Can you explain the loss of biodiversity?

Answer 1

1. assuming there is a loss of biodiversity, which has not been established beyond reasonable doubt:

a. human intervention

b. natural disasters

c. maladaption to environment.

a. this is for example the case of the condor, which is almost extinct as a result of dams

being built in mountainous areas, depriving it of some of its natural habitat. another example is the dodo which was hunted for fun to the point of extinction.

b. natural disasters. it is believed at present that a meteorite containing large amounts of iridium caused a natural kind of nuclear winter, wiping out the dinosaurs. thus we have no dinosaurs today. no, they were not wiped out in the biblical flood, that is a children's story.

c. some creatures are not well adapted to their environments or cannot adapt when they change. an example of this is _amphibia_. frogs, newts and toads require damp or moist environments, generally, (though you do find some in desert conditions). thus when an area dries up, they die out because they cannot travel over the dried-up area to another moist area.

2. there is an argument to be made that biodiversity is not decreasing. large dangerous animals are decreasing in diversity, however, insects, if anything, are increasing, as well as other smaller animals that humans can't easily eradicate. so for example, they recently found a new kind of elephant shrew. this doesn't mean it evolved recently, but that we have reason to believe more animals are evolving, ie that evolution has not stopped. (no, the bible does not work as a science textbook and the book of genesis is false). an example of animals adapting to human presence has occurred in my hometown of Johannesburg, South Africa. in 1985 we generally only had weavers (yellow finch-like birds). then we started getting hadedas (African ibises). by 1987 we started seeing crested barbets (a kind of woodpecker), and by 1990 loeries (grey African turacos). recently we have started seeing hoepoes (a kind of small bird similar in appearance to a ibis), as well as wood hoepoes (which are iridescent green versions of the brown ones), plus red bishops (like weavers but bright red). and so on. so these birds, having discovered that there's more food in our rubbish bins and on our gardens' fruit trees, have migrated into the cities to live amongst people rather than out in the veld (prairie) where there is less food.

Answer 2

we want yours