extinct could drastically alter life in the Earths seas, according to a new study.

Mass extinctions throughout history have altered the structure  of life in the seas, with dominant creatures being toppled and others rushing in to take their place, creating a whole new ecosystem.

"It would be unwise to assume that any large number of species can be lost today without forever altering the basic biological character of Earth's oceans," John Alroy of Macquarie University  in Sydney , Australia, wroye in his study , published this week in the journal Science.

Human activity such as fishing , agriculture and logging have greatly accelerated the rate at which speices go extinct. As of last year , one in eight birds , one thrid of amphibians and almost a quarter  of mammals were threatened with extinction , according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Alroy's study looked at 100,000 fossil collections spanning hundreds of millions of years , with a strong focus on marine life. He found that dominant creatures can be dramatically affected by large extinctions.

One example is the brachiopods family of creatures , which are similar to clams and were among the dominant  life forms  in the ocean for nearly 300 million years ago. This "reset the clock on diversification  and overturned the  balance of the groups," according to the study.

Now, the brachiopods are  rare marine  creatures , with low levels of diversity.

Today's rate of extinction may be as great as 100 times the historic norm , according to LiveScience . Some scientists even say that we're entering a new phase  in the Earth's history, called the Anthropocene Epoch.

This rapid change in biodiversity makes it difficult to predict how life on the planet will change, the researchers say. "The main implication is that we're really rolling the dice," Alroy told LiveScience.

My spin : come on folks and lets do our part... let's do what we can to slow down Global Warming ...every little bit helps ...everyone and everything is at stake  and time is running out.