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Scientific American Library Series #20
Extinction
Nice book to add to any collection.
242 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 1, 2022
De Nederlandse vertaling van dit werk door Veerman, dat vanwege het nieuwe bedenkelijke beleid van Goodreads niet kan toegevoegd worden, dateert uit 2008, bijna twintig jaar na het originele werk. In dit uitstekende verslag gaat Steven Stanley na in de aardse geschiedenis hoe extincties in hun werk gaan, hoe deze ontstaan, welke impact ze hebben op het leven, welke soorten uitroeiingen er zijn en welke patronen we kunnen herkennen. Wie houdt van zulke materie zal zijn kennis kunnen uitbreiden met dit boek dat chronologisch en gedetailleerd de uitstervingsgolven van het Fanerozoïcum bestudeerd. Het enige minpunt is dat er véél meer aandacht is voor de oorzaken van extincties dan voor de gevolgen, wat mij persoonlijk meer interesseert.
March 8, 2025
AN EXPOSITION OF EVIDENCE FOR/AGAINST SUGGESTED CAUSES OF EXTINCTIONS
Paleobiologist Steven Stanley wrote in the Preface of this 1987 book, “Mass extinctions---global crises that have repeatedly swept away most species of animal life on earth---are now basic facts of geology. Each great crisis has ‘reset’ the global biological system, in the sense that important groups of organisms have disappeared, making way for the expansion of others. For example, about 65 million years ago mammals suddenly began to assume the role vacated by dinosaurs… Two controversial ideas have stimulated a recent surge of popular interest in mass extinctions. The first is the proposal that the impact of a giant meteor or comet triggered the crisis that ended the dinosaurs’ reign. The second is the hypothesis that this and other crises have been spaced at regular intervals, owing to the operation of some periodic astronomical agent. Missing from the … popular accounts … is any comprehensive evaluation of the record of great extinctions that is being read from rocks and fossils. [This book] is designed to fill this void… this book takes the reader on a trip through the history of life on earth. Mass extinctions are interruptions of the trip…
“This book… is about the wide variety of paleontological and geological evidence that bears on the nature of the great extinctions… In part, the fervent efforts of paleontologists to unravel the puzzle of mass extinctions have resulted from our chauvinistic impulse to convince the world that astronomers do not have simple answers to complex geological problems.. Paleontologists have data that raise serious doubts about the idea that impacts of extraterrestrial objects (meteors or comets) have caused most episodes of mass extinction. Moreover, we have data suggesting that many of the mass extinctions resulted from certain other, more mundane causes. In particular, I see changes in the earth’s climate as the most important cause of crises in the history of life… New evidence has surfaced during just the past two or three years to strengthen the case for climatic causation.”
He states in the first chapter, “The great extinctions that have punctuated the history of life on earth have attracted widespread attention primarily because of humans’ fascination with dinosaurs… a variety of other biological groups … met their end along with the dinosaurs. Paleontologists reserve the term ‘mass extinction’ for biotic crises such as this one, that were relatively sudden on a geological scale… and that swept away a wide variety of living creatures… there have been fewer than a dozen biotic crises that qualify as major mass extinctions, and their victims include a minority of all extinct species. Most of the other species that have died out… have suffered piecemeal extinctions… In fact, most of the species that have inhabited our planet died out long ago…
“Well into the 18th century, the living world remained quite poorly known. As a result, some scientists cogently argued that strange, and possibly extinct, creatures known from the fossil record might yet survive in unexplored regions of the globe. Theology, more than anything else, fueled opposition to the idea of extinction. The biosphere was supposed to constitute a perfect creation, and the demise of entire species would imply imperfection… Not until 1786 did Georges Cuvier… establish the fact of extinction to the satisfaction of nearly all students of natural history… he was [also]… the first to observe that entire ancient communities of plants and animals had been swept away by what we now call mass extinctions.” (Pg. 1-2)
He acknowledges, “for only a handful [of species] do we know with a high degree of certainty the actual cause of extinction. For the vast majority of lost species, we simply cannot reconstruct either demographic history or relevant environmental changes with sufficient detail to understand what happened… The fossil record occasionally reveals that at some time many species in a particular region have died out during a very brief interval… We have a much better chance of discovering the cause of a pulse of extinction that removed many species than we do of discovering the cause of the isolated disappearance of a single species. The larger event can display a pattern of selection extinction that a single species’ demise cannot.” (Pg. 10-11)
He outlines, “Common patterns tend to point to common agents of destruction. One salient point is … that many individual crises have struck both on the land in in the sea… A second feature … is that on the land… plants have been highly resistant to mass extinction… A third theme … is the preferential disappearance of tropical forms of life during mass extinctions… A fourth characteristic … is the tendency of certain groups of animals to experience them repeatedly… And, finally, the most controversial trait … is their alleged equal spacing… in geological time. It has been proposed that mass extinctions have occurred every 26 million years… The intriguing question of periodicity will be addressed in the final chapter…” (Pg. 17-18)
He notes, “There is one simple fact that makes climatic change a likely general agent for mass extinction. This is the relative ease with which a change in global temperatures can eliminate myriads of species. Two aspects of mass extinction are important in this light. One is that on two levels, its impact is comprehensive. The first level is that of the species…. the second level … is at the level of the taxonomic group… The advantage of temperature change as an agent of extinction is that it permeates the environment on a global scale.” (Pg. 40)
He states, “a strong case emerges that climatic cooling was the dominant agent of Late Devonian mass extinction. Inasmuch as the glacial deposits of this interval that have thus far been dated are Famennian in age, it remains possible that that Frasnian segment of the mass extinction took place during the early stages of climatic deterioration, before continental glaciers had developed. An alternative possibility is that glaciation began in Frasnian time but has not yet been detected in the rock record.” (Pg. 87)
Later, he adds, “One of the traits shared by the three crises and suggesting a prominent role for climatic cooling is the repeated patterns of heavy extinction in the tropics, an important aspect of which was the destruction of the tropical reef community. Also evident… is a progressive compression of the biotas of higher latitudes toward the tropical zone. In fact, each of the mass extinctions occupied several million years and probably occurred in several phases.” (Pg. 106)
He observes, “There is no question that dinosaurs have been widely underrated by members of the human species, who have pictured them as lumbering hulks that died out because they somehow became outmoded. Actually, some dinosaurs only weighed … about 5 pounds, but… there is no reason that this negative appraisal should be correct. Extinction does not imply biological inferiority. The dinosaurs died out because of environmental changes, not because mammals suddenly developed superior traits. Late Cretaceous mammals… were small and, by modern standards, primitive.” (Pg. 114)
He points out, “Whether the impact on earth of an extraterrestrial object caused mass extinction in latest Cretaceous time is really a double question. The first part of the question is, did an impact occur? The second is, if an impact did occur, how much extinction did it cause? In a recent survey of scientists … a majority … believed that an impact occurred at the end of the Cretaceous, but the large majority of those opposed the idea that it caused mass extinction. (Some other groups of geoscientists voted somewhat differently.)” (Pg. 163)
He states, “most of the huge Late Cretaceous fauna were gone before latest Cretaceous time. What caused the long interval of general biotic deterioration? Many lines of evidence … point to climatic change as the primary agent. In the terrestrial realm, the case for this is especially strong because of the testimony of flowering plants.” (Pg. 169) Later, he adds, “Climatic change has… exerted a dominant control over changes in the ecosystem throughout Neogene time. The net trend has been one of sporadic deterioration of climates, and this has represented a continuation of the changes that began during the Eocene Epoch.” (Pg. 191)
He concludes, “One criticism of the climate hypothesis is based on the claim that it should predict the demise of small species along with larger ones. This prediction is not certain, however… vegetational changes [may have] worked against large animals… Possibly both hunting [by early humans] and climatic change contributed to the crisis for large mammals, but many participants in the controversy tend to favor one hypothesis or the other. The debate continues.” (Pg. 207)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying paleobiology and extinction.
Paleobiologist Steven Stanley wrote in the Preface of this 1987 book, “Mass extinctions---global crises that have repeatedly swept away most species of animal life on earth---are now basic facts of geology. Each great crisis has ‘reset’ the global biological system, in the sense that important groups of organisms have disappeared, making way for the expansion of others. For example, about 65 million years ago mammals suddenly began to assume the role vacated by dinosaurs… Two controversial ideas have stimulated a recent surge of popular interest in mass extinctions. The first is the proposal that the impact of a giant meteor or comet triggered the crisis that ended the dinosaurs’ reign. The second is the hypothesis that this and other crises have been spaced at regular intervals, owing to the operation of some periodic astronomical agent. Missing from the … popular accounts … is any comprehensive evaluation of the record of great extinctions that is being read from rocks and fossils. [This book] is designed to fill this void… this book takes the reader on a trip through the history of life on earth. Mass extinctions are interruptions of the trip…
“This book… is about the wide variety of paleontological and geological evidence that bears on the nature of the great extinctions… In part, the fervent efforts of paleontologists to unravel the puzzle of mass extinctions have resulted from our chauvinistic impulse to convince the world that astronomers do not have simple answers to complex geological problems.. Paleontologists have data that raise serious doubts about the idea that impacts of extraterrestrial objects (meteors or comets) have caused most episodes of mass extinction. Moreover, we have data suggesting that many of the mass extinctions resulted from certain other, more mundane causes. In particular, I see changes in the earth’s climate as the most important cause of crises in the history of life… New evidence has surfaced during just the past two or three years to strengthen the case for climatic causation.”
He states in the first chapter, “The great extinctions that have punctuated the history of life on earth have attracted widespread attention primarily because of humans’ fascination with dinosaurs… a variety of other biological groups … met their end along with the dinosaurs. Paleontologists reserve the term ‘mass extinction’ for biotic crises such as this one, that were relatively sudden on a geological scale… and that swept away a wide variety of living creatures… there have been fewer than a dozen biotic crises that qualify as major mass extinctions, and their victims include a minority of all extinct species. Most of the other species that have died out… have suffered piecemeal extinctions… In fact, most of the species that have inhabited our planet died out long ago…
“Well into the 18th century, the living world remained quite poorly known. As a result, some scientists cogently argued that strange, and possibly extinct, creatures known from the fossil record might yet survive in unexplored regions of the globe. Theology, more than anything else, fueled opposition to the idea of extinction. The biosphere was supposed to constitute a perfect creation, and the demise of entire species would imply imperfection… Not until 1786 did Georges Cuvier… establish the fact of extinction to the satisfaction of nearly all students of natural history… he was [also]… the first to observe that entire ancient communities of plants and animals had been swept away by what we now call mass extinctions.” (Pg. 1-2)
He acknowledges, “for only a handful [of species] do we know with a high degree of certainty the actual cause of extinction. For the vast majority of lost species, we simply cannot reconstruct either demographic history or relevant environmental changes with sufficient detail to understand what happened… The fossil record occasionally reveals that at some time many species in a particular region have died out during a very brief interval… We have a much better chance of discovering the cause of a pulse of extinction that removed many species than we do of discovering the cause of the isolated disappearance of a single species. The larger event can display a pattern of selection extinction that a single species’ demise cannot.” (Pg. 10-11)
He outlines, “Common patterns tend to point to common agents of destruction. One salient point is … that many individual crises have struck both on the land in in the sea… A second feature … is that on the land… plants have been highly resistant to mass extinction… A third theme … is the preferential disappearance of tropical forms of life during mass extinctions… A fourth characteristic … is the tendency of certain groups of animals to experience them repeatedly… And, finally, the most controversial trait … is their alleged equal spacing… in geological time. It has been proposed that mass extinctions have occurred every 26 million years… The intriguing question of periodicity will be addressed in the final chapter…” (Pg. 17-18)
He notes, “There is one simple fact that makes climatic change a likely general agent for mass extinction. This is the relative ease with which a change in global temperatures can eliminate myriads of species. Two aspects of mass extinction are important in this light. One is that on two levels, its impact is comprehensive. The first level is that of the species…. the second level … is at the level of the taxonomic group… The advantage of temperature change as an agent of extinction is that it permeates the environment on a global scale.” (Pg. 40)
He states, “a strong case emerges that climatic cooling was the dominant agent of Late Devonian mass extinction. Inasmuch as the glacial deposits of this interval that have thus far been dated are Famennian in age, it remains possible that that Frasnian segment of the mass extinction took place during the early stages of climatic deterioration, before continental glaciers had developed. An alternative possibility is that glaciation began in Frasnian time but has not yet been detected in the rock record.” (Pg. 87)
Later, he adds, “One of the traits shared by the three crises and suggesting a prominent role for climatic cooling is the repeated patterns of heavy extinction in the tropics, an important aspect of which was the destruction of the tropical reef community. Also evident… is a progressive compression of the biotas of higher latitudes toward the tropical zone. In fact, each of the mass extinctions occupied several million years and probably occurred in several phases.” (Pg. 106)
He observes, “There is no question that dinosaurs have been widely underrated by members of the human species, who have pictured them as lumbering hulks that died out because they somehow became outmoded. Actually, some dinosaurs only weighed … about 5 pounds, but… there is no reason that this negative appraisal should be correct. Extinction does not imply biological inferiority. The dinosaurs died out because of environmental changes, not because mammals suddenly developed superior traits. Late Cretaceous mammals… were small and, by modern standards, primitive.” (Pg. 114)
He points out, “Whether the impact on earth of an extraterrestrial object caused mass extinction in latest Cretaceous time is really a double question. The first part of the question is, did an impact occur? The second is, if an impact did occur, how much extinction did it cause? In a recent survey of scientists … a majority … believed that an impact occurred at the end of the Cretaceous, but the large majority of those opposed the idea that it caused mass extinction. (Some other groups of geoscientists voted somewhat differently.)” (Pg. 163)
He states, “most of the huge Late Cretaceous fauna were gone before latest Cretaceous time. What caused the long interval of general biotic deterioration? Many lines of evidence … point to climatic change as the primary agent. In the terrestrial realm, the case for this is especially strong because of the testimony of flowering plants.” (Pg. 169) Later, he adds, “Climatic change has… exerted a dominant control over changes in the ecosystem throughout Neogene time. The net trend has been one of sporadic deterioration of climates, and this has represented a continuation of the changes that began during the Eocene Epoch.” (Pg. 191)
He concludes, “One criticism of the climate hypothesis is based on the claim that it should predict the demise of small species along with larger ones. This prediction is not certain, however… vegetational changes [may have] worked against large animals… Possibly both hunting [by early humans] and climatic change contributed to the crisis for large mammals, but many participants in the controversy tend to favor one hypothesis or the other. The debate continues.” (Pg. 207)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying paleobiology and extinction.
March 24, 2008
A nice intro to the plethora of mass extinctions Earth has experienced. My only qualm: Stanley has quite a fixation on bivalves & other tiny ocean creatures, so that 75% of the book is him describing what mollusks or reef-builders died when, where, and why. Of course that's a major part of history's extinctions, but... seriously. Bivalves? I'm not THAT interested. Otherwise, he makes quite a nice analysis of various extinction theories that aren't just the usual, "Durrr, a big ol' rock done hit them dinosaurs!"
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews