Compared to before humans appeared, the number of wild mammals on land is now only 1/7, in the sea is only 1/5.
Bacteria are heavier than humans. It sounds absurd. But if there were a giant scale enough for everyone on the planet to step on, and put all the bacteria on the other side of the scale, we’d be splattered into space like peas.
The truth is that all the bacteria on Earth are 1,166 times heavier than humans.
Continuing to compare humans with all other life forms on the planet, we see more and more clearly our smallness.
A recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) lists all life on Earth by weight (measured in giga tons of carbon – Gt C, the marker for life). ). Accordingly, we humans do not account for 1% of life on this planet.
It is estimated that the Earth has about 550 giga tons of carbon for life. One giga ton is equal to one billion tons. One ton equals 1,000 kg. It would be difficult to visualize this huge mass. So the Vox site modeled the data in the PNAS study graphically.
What you will see below is like a tower of life. Each large block of this tower represents 1 giga ton of life, and the large blocks are grouped into large kingdoms of organisms. There are unicellular organisms (living microorganisms such as amoeba), archaea (single-celled organisms that closely resemble bacteria), fungi, bacteria, plants, and animals.
As you can see, plants are dominating our world. If the tower of life were an office building, plants would be the primary tenants occupying dozens of floors.
Contrary to that, all the animals in the world – the gray mass in the tower – are just as small as a convenience store on the ground floor.
Plants are dominating our world.
You will see that humans are insignificant compared to other species in the animal kingdom. Arthropods (insects) are 17 times larger than us. Even mollusks (such as oysters) weigh more than humans.
Humans are insignificant compared to other species in the animal kingdom.
Although we make up a small number, we are making a huge impact on the planet.
It is a fact to be emphasized that, although humans make up only a tiny fraction of the animal kingdom, we are having a huge impact on the planet. The chart above represents all current life, but it doesn’t show the things that used to live and die when humans appeared and the population exploded.
The authors of the PNAS paper estimate that the mass of wild land mammals has shrunk by up to seven times what it was before humans appeared. Similarly, marine mammals, including whales, are now only a fifth of what they were in the past because humans have hunted so many species to the point of near extinction.
And although plants are still the dominant form of life on Earth, scientists suspect they once doubled in size before humans began clearing forests to develop agriculture and build civilization.
To get these data, scientists had to use remote sensing satellites, combined with studies of the distribution of life in the ocean to collect information. Even so, they acknowledge that there is still a lot of uncertainty in the data.
Can’t ask for more, these are still the most accurate basic understandings we have of life on Earth. Every year, our planet loses millions of acres of forest.
Animals are going extinct 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than before humans appeared. For primates alone, which are close relatives of us, 60% are threatened with extinction.
With this chart, we now have to know how many more creatures are left on the planet to preserve.