Extinction is inevitable when a species is no longer able to adapt to the pressures of natural selection. One species disappears, another species appears in its place.
During the past five epochs spanning 500 million years, scientists estimate that between 50 and 90 percent of all living species have suffered from being wiped out from the face of the earth.
The most famous extinction is probably the extinction of the dinosaurs that took place 65 million years ago. This event took place shortly after a giant meteorite crashed into the Earth, wiping dinosaurs along with more than 50% of other creatures from the face of the earth.
The Permian-Triassic extinction wiped out nearly 90% of all living things on Earth.
BUT, it wasn’t the worst extinction in Earth’s history. Long before dinosaurs appeared, the Permian-Triassic extinction wiped out nearly 90% of all living things on Earth. Scientists still have a lot of controversy about the cause of this terrible disaster. Many believe that the culprit is also a mysterious meteorite, like the disaster that the descendants of the dinosaurs suffered. Others point to mass volcanic eruptions as the main cause. CO 2 and Methane gas, products from these volcanic eruptions, most likely acidified the oceans, causing an increase in Earth’s temperature. The sudden change in habitat has caused many species of animals to fall into a situation where there is no land to live in.
By 2014, scientists at the University of Massachusetts had delved into this theory, and they suggested that a creature called Methanosarcina was the main culprit. As organisms capable of producing large quantities of methane, they proliferate in large numbers thanks to the nutrient nickel produced by volcanic eruptions. When nickel penetrated the wind and sea water from there to travel around the Earth, that is also when this species flourished. They produce a huge amount of methane, and at the same time destroy oxygen in the atmosphere. Other species of creatures die in mass, and their decaying bodies are a great source of nutrients to nourish Methanosarcina to continue to thrive.
The most famous extinction is probably the extinction of the dinosaurs.
This hypothesis does not receive full consensus from the scientific community. Obviously, it is hard for anyone to believe that only a single species of creature can possess the power to destroy 90% of the remaining creatures. Many people believe that this terrible doom comes from a combination of all the above causes: meteorite impacts, volcanic eruptions and the overproduction of methane-producing organisms.
Scientists are still working to find a satisfactory answer. It is also the key to preventing a similar disaster from happening in the future.