About the sixth extinction (I)
Appearance and reality in the ecology of the sixth extinction
Keywords:
extinction, extinction debt, extinction fund rate, anthropogenic biomes, co-extinctionAbstract
This first work about the sixth extinction (I) tries to explain some ground conceptual framework within ecology which blooms false suppositions, quite propagated, that de-sensibilise public opinion in the face of true outreach of the current extinction crisis. Right after a brief introduction (1), it’s explained (2) how the fund extinction rate concept has allowed differentiating between massive extinctions and agonistic extinctions – the ones which follow darwinian-only mechanisms such as natural selection – refuting such as the evolutional gradualism hypothesis which normalizes amidst public opinion the simplification of extinctions as mere biosphere cleansing filters towards unadapted life forms. Following that (3) it offers a systemic explanation on the relation between extinction cascades of species and the climatic, ecological and social processes over which Anthropocene is typified, in order to (4) include in this sixth massive extinction clarification anthropogenic factors such as biological “exchange” and the homogenization of the biota. The consequences from these factors have given room to categorization of species according to their adaptability into anthromes or human biomes: accommodated species, relicts and ghosts. Then (5) one introduces the diachronic concept of extinction debt as antidote against the optimism related to the apparent health remaining species show. Finally (6) will there be arguments opposed to the possibility of biotechnological restitution for extinct species, and against hopes on extinction governance through the optimization of anthropogenic processes like technology and economy.
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