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Microbes also started the oxygenation of the atmosphere. Some microbes were off-gassing oxygen. There was a cartoon in one of my college textbooks where some m
by DoreenMichele 4y ago
Microbes also started the oxygenation of the atmosphere. Some microbes were off-gassing oxygen.
There was a cartoon in one of my college textbooks where some microbes were decrying how their oxygen-producing neighbors were ruining the environment with their high levels of poisonous oxygen off-gassing.
- krisoft 4y agoAbsolutely. It is speculated that the increasing oxygen level caused a mass extinction event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event Change has winners and losers. Microbes who evolved to thrive in an anaerobic environment suffered, us oxygen breathers gained advantage.
- v8xi 4y agoOn this topic, I would highly recommend Nick Lane's Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World. Interesting learning about how life worked different when oxygen was much lower, and much higher than today.
- unlikelymordant 4y agoseems like a good analogy that it's entirely possible for earth's inhabitants to produce so much poisonous waste gas that a new equilibrium is found in which basically none of the original organisms survive and the old status quo never returns. Hopefully CO2 doesn't do anything quite so drastic for humans.