49 ms·

How did enough birds survive post-impact in order for them to still exist, if their ‘air sack’ lungs are so sensitive to air quality?

HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
I'd guess that the inner parts of a forest environment, perhaps especially if wet (trapping dust on leaves) would have better air quality, but I'd expect that limited sunlight due to dust would be more of a problem than air quality. Smaller more generalist animals like birds and mammals understandably did better than large herbivores (and their predators) dependent on a single type of food source.
- deisteve 2y ago
  yeah thats probly right, inner parts of forest would be cleaner air wise dust gets trapped on leaves and stuff but sunlight is probly a bigger issue, less of it gets thru all the dust and thats bad for plants and animals alike, especially ones that need lots of it like big herbivores and their predators, theyd struggle to survive on limited sunlight and maybe even worse air quality than outer parts of forest, generalist animals like birds and small mammals would do ok tho, they can eat lots of diff things and dont need as much sunlight
  - HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
    "rephrase in more casual form" ? What was the prompt to generate that ?!
shagie 2y ago
https://www.audubon.org/news/how-birds-survived-asteroid-impact-wiped-out-dinosaurs https://www.audubon.org/news/how-birds-survived-asteroid-imp... ... though it doesn't get into the air quality directly.
Swizec 2y ago
> How did enough birds survive post-impact in order for them to still exist, if their ‘air sack’ lungs are so sensitive to air quality? The k-pg extinction was instant in a geologic sense, but in terms of individual animals it felt more like a slow decline. It took a few thousand years for the whole thing to happen[1]. With effects lasting into the 500,000 year range. For most birds the air pollution was similar to what you see from large forest fires. Even when skies were orange in San Francisco a few years ago, birds weren't dropping dead. High AQI kills slowly, if you (or a bird) are not inhaling smoke directly. But yes every bird within a few thousand kilometers of the impact site probably died instantly. Most birds and other animals were not within that radius. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event#Duration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_e...
- bigiain 2y ago
  From that wikipedia page: "The sedimentation rate and thickness of K–Pg clay from three sites suggest rapid extinction, perhaps over a period of less than 10,000 years." I wonder if far in the future the cockroach or perhaps ant-colony wikipedia will say something like: "The sedimentation rate and thickness of Anthropocene-Insectocene clay from three sites suggest rapid extinction, perhaps over a period of less than 10,000 years."
mr_toad 2y ago
Most bird species also went extinct. Perhaps the survivors, which seem to be small ground dwelling birds had and needed less fine tuned lungs.
- lupusreal 2y ago
  I thought the survivors are thought to be small flighted birds which were able to rapidly travel long distances looking for the remaining food and suitable habitat.

HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago

I'd guess that the inner parts of a forest environment, perhaps especially if wet (trapping dust on leaves) would have better air quality, but I'd expect that limited sunlight due to dust would be more of a problem than air quality. Smaller more generalist animals like birds and mammals understandably did better than large herbivores (and their predators) dependent on a single type of food source.

deisteve 2y ago
yeah thats probly right, inner parts of forest would be cleaner air wise dust gets trapped on leaves and stuff but sunlight is probly a bigger issue, less of it gets thru all the dust and thats bad for plants and animals alike, especially ones that need lots of it like big herbivores and their predators, theyd struggle to survive on limited sunlight and maybe even worse air quality than outer parts of forest, generalist animals like birds and small mammals would do ok tho, they can eat lots of diff things and dont need as much sunlight
- HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
  "rephrase in more casual form" ? What was the prompt to generate that ?!

shagie 2y ago

https://www.audubon.org/news/how-birds-survived-asteroid-impact-wiped-out-dinosaurs https://www.audubon.org/news/how-birds-survived-asteroid-imp... ... though it doesn't get into the air quality directly.

Swizec 2y ago

> How did enough birds survive post-impact in order for them to still exist, if their ‘air sack’ lungs are so sensitive to air quality? The k-pg extinction was instant in a geologic sense, but in terms of individual animals it felt more like a slow decline. It took a few thousand years for the whole thing to happen[1]. With effects lasting into the 500,000 year range. For most birds the air pollution was similar to what you see from large forest fires. Even when skies were orange in San Francisco a few years ago, birds weren't dropping dead. High AQI kills slowly, if you (or a bird) are not inhaling smoke directly. But yes every bird within a few thousand kilometers of the impact site probably died instantly. Most birds and other animals were not within that radius. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event#Duration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_e...

bigiain 2y ago
From that wikipedia page: "The sedimentation rate and thickness of K–Pg clay from three sites suggest rapid extinction, perhaps over a period of less than 10,000 years." I wonder if far in the future the cockroach or perhaps ant-colony wikipedia will say something like: "The sedimentation rate and thickness of Anthropocene-Insectocene clay from three sites suggest rapid extinction, perhaps over a period of less than 10,000 years."

mr_toad 2y ago

Most bird species also went extinct. Perhaps the survivors, which seem to be small ground dwelling birds had and needed less fine tuned lungs.

lupusreal 2y ago
I thought the survivors are thought to be small flighted birds which were able to rapidly travel long distances looking for the remaining food and suitable habitat.