Global Lords: I Have Information System

Chapter 786 - 493: Reunion with the Lion Skeleton Knight

[Anti-theft Chapter, Refreshing at the Usual Time]

[No Further Explanation Needed]

[Chapter Three Will Be Updated on the 4th]

On October 11th, the first phase of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity will commence in Kunming City, Yunnan Province.

In 2021, amid the global ecological environment being prominently impacted by climate warming, this conference is undoubtedly the most important one held by the United Nations and the most significant international conference hosted by our country this year. The theme of this conference will be "Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth," advocating the promotion of global ecological civilization construction. It will emphasize that humans and nature form a community with a shared future, stressing the importance of respecting nature, aligning with nature, and protecting nature, striving to achieve the convention’s goal of sustainable use and benefit-sharing of biodiversity by 2050, realizing the beautiful vision of "harmony between humans and nature."

As the conference begins, the most concerning issue for the outside world is: What does global warming mean for Earth, humans, and other organisms? Today, let us return to around 55 million years ago, to experience the "Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)," which may provide some inspiration for us today.

PETM started 10 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs

million years after the mass extinction of dinosaurs, the global average temperature suddenly experienced a steep rise. During this period, known as the "Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)," large-scale emissions of greenhouse gases led to a global temperature increase of at least 5 degrees.

According to Red Star News, during this period of global climate anomaly, due to turbulent atmosphere and oceans, the global ecological environment underwent drastic changes.

It’s known that the root cause of this global climate change didn’t come from the atmosphere but from beneath the oceans. On this, paleontologists and geologists speculate that during the Paleocene or post-dinosaur extinction period, global climate naturally warmed to a certain extent, causing large methane crystal deposits to transform into gas. The seabed released excess methane gas into the water and air, making Earth rapidly warm as this greenhouse gas is stronger than carbon dioxide. It resulted in an average temperature surge of more than 12 degrees in less than 20,000 years, remained stable for over 70,000 years, and then began a long, slow decline.

In this period of global climate anomaly, due to the turbulence of atmosphere and oceans, the global ecological environment underwent drastic changes: There was no ice at the poles, crocodiles moved to the marshes overgrown with weeds near the Arctic; subtropical forests spread across the continents extending to northern latitudes; most deep-sea creatures went extinct, and land animals decreased and migrated north to reproduce in cooler climates, with groups of new animals like primates starting to gain a foothold here...

According to Red Star News, in this period of global climate anomaly, most deep-sea creatures went extinct, and land animals decreased and migrated north to cooler climates to reproduce.

Everything that happened during this ancient "global warming" period is fully reflected in fossil records. In today’s era of escalating global warming, these records might help humans understand its impact on the ecological environment.

Extinction began in the seas

In this global warming, marine ecology suffered the most devastating blow.

In a way, Earth’s oceans function like a colossal conveyor belt. Under normal circumstances, cold air and seawater mix in the southern hemisphere, forming dense and cold "deep water" while constantly remaining in motion. However, during the warmer PETM period, the high-temperature climate led to more rainfall in the Arctic, weakening ocean currents and altering the marine ecological environment.

According to Red Star News, marine ecology in the PETM period suffered the most devastating blow.

Within less than 5,000 years, cold air and seawater in the North Atlantic began to mix, and changes in water flow warmed the oceans. The higher temperatures accelerated the metabolism of marine organisms, increasing their food requirements. However, paradoxically, the higher the water temperature, the lower the oxygen content, resulting in the extinction of many deep-sea creatures. In short, the warm PETM period put marine life in a difficult survival situation: animals needed more food to sustain life, but the lack of oxygen made survival conditions harsher, and nutrients continued to be scarce, disrupting the marine food chain.

The impact of this climate change lasted nearly 100,000 years, with some organisms perishing because they couldn’t keep up with the changes. For example, a deep-sea species called "benthic foraminifera" underwent a large-scale die-off due to these changes. For a long time, benthic foraminifera have been the staple diet for many small marine organisms, and due to their abundance in fossil records, they are also a favorite among paleobiologists for studying evolution and extinction.

Scientific research has found that during this phase, over 35% of "benthic foraminifera" went extinct, marking the only major crisis for this species in the past 90 million years. Paleontologists speculate that their disappearance had a profound impact on the marine ecological chain.

Gradually "shrinking" mammals

million years ago, before an asteroid destroyed all non-avian dinosaurs, the largest furry creature on Earth weighed only about 11 pounds (approximately 4.98 kilograms), roughly the size of an American badger. About a million years later, as new ecological niches were cleared by mass extinctions, the largest furry creature was about the size of a German Shepherd.

According to Red Star News, a moose