mardi 20 octobre 2020

SCIEBCES.ENERGIES.ENVIRONNEMENT/LE MONDE SELOB LA PHYSIQUE / WEEK 42P3

 

Pour le 3 eme article de PHYS ORG  que j avais signalé a mes lecteurs ,à savoir : : «  Climate change likely drove early human species to extinction, modeling study suggests »je n’ai pas les connaissances  d’un paléo- anthropologue , aussi après l’avoir traduit pour moi-même  ai-je laissé a mes lecteurs anglophones  le soin de le traduire pour eux-mêmes . Seul au fond m’intéressait  leu conclusion sur  la  faible résistance des  diverses variétés d’ hommes  fossiles  aux changements climatiques  survenus ce dernier millions d’années …La plupart  est allé vers la régression  territoriale  puis vers  l’extinction  

 La conclusion de l’auteur  est un avertissement ;qu’ils soient chasseurs ou  cueilleurs  ou pécheurs ,anthropophages ou  charognards de prédateurs plus forts qu’eux ……qu ils marchent droit ou courbés  etc mais avec des territoires sans frontières ni gendarmes  ,leurs migrations  ne les ont pas protégés des  hauts et bas climatiques …

Et les auteurs en déduisent que ce qui nous pend sur la tête pourrait être bien pire  ….Et je rajoute  surtout compte tenu  de la démographie actuelle et des peu d’efforts que nous faisons coté CO2 ….Brf l homo sapiens actuel qui a frisé l extinction de peu pourrait bie remettre çà!!


Climate change likely drove early human species to extinction, modeling study suggests

climate change
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Of the six or more different species of early humans, all belonging to the genus Homo, only we Homo sapiens have managed to survive. Now, a study reported in the journal One Earth on October 15 combining climate modeling and the fossil record in search of clues to what led to all those earlier extinctions of our ancient ancestors suggests that climate change—the inability to adapt to either warming or cooling temperatures—likely played a major role in sealing their fate.

"Our findings show that despite technological innovations including the use of fire and refined stone tools, the formation of complex social networks, and—in the case of Neanderthals—even the production of glued spear points, fitted clothes, and a good amount of cultural and genetic exchange with Homo sapiens, past Homo species could not survive intense ," says Pasquale Raia of Università di Napoli Federico II in Napoli, Italy. "They tried hard; they made for the warmest places in reach as the climate got cold, but at the end of the day, that wasn't enough."

To shed light on past extinctions of Homo species including H. habilis, H. ergaster, H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis, and H. sapiens, the researchers relied on a high-resolution past climate emulator, which provides temperature, rainfall, and other data over the last 5 million years. They also looked to an extensive fossil database spanning more than 2,750 archaeological records to model the evolution of Homo species' climatic niche over time. The goal was to understand the climate preferences of those early humans and how they reacted to changes in climate.

Their studies offer robust evidence that three Homo species—H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, and H. neanderthalensis—lost a significant portion of their climatic niche just before going extinct. They report that this reduction coincided with sharp, unfavorable changes in the global climate. In the case of Neanderthals, things were likely made even worse by competition with H. sapiens.

"We were surprised by the regularity of the effect of climate change," Raia says. "It was crystal clear, for the extinct species and for them only, that climatic conditions were just too extreme just before extinction and only in that particular moment."

Raia notes that there is uncertainty in paleoclimatic reconstruction, the identification of fossil remains at the level of species, and the aging of fossil sites. But, he says, the main insights "hold true under all assumptions." The findings may serve as a kind of warning to humans today as we face unprecedented changes in the climate, Raia says.

"It is worrisome to discover that our ancestors, which were no less impressive in terms of mental power as compared to any other species on Earth, could not resist climate change," he said. "And we found that just when our own species is sawing the branch we're sitting on by causing climate change. I personally take this as a thunderous warning message. Climate change made Homo vulnerable and hapless in the past, and this may just be happening again."


Explore further

The temporal lobes of Homo erectus were proportionally smaller than in H. sapiens

More information: Pasquale Raia et al. Past Extinctions of Homo Species Coincided with Increased Vulnerability to Climatic Change. One Earth. Published:October 15, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2020.09.007
Journal information: One Earth 

Provided by Cell Press  

Bref  l"homo  sapiens actuel a frisé l’extinction  de peu  mais il pourrait  bien   remettre çà !


 

 

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