BILD 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Dusky Seaside Sparrow, Background Extinction Rate, Pleistocene Megafauna
26 Dec 2018
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Document Summary
Cenozoic era: 65 mya present age of mammals. Humans evolved in africa: species that humans co-evolved with are more likely to have survived, pleistocene megafauna probably the first extinctions that humans caused or contributed to. Types of extinction: extinction: natural part of life. 2,000 pacific bird species extinct in past 2,000 years: >15% of all bird species have been lost so far, ex: island of eua had 27 bird species at time before humans arrived. By 1988, only 6 species left: controlled experiment: effect of adding people, galapagos islands had almost no people until 1800. Once humans added, 20 extinctions occurred: modern (post-1600) extinctions, mostly due to habitat loss: expanding human populations, chinese river dolphin (baiji) extinct 2007, carolina parakeet extinct 1914. Ivory-billed woodpecker extinct 1968: dusky seaside sparrow extinct 1986. Evolution and conservation: all life is interconnected by descent, what we (humans) do affects the planet, and therefore ourselves.
