Grantee links lizard decline to climate change

[Cathy Hunter]

 This is not a collector's story, but I did want to pass along some interesting, albeit disturbing, research findings from one of our grantees, Barry Sinervo, that is making the headlines worldwide.  Here is a link to the story on National Geographic News:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100513-science-envi...

[Scott T. Shier]

Thanks for linking that Cathy, I don't know what to say about it. I am overwhelmed at all the various potentials of climate change...


- Scott S.

[Melvin L. De Vilbiss]

Think of it like this…

Pinatubo the second largest 20th century volcanic eruption (lots of scientific data collection) altered weather patterns but didn’t even come close to accomplishing what Krakatoa did back in the 1800’s – the year without a summer (crop failures et al).

Yet, within a year’s time of Krakatoa the earth’s climate nearly normalized and within five years time was completely normalized relative to the years before the eruption and the years after the five year analysis immediately following the eruption.

Observation 1:
Man has done nothing that comes close to doing what Krakatoa accomplished – ever!

Observation 2:
(Especially if your response to Observation 1 is that man’s affect is “cumulative” then I caution you to observe the following:)
The Earth was “mostly” recovered (in balance) within a year of that spectacular eruption and definitely within five years of the eruption. Hence, if the vast capacity of the Earth can recover in such short time from a natural catastrophe the likes of which man has never approached (the power of Krakatoa is estimated at 21,000 Hiroshimas) then how is it the Earth can’t tackle the minute effects of man in a given year?

Final comment and Observation 3:
The Earth’s geological history records, within a wide range of scientific interpretations based on imprecise knowledge and inconclusive evidence (kind of like “global warming – now known as climate change {something to do with that winter we had last year}”), that extinctions have occurred on many occasions for any number of reasons, both from within the Earth (huge methane releases, unimaginable volcanic activity) and from without (meteor/comet, sun activity {intensify/diminish}, etc.). Science has yet to definitively determine the cause and effect of these extinctions, nor has it determined if there exists a naturally occurring cycle of events, i.e. sunspots, magnetic turnover, e.g. the earth’s core turns upside down in a violent upheaval drastically changing the earths spin on it’s axis, that might “also” play into these extinctions.

The Observation: Whatever man does or doesn’t do is a pittance to what the earth will do to man. It’s gonna happen – one day or t’other…