October 29, 2012

Lessons from the end of the dinosaurs: Resource exploitation 'puts humans at greater peril' from extinction level event

Food chains already under strain before asteroid hit, study shows

Man's exploitation of resources and reliance on monocrops could place humans in similar danger

The mass extinction of dinosaurs by a massive asteroid was made worse because it destroyed the fragile food chain, lessons that modern man should learn, a study warned.

More than 65million years ago a mountain-sized asteroid plunged into the earth in Mexico wiping out many species including the dinosaurs and ending the Cretaceous Period of Earth history.

The study found the food chain was already under strain before the asteroid hit and could not cope with the cataclysm as plant life died off.

journal reference (abstract free): pnas >>