Biologist: Mass Extinction A Very Real Threat

Sep. 28 - KGO (KGO) -- More dire warnings about global warming. This time, they're coming out of Stanford from a biologist just back from an international conference. As temperatures rise, so does the very real threat of mass extinction.

As an exercise, imagine a science fiction story about a cataclysm -- something so big it melts the ice caps, raising the oceans, flooding your home and wiping out half the species on earth. If it were real, would you be concerned?

As one man we asked explained, "You're not going to be able to do anything about it, anyway. But if it's coming at us, it's gonna hit."

So what if we told you that according to many of the world's leading scientists, such changes have already begun -- not over an instant, but due to global warming, the next 100 years, and that we stand on the brink of a mass extinction.

ABC7's Wayne Freedman: "It's the equivalent of?"

Dr. Terry Root, Stanford biologist: "The extinction that was felt when the dinosaurs went extinct."

Dr. Terry Root, a biologist at Stanford University is home today from an international meeting of climate specialists who have reached a consensus, that from studying endangered species, they can link humans, fossil fuels and global warming.

Dr. Terry Root: "We are going to have an increase in temperature by about two degrees. We really can't stop that."

The big deal about global warning is that wildlife is coordinated. In Southern California, for instance, the Checkspot butterfly relies on nectar from a wildflower that used to bloom at just the right time for the butterfly to spread its pollen. But if one reacts to temperature, and the other to sunlight, they fall out of sync and both disappear.

Dr. Terry Root: "Right now, today, we have species A relying on species B, and species B relying on species C, species C relying on species D. Now if something happens to species D, (then) C, B and A all are in turmoil."

But unless we know where to look, this mass extinction, they say, remains subtle, affecting many little-known creatures in far away places. But in another context, they describe it as watching the wave of a deadly tsunami while still offshore. A rise of one degree in the last century may not sound like much, unless it accelerates into the next one.

Dr. Terry Root: "Very equivalent to sitting down and watching a frog in a pot of water. As you turn the heat of the water up, it gets warmer and warmer. The frog doesn't really realize that's what's going on."

Wayne Freedman: "Until?"

Dr. Terry Root: "It's dead."

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•