Epic survivors

There have been five mass extinctions on Earth, and the concern is that we might be in the midst of the sixth. A mass extinction is defined by the disappearance of 75 per cent of species. Amazingly, there is a species living today that has survived all of these catastrophic events. Around 444 million years ago, at the end of the Ordovician period, the first mass extinction was probably prompted by the uplift of the Appalachian Mountains causing the exposure of silicate-rich rock that sucked CO2 out of the atmosphere, chilling the planet and leading to a short but extreme ice age that lowered sea levels. In the late Devonian, around 375 million years ago, another extinction was caused by the flourishing of land plants. Plants have roots and the deep root…

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WellBeing (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 204

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