Fifty-five million years ago, Earth’s thermostat shot up—and life dramatically changed. Here’s what history can teach us about our modern temperature surge.
Paleontologists call this hot spot the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum . It’s a time when subtropical forests spread over the continents and new animals got to stake their claims on the planet, all thanks to an atmosphere and oceans in turmoil. This part of the fossil record is a remnant of the past, but it may also be a preview ofThe PETM was a good time to be a bug. Warmth spurred the spread of dry tropical forests north, making ancient Wyoming look more like modern Texas.
Because many insects are ectothermic , the spike opened the gates for a flood of tiny critters to move in.The evidence is in fossil leaves found in rocks dated to the period. A sample of more than 5,000 petrified bits of flora from before, during, and after the PETM shows an uptick in the amount and diversity of insect damage. In one study of Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin, more than half the fossil leaves from the PETM had been damaged by bugs—than before or after.
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Opinion |'Don't Look Up' is stirring a huge debate. Here's what it gets wrong.The Netflix film has set off a debate about whether it's an effective satire of our problems confronting global warming.
Weiterlesen »
Fleeing Global Warming? ‘Climate Havens’ Aren’t Ready YetThe curb appeal of the Great Lakes region is that it appears to be a relatively safe place to ride out the wild weather of the future.
Weiterlesen »
Salvation Army of North Texas Helps Nearly 300 People Escape Freezing TemperaturesNearly 300 people stayed warm on Saturday night thanks to the Salvation Army of North Texas’ warming shelters amid the bitterly cold start to the new year.
Weiterlesen »
47278.47 | BTCUSDT USDⓈ-Margined Perpetual | Binance FuturesTrade BTCUSDT perpetual contracts on Binance Futures - the world's leading crypto futures trading exchange with deep liquidity and low fees.
Weiterlesen »
Scientists Find Ancient Hominin and Animal DNA in Cave Sediments | Sci-News.comA research team has extracted ancient DNA from a collection of undisturbed blocks of Pleistocene sediment recovered from 13 archaeological sites in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America.
Weiterlesen »