I read in this morning's paper that scientists are predicting that in the next 50 years we are going to lose a significant amount of animal species to extinction. I believe the number was 10% but I'm not certain(I was half awake). Regardless of what the percentage is or what the real total will eventually be, is there really anything out of the ordinary happening even if we're one of the ones to go?
There have been previous extinction periods through Earth's history due to a variety of causes.... disease, climate, catastrophe, etc. Perhaps I can enlist the aid of some of you with knowledge on the extinction subject. I'd like to know if there have been any theories put forth or if there is any hard evidence that the arrival of one species, other than humans, has spelled doom for many?
I suppose that a germ decimating certain lifeforms could be classified as a type of a natural biological weapon but what I'm interested to know is if something akin to the arrival and subsequent dominance of the dinosaurs made life impossible for other species?
Is our present dominance with the resultant or impending extinctions just following a natural order? We are a part of nature, are we not? Whatever we do obviously affects life on the planet but should our actions be considered unnatural?