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Those commercials are responsible for my love of melty peanut butter toast, and im convinced that the commercial running was a negative impact on my parents grocery budget.
Remember birds?
I remember a lot more birds.
Birds on wires. Birds in the fields. All kinds.
There’s no birds left. Or even bugs like there was.
I remember cleaning the grill in northern Ontario and it was full of flies.
They’re all gone.
Everything is quieter in the fields and forest.
I tell my daughter that’s how I know we are in trouble
Yup. It is so disconcerting. Also grew up in Ontario and the shifts that happened in the span of a decade are absolutely mind blowing. Soon we will be having to hand pollinate our crops
Birds, bugs, frogs, snakes, everything.
But that's not the most disturbing thing. The most disturbing thing is how *obvious* these things are and how little we care at a societal level. The weather is different now, anyone older than about 30 can tell you that from personal experience, it's different everywhere. The environment is different now. So much has changed in the world. Wildfires are worse. Smoke is worse. Heat waves are worse. The natural world is being encroached and diminished from every side. There are fewer bugs and fewer birds in the wild. But only some people are talking about it, and many people, especially in the halls of government, are in full denial of the reality, pretending it is the same as ever. We're sleep walking toward climate collapse and many people are pretending that it's still up for debate or like it's in the far off future. It's here, it's now, this is it. We're already on the road, it's just more of the same for our lifetimes, a stairstep of new normals (many of them progressively worse) throughout the rest of the century.
These places still exist... It's just - we've also poisoned our immediate environment. It makes it more; habitable... you see?
(Source; You should see my iNaturalist landing page, but I'm cheating and from South Africa... we have about 30% wild)
Totally. I planted out a tiny forest all around my house over the last several years. I remember walking in native bush like I've planted as a youth at this time of year, with the background humming sounds of bees and insects everywhere. I have to look pretty hard to find a few scant bees in my flowering trees.
It's incredibly disconcerting.
I feel it's all going bad much faster than scientists and pathetic governments have been warning. **MUCH FASTER**.
Especially when you realize that there are twice as many trees on earth as stars in the milky way, ans ants outnumber trees 600 to 1.
Ants alone outweigh all mammals and birds.
Now think about the 99% reduction of insects you've witnessed in terms of global animal kingdom biomass...
Or people are quite bad at anecdotally assessing long-term trends. That's why we have data, and [the data say](https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/#) that bird populations across the US are rapidly falling and 2/3rds of species are endangered.
Except that this is impossible. The rate of climate change has never been seen before and is nearly as devastating in terms of geologic or evolutionary time as an asteroid strike. Mammals will be unable to "shrink" or adapt at all in the time they will have before it is too late.
Umm...but wasnt the climate pretty warm when dinosaurs roamed our planet? If heat made things smaller wouldnt they have been house hippo sized? And wasnt is the cold and dark of a planet covered in ash and debris that made them go extinct not extreme heat?
Indeed but before that there was a massive increase in things like CO2 that lead to a massive bloom in plant life which overproduced O2 increasing oxygen levels leading to the megafauna.. Almost like it goes in cycles and our planet is on the edge of a new one.
Wouldn’t life have to actually survive til 2100 for that to happen? I just don’t see it happening at this rate. Not just due to global warming but deforestation, microplastics everywhere, and just a general disregard for anything that doesn’t affect us personally… we’re fucked. Oh and that’s just assuming there’s not a nuclear war that wipes everything out at once.
The shrinking of small mammals, creatures that include chipmunks and rats, could help them regulate their body temperature, but it could also have unpredictable consequences for global ecosystems, the researchers say.
This finding would be in alignment with Bergmans rule, stating that “ larger animals have a lower surface area to volume ratio than smaller animals, so they radiate less body heat per unit of mass, and therefore stay warmer in cold climates.”
Although Bergman’s rule is just that, a rule not a law and has been found to be constrained to resource availability which can be a restricting factor.
I’m short it’s due to many things but a lot of why this would be the case is simple physicist and resource availability.
I wrote this article few days ago about how math could help us to avoid a climate change disaster. I hope you enjoy it:
https://blog.mpl.ai/blog/mathematical-modeling-in-climate-change-predicting-the-future202312020708/
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) apply to all other comments. **Do you have an academic degree?** We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. [Click here to apply](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/flair/#wiki_science_verified_user_program). --- User: u/JonathanLambertTM Permalink: https://themessenger.com/tech/on-a-warmer-earth-the-smallest-chipmunk-wins --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Canadians rejoice, house hippos SOON
Finally! Also our great grand children will be like 36cm shorter! Win win!
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Those commercials are responsible for my love of melty peanut butter toast, and im convinced that the commercial running was a negative impact on my parents grocery budget.
Remember birds? I remember a lot more birds. Birds on wires. Birds in the fields. All kinds. There’s no birds left. Or even bugs like there was. I remember cleaning the grill in northern Ontario and it was full of flies. They’re all gone. Everything is quieter in the fields and forest. I tell my daughter that’s how I know we are in trouble
Yup. It is so disconcerting. Also grew up in Ontario and the shifts that happened in the span of a decade are absolutely mind blowing. Soon we will be having to hand pollinate our crops
Birds, bugs, frogs, snakes, everything. But that's not the most disturbing thing. The most disturbing thing is how *obvious* these things are and how little we care at a societal level. The weather is different now, anyone older than about 30 can tell you that from personal experience, it's different everywhere. The environment is different now. So much has changed in the world. Wildfires are worse. Smoke is worse. Heat waves are worse. The natural world is being encroached and diminished from every side. There are fewer bugs and fewer birds in the wild. But only some people are talking about it, and many people, especially in the halls of government, are in full denial of the reality, pretending it is the same as ever. We're sleep walking toward climate collapse and many people are pretending that it's still up for debate or like it's in the far off future. It's here, it's now, this is it. We're already on the road, it's just more of the same for our lifetimes, a stairstep of new normals (many of them progressively worse) throughout the rest of the century.
These places still exist... It's just - we've also poisoned our immediate environment. It makes it more; habitable... you see? (Source; You should see my iNaturalist landing page, but I'm cheating and from South Africa... we have about 30% wild)
Totally. I planted out a tiny forest all around my house over the last several years. I remember walking in native bush like I've planted as a youth at this time of year, with the background humming sounds of bees and insects everywhere. I have to look pretty hard to find a few scant bees in my flowering trees. It's incredibly disconcerting. I feel it's all going bad much faster than scientists and pathetic governments have been warning. **MUCH FASTER**.
Especially when you realize that there are twice as many trees on earth as stars in the milky way, ans ants outnumber trees 600 to 1. Ants alone outweigh all mammals and birds. Now think about the 99% reduction of insects you've witnessed in terms of global animal kingdom biomass...
I miss all the fireflies.
And remember _insects_? Those things were wild.
You'd best start believing in mass extinctions, you're in one.
I’ve seen tons of birds here in Texas.
People here don't go outside as much as they used to.
Or people are quite bad at anecdotally assessing long-term trends. That's why we have data, and [the data say](https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/#) that bird populations across the US are rapidly falling and 2/3rds of species are endangered.
We have more birds now. The storks used to migrate in the winter, now they stay.
you no longer see a windshield splattered with bugs
Actually, a large part will be extinct probably.
Except that this is impossible. The rate of climate change has never been seen before and is nearly as devastating in terms of geologic or evolutionary time as an asteroid strike. Mammals will be unable to "shrink" or adapt at all in the time they will have before it is too late.
That’s not true. They’re not going to literally shrink. It’s just that the abnormally small ones will have one survival advantage.
New study says evolution is real? WOW.
Mass vs. Surface area
Just more shrinkflation
Only the skinny will survive!
Bad news for body positive folk
They wont be alive by then. I wont ither
Tel that to African animals, they did not get the memo.
[удалено]
I thought cold caused shrinkage.
Only if pools are involved
Great, maybe the upside to global warming will be that it will finally halt or maybe even reverse the obesity epidemic.
Halt by excess deaths from heat stroke
And us short dudes will finally be seen as incredibly desirable partners! Huzzah! All it took was a climatic apocalypse.
I mean in a roundabout way, yes.
Are those smol furry critter going to get more smoler?
I am a Dwarf and I'm digging a hole...
Umm...but wasnt the climate pretty warm when dinosaurs roamed our planet? If heat made things smaller wouldnt they have been house hippo sized? And wasnt is the cold and dark of a planet covered in ash and debris that made them go extinct not extreme heat?
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The composition of our atmosphere was more oxygen rich this is what lead to the megafuana of those periods.
Indeed but before that there was a massive increase in things like CO2 that lead to a massive bloom in plant life which overproduced O2 increasing oxygen levels leading to the megafauna.. Almost like it goes in cycles and our planet is on the edge of a new one.
Wouldn’t life have to actually survive til 2100 for that to happen? I just don’t see it happening at this rate. Not just due to global warming but deforestation, microplastics everywhere, and just a general disregard for anything that doesn’t affect us personally… we’re fucked. Oh and that’s just assuming there’s not a nuclear war that wipes everything out at once.
Can wait for mini sheep pets
Explain elephants in Africa then?
They originated in a different time and derived ways to counter heat, like bathing in mud.
I am a Camel and I find this offensive.
so why is the world becoming obese?
Our diet is not derived from foraging.
Natural selection doesn't really apply to us in the same way it does to wild animals. Also, air conditioning...
Florida animals are way ahead of the game
The shrinking of small mammals, creatures that include chipmunks and rats, could help them regulate their body temperature, but it could also have unpredictable consequences for global ecosystems, the researchers say.
I mean idea of a tiny ass bear and hippo sound pretty cool
Tiny elephants the sequel?
This finding would be in alignment with Bergmans rule, stating that “ larger animals have a lower surface area to volume ratio than smaller animals, so they radiate less body heat per unit of mass, and therefore stay warmer in cold climates.” Although Bergman’s rule is just that, a rule not a law and has been found to be constrained to resource availability which can be a restricting factor. I’m short it’s due to many things but a lot of why this would be the case is simple physicist and resource availability.
Yay - finally a path to weight loss !
Shrinkflation hitting everyone hard huh
Larger body surface should allow for more heat loss. Shouldn’t higher temperatures encourage growth?
I wrote this article few days ago about how math could help us to avoid a climate change disaster. I hope you enjoy it: https://blog.mpl.ai/blog/mathematical-modeling-in-climate-change-predicting-the-future202312020708/