Fossils always have interesting stories to tell, and two studies by prominent scientists in the field suggest this one may not have a happy ending... Today's Seattle Times reports that in Earth's 520+ million year history, four of the five major extinctions are linked to warmer tropical seas. Warmer seas, by the way, are indicative of a warmer planet. Now the trouble is, research suggests our home terra may reach the same level of extinction-connected warming in about a century if we don't curb greenhouse gas emissions.
In the British study, Mayhew and his colleagues looked at temperatures in 10 million-year chunks because fossil records aren't that precise in time measurements. They compared those to the number of species, the number of species families, and overall biodiversity. They found more biodiversity with lower temperatures and more species dying with higher temperatures.
Every time the tropical-sea temperatures were about 7 degrees ...
