Scholarly Views

#1

One Scholarly article focused on the role that climate change has in plant and animal extinction in Australia. The article mentioned that it is obvious that animal extinction is one of the biggest problems in Australia at the moment. Although plant and animal extinction is occurring, the article showed that the long term effects of these extinctions were still unknown. The article mentioned how species extinction was mainly caused by the spatial distribution of water sources. These water sources were very dependent on the climate, therefore causing the species extinction to be strongly impacted by the climate. The author’s main views are that climate plays a very large role in plant and animal species extinction. The article does a good job of explaining how climate change has a large influence over plant and animal extinction. The article also does a good job of sharing how much is still unknown about the long term effects of climate change induced plant and animal extinction. Although the article only mentioned how climate dependent water sources play a large role in species extinction, the would likely also think that climate change played a large role in the recent deforestation. The authors of this article would also probably say that much is still unknown about the long term effects of the recent wild fire deforestation. (Saltré, et al.). Jordan Holt

#2

A scholarly article that outlined the causes of climate change in todays world questioned why some populations, even when protected, are more prone to extinction that other species. In the article, there are four forces that come together to ultimately aid in extinction; those being demographic stochasticity, genetic deterioration, social dysfunction, and extrinsic forces (Simberloff p. 259). This is presented followed by the statement that humans are the ultimate cause of modern day extinction. Likewise, there are no documented extinction cases in which humans did not have a hand of some kind. Throughout the article, he speaks about how, while humans do play a role in extinction, they are not the only cause. The idea that population size plays a role in survival rates is brought up because there were extinctions happening long before humans inhabited the land thus meaning that there are forces outside of human that play a role. He also speaks about the fact that based on a species’ immunity and genetics, their likelihood of survival could be affected. This is due to the phenomenon known as survival of the fittest that we constantly hear about in biology classes. Another force that is discussed is social dysfunction which means that if a species is unable to interact in a cohesive way within their own population as well as outside, their likelihood of survival decreases as well. The last reason that is given for possible extinction given by Simberloff is that forces outside of visible ones most likely play a role. This is seen today through climate change and natural disasters that are constantly putting species at risk. It is important to note that most, while not all, of these forces are either directly or indirectly affected by human actions. This article is a good look into the idea that while humans are largely to blame for growing extinction rates, there are some other variables that should be examined before blame is completely placed. Casey O’Connell

#3

One scholarly article focused on how one particular species is effected by the bush fires. The article focused on Koalas and how they were losing their habitats and their lives at a rapid rate. The article also briefly mentioned and compared how humans were effected. There were a lot of similarities between the losses that koalas faced and the losses that humans faced. One example of these similarities is how both species are being harmed currently though the bush fires, but experts were unsure of the long term health effects that these species would face. Some experts say breathing in the smoke from these bush fires could decrease lung size permanently in both species. A decrease in lung size can lead to more lung related problems later in life. The article also compares the habitat loss of the two species. Humans are losing their homes. Koalas are losing their trees. The article also mentions how climate change has exacerbated the bush fires even more, and potentially even caused them. The article does a good job of arguing the severity of the bush fires through different studies. By comparing koalas to humans, it makes more people care about the bush fire situation. (Pei, Y. Et al, 2020). Jordan Holt