Ordovician Mass Destinction - Essay Example

This time period was witness to a number of conditions and events which were responsible for giving rise to a number of bioevents during this time. Ordovician time period is characterized by “rapid replacement of the Cambrian fauna with the Paleozoic fauna” (Barnes et al ,pg 140). The biota during this period was modifying itself and adapting to the changing physical and chemical changes in the oceans. Most of the life forms of this period that adapted and existed successfully were the ones that were most severely affected by this extinction event.

Almost 26% of all marine families and almost 85% of all genera went extinct. Today, there is a big scientific debate about how man’s activities is leading us towards the 6th mass extinction .Anthropogenic activities have affected the Earth and all living beings adversely such that the current rate of species extinction is much higher than the background extinction rate. Interaction between environmental and ecological factors has contributed significantly to the extinction event. One of the major culprits that contribute towards this is global change in climate while others include habitat destruction, pollution etc.

But if we take the Ordovician mass Extinction into account we will see that it occurred not due to anthropogenic activities but by Nature’s own course. This vindicates the fact that even Nature plays a pivotal role in destruction and extinction. Climate change and habitat destruction occurred during the Ordovician-Silurian period which vastly affected the marine species and led to their extinction. After this most of these extinct species could not recover from the effects and hence led to permanent loss Research has tried to pinpoint the exact events that led to mass destruction of most marine life forms during this event however a few possible explanations have surfed even though the