Extinction: Is It in the Genes?

ScienceNow source link.

Sometimes it's just a case of being a member of the wrong family. Researchers analyzing evidence from 200 million years of fossil records have concluded that some lines of living organisms don't need a cataclysmic event to wipe them out. They just seem destined to go extinct.

This is a new and interesting theory that gives almost a destiny to species of the planet earth. In a way it invokes certain questions as to wether or not the human race itself is destine to extinction. According to studies like this article, species have a genetic make up that over time weeds itself out of the ecosystem.

So now I ask the question. Do we humans as a species have a shelf life on this earth.

I don't think it's necessarily that we've got a "sell-by" date after which we're extinct. I think it could simply mean that some species die out when the environment changes, even when the change itself isn't a huge cataclysm. It could be as simple as a new disease that serves as the death-blow to the species, as seems to be happening with the Tasmanian devil.

So it could be a mild climatic change that the species just can't handle, or perhaps a new parasite or predator or competitor, or a relatively mild drop in available food that is enough to push a species over the brink.

I'm skeptical of any sort of "planned obsolescence" gene that would cause a species to die out without some encouragement from the environment. Let's face it - any such gene would have died out, no?

The Y chromosome is going to die out in a few million years so yeah we are destined to go extinct.

Men are on the road to extinction, a leading researcher has said. Professor Jennifer Graves, a leading researcher in human sex chromosomes, claims the male Y chromosome was dying and could run out within the next five million years. However, the expert said, men could follow the path of a type of rodent that manages to reproduce despite not having the vital genes that make up the Y chromosome.

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[edit on 12-8-2009 by DaMod]

[edit on 12-8-2009 by DaMod]

reply to post by DaMod


I blame the disney channel.

reply to post by LeaderOfProgress


I've never considered out right extinction to be necessary for an eco-system though it isn't too hard to see that certain traits just won't hold up over time. Eventhough they were hunted to extinction (the dodo, not quite the eagle yet), lets say the dodo bird and the bald eagle occupied a similar territory today. Which do you think would establish outright dominance in gathering food?

What does need to be considered is this: Every link in a food chain has to have a certain weakness about it so it can be killed off to support all the other links (even the top link to regulate consumption). I've made the weakness in the genes conclusion without much thought but having extinction in the genes would imply that every species works towards sustaining a collective system on earth whether or not "it" has "plans" for them in the future. That requires a lot more questions to be answered going forward.

Originally posted by Eitimzevinten
reply to post by LeaderOfProgress

 

I've never considered out right extinction to be necessary for an eco-system though it isn't too hard to see that certain traits just won't hold up over time. Eventhough they were hunted to extinction (the dodo, not quite the eagle yet), lets say the dodo bird and the bald eagle occupied a similar territory today. Which do you think would establish outright dominance in gathering food?

What does need to be considered is this: Every link in a food chain has to have a certain weakness about it so it can be killed off to support all the other links (even the top link to regulate consumption). I've made the weakness in the genes conclusion without much thought but having extinction in the genes would imply that every species works towards sustaining a collective system on earth whether or not "it" has "plans" for them in the future. That requires a lot more questions to be answered going forward.

I totally agree with this. A good example of this (sadly) is the giant panda. It is extremely endangered and yes, a lot of this is due to hunting and wiping out a lot of its natural habitat. But it is also, evolutionary speaking, a bit of a 'dud' species. It is built to catch and eat meat yet survives almost exclusively on bamboo. Pandas will eat carrion but cannot hunt for themselves. Add to that the fact that the female is only fertile for 3 days a year and you can see why this beautiful creature is struggling to survive as a species. If they become extinct it will be because they cannot adapt to the world as it is now (although I am hopeful recent IVF treatment will help them and 'buy them more time' so to speak, its the least we could do for them really)

The dodo maybe would not have died out if it had not been for the speed in which man killed them off, they didnt have time to evolve, not even a generation really. They might have learnt how to fly or more likely took to the water. Again yes man is hugely to blame for that BUT it could have been any species of predator made it to those islands and devastated the dodo species, again a design flaw, it had no natural predators so it didn't need to get away from anything before we arrived on the scene.

In response to the OP I do not believe humans or any species has a shelf life here, it depends on how quickly we can adapt and evolve. I personally believe that the dinosaurs did not just die out overnight, maybe the meteor hit and totally changed the conditions on the planet, many larger species did not make it and the smaller species evolved into birds. It is well known that things evolve to be smaller to survive, like the huge mammals that walked the earth millions of years ago evolved to be smaller and more nimble versions of themselves.

I think everything is evolving all the time, quicker than we realise! Look at animals around us, domesticated and wild. I have seen many reports of clever pets and animals doing amazing things both on ATS and MSM, and you only have to look at any town and city anywhere in the world to see wild animals living off us, be it foxes, raccoons or monkeys!

If we humans become extinct it will be our own fault! Through what we are doing to our planet, the world that sustaines us. I like to think we are evolving right now, and we are at the stage where we can see what we have been doing wrong, and maybe with our knowledge and technology that we have been working for (evolving) these last 100 or so years we can adapt to get us out of this mess we have created for ourselves!

Or... If there is some major disaster in the future be it pole shift, meteorite, nuclear war or zombie apocolypse maybe a small number of us can adapt and start over. It could have happened before for all we know, several times over!

Survival of the fittest! Its just natures way

Originally posted by DaMod
The Y chromosome is going to die out in a few million years so yeah we are destined to go extinct.

Men are on the road to extinction, a leading researcher has said. Professor Jennifer Graves, a leading researcher in human sex chromosomes, claims the male Y chromosome was dying and could run out within the next five million years. However, the expert said, men could follow the path of a type of rodent that manages to reproduce despite not having the vital genes that make up the Y chromosome.

Source


[edit on 12-8-2009 by DaMod]

[edit on 12-8-2009 by DaMod]

I think now is the time we start R&D'ing Interstellar travel technology, bolster genetic engineering capabilities, and 'remote abduction systems'

...And start harvesting compatible seeds from 'more primitive' other off-world humanoid species with more intact Y chromosomes..

[/justkidding]

[edit on 13-8-2009 by ahnggk]