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For humans, it was the greatest catastrophe. Remember Permian-Triassic period didn't just affected one species and there were no humans during that period. You
by azazqadir 11y ago
For humans, it was the greatest catastrophe. Remember Permian-Triassic period didn't just affected one species and there were no humans during that period. You could say our ancestors were affected though.
- arethuza 11y agoThere is the Toba catastrophe theory - basically that the huge eruption of Toba caused a reduction of the number of breeding pairs of humans down to a few thousand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory
- danieltillett 11y agoHasn't the Toba theory been discredited?
- spacehome 11y agoPerhaps the volcano wasn't the cause, but IIRC there's reason to think that humans display less genetic diversity than might be expected, pointing towards a bottleneck somewhere in the past.
- danieltillett 11y agoHumans are very unusual from a genetic perspective that makes analysis of us difficult. Firstly, the population has expand hugely in a very short time so there are all sorts of founder effects. Secondly, the selection presure completely changed a few thousand years ago with the transition from hunter-gather to farming. These two factors make it really hard to use the normal genetic tools and concepts to study human evolution and draw accurate conclusions.
- azazqadir 11y agoThis is the first I have heard about Toba Catastrophe. I must suck at prehistoric history.
- arethuza 11y agoWell, as danieltillett points out, it seems to have been discredited but the eruption definitely did happen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toba
- wobbleblob 11y agoTell that to the synapsids. Tell that to the trilobites! Tell them that straight to their faces, if you can find one.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]