Paleontologist article (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, November 09, 2014, 16:02 (3454 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: In the context of our discussion on "balance", David, I was struck by this little snippet:
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> "The fossil record tells us that mass extinction events were so devastating that it took hundreds of thousands, even millions, of years for the few species that survived to once again diversify and flourish and for ecosystems to recover."
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> You will no doubt continue to insist that "at each period of history, the Earth and life have maintained a careful successful balance", and these mass extinctions were all part of the great plan, but perhaps you can at least understand why some of us consider that it's not unreasonable to doubt your theory.-In the Permian extinction 90% of all species were destroyed. But obviously red in tooth and claw persisted and the survivors ate or photosynthesized.