In this post I'd like to write about... Well, all right, I won't use the corny "I will tell" line. I shall just write, and we will see, right? Because when we see things, instead of being told, things can sink in better. Extinction works in a similar way. "First you see it, now you don't," is unfortunately how a lot of extinction happens. Of course, that's telling about extinction. Extinction occurs more frequently than any would like to admit. For many, the problem is not serious enough to cause concern, or it is not considered a problem at all. In the case of extinction, the most powerful way to "tell" about it is to "show" about it, which is rather hard to do in a blog post. To start, I will show you some numbers.
According to Wikipedia, "3079 animals and 2655 plants are endangered worldwide, compared with 1998 levels of 1102 and 1197, respectively." That is almost triple and more than double in these examples. Congratulations humanity. Now let's talk about DNA.
DNA refers to the genetic material that makes up a species genome. Without going in depth on the science behind DNA, suffice it to say, DNA is the reproductive material for a species. Each member of a species carries with it the complete genome, with some minor variations, for the entire species. (This minor variation is enough, of course, to cause an essentially endless amount of different combinations.) DNA and how it works is an extremely fascinating discussion. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, referring to the molecular content, which is not important to know unless you are a biologist.
Let's look at the human genome by the numbers briefly. The human has 23 chromosomes under normal circumstances. Each chromosome has a different amount of "meat" in it, meaning "base pairs." Base pairs refers to the actual DNA molecules (pairs of them, obviously.) There are 3,234.83 million base pairs in the human, which equates to roughly 3.2 billion. (It is almost impossible to count to 1B in your lifetime, by the way, especially if you take bathroom breaks or sleep. Counting to 3B could take roughly 150 years.) Yet your cells have no problem copying this material constantly. This amount of material is equal to copying several books, large ones.
It is a lot of information. That much is clear, right? It is a lot of information. Every species contains so much DNA, and codes for so many different things, that we simply can't be aware of all of the things it does. The Human Genome Project took years to map the first human genome, and now genome mapping is much more efficient, but we still don't know what all those molecules do.
Wait... We still don't know everything? Hmmm.... So back to our issue of extinction. If a species dies out, and all we have left is a single hair, is the species still alive? Not unless we develop Jurassic park technology and create animals out of their DNA samples. Which leads me to conclude that, as a book lover, species are like books in a way. They all serve a purpose, whether or not we narrow-minded humans can see it, and they all contain a vast amount of information, and each species could be seen as a chapter in the world's history book.
So what happens when a species goes extinct? We lose an entire chapter of the world with it. Everything in the world has a story to tell, but when an entire species disappears, we lose entire volumes of information. What if that last species that went extinct held the key to curing cancer? Maybe, or maybe not. But a piece of the ecosystem did disappear. When a piece of the puzzle disappears, either there is an incomplete picture or something must come in to replace it. Currently, various sources say we are technically experiencing a mass extinction event, equivalent to extinctions such as the death of the dinosaurs and other such events. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, this would be the 6th such event - in geologic time, small numbers mean very significant things. A year means nothing - but hundreds of species dead in a year means a very great deal. According to the CBD again, roughly 7 to 13 percent of American species alone are at risk of extinction.
We can applaud ourselves for creating circumstances equivalent to a massive meteor impact, volcanic eruption, or similar highly destructive events. While if one of these events were to happen, it would be natural and unavoidable, our behavior has damaged the world, and it is avoidable. It makes sense to avoid things of risk - generally staying away from carcinogens is better than exposing yourself constantly. Similarly, the high risk of endangered species is avoidable, and saving them is better than losing them. Generally speaking, species go extinct naturally. Evolution, natural selection, adaptation, and etc. are all highly efficient pruning methods used by nature. But our destruction is essentially inexusable. Not only do we irreversibly destroy entire species, but we also damage ourselves, in one way or another, by damaging our ecosystems. We can clearly see, through a variety of methods, that our interactions with the environment are extremely destructive, and destructive towards ourselves as well.
There is hope, however. Educating normal people about the plight our fellow creatures have will enlighten people and possible encourage them to change. Putting monetary values on species could also prove helpful, since the value that species have to their ecosystems can only be guessed. We can encourage, educate, and do our part to avoid destroying our species, the chapters in the world's book, and the incredibly complex and valuable information that every species offers through their DNA. We owe it to the world, as the species that has done the most harm in the shortest time span, to collectively accept responsibility for our actions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_genome
http://www.earthsendangered.com/full_list.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/
