Do we know when # of species peaked?

[aggiecatholic05]

on species numbers lets not forget our own involvement. ligers are a man made species in that they can breed unlike mules which are a hybrid.

but the biggest number of species has largely been assumed to be bacteria. with a simple genome and fast generation time(as low as 9 minutes for some) the random mutations can add up quickly(in evolutionary terms) to form new species.

when germ warfare is considered… we have mixed and matched pretty much every bacterium we know of to try and kill ourselves creating many many things.

additionaly new strains are likely to become new species. the over prescription and misuse of antibiotics and growing prevlance of antibiotic/antisecptic hand cleanser(really bad idea) has led to increased strains of resistant bacteria. likely thing is over time these differences continue to mount and a new species is formed.

so to the OP while i have no hard data to support it id say that there are likely more species now that ever, and the general trend is for that to grow(minus metors volcanos and other scifi/historcial mass extinctions).

the more interesting part is us, and how we may have stopped evolving and might be regressing. saftey laws, modern medicine and political correctness has made it so the vast majority of us live to a breeding age and in fact do pass on our genome. survival of the fittest doesnt really apply to the human race anymore. i’d be interested to see us in 20000 years if we’re still around.

 

[The_Barbarian]

You mean they can’t survive in a mild environment, like, say, Nebraska?

You’ve never spent a winter in Nebraska, have you?

Nebraska, BTW, is not an envirionment. It’s a state. There are some environments, like river bottoms where hypoxic or acidic conditions would favor some extremophils. Most of us live within a few hours or less of environments where extremophils can be found.

 

[MarcoPolo]

You’ve never spent a winter in Nebraska, have you?

Nebraska, BTW, is not an envirionment. It’s a state. There are some environments, like river bottoms where hypoxic or acidic conditions would favor some extremophils. Most of us live within a few hours or less of environments where extremophils can be found.

Perhaps my point was not clear. Not Nebraska, per se. But an environment not in the extremes (i.e. the arctic or a volcano) but in the rest of the bell curve. The point being, if an extremophil can survive in extremes and everything in between, then we should all be evolving toward that lifeform, if evolution is a force that perpetuates life.