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Re:Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years by tediousdemise on Thursday April 15, 2021 @10:07PM (#26828558)
I don’t think other organisms have the capacity to destroy the planet and make it uninhabitable. That attribute is uniquely human.
Re:Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years by joycian on Friday April 16, 2021 @02:28AM (#26830305)
There's some evidence that around 2B years ago microbes decreased the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere so much by overpopulation that 99% of the biosphere died.
Re:Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years by memorysafety on Friday April 16, 2021 @05:00AM (#26831378)
I guess you mean The Great Oxygen Extinction Event (2.4-2.0 Ga).

In that case, it's presumed it was indeed a massive extinction (but no data to quantify any % over, due to no microbial fossils preserved).

... But for a different reason. It wasn't due to decrease in oxygen levels; contrary to that. At that time, oxygen was being first ever introduced into the atmosphere. This has left a unique geological trace we observe everywhere across the planet: the white sedimentary + red rust striped 2 Ga rocks.

The "microbes" were the first photosynthesisers. The oxygen was a toxic byproduct. Resistance to it had to be learned by evolution, and that learning took ~1e8 years. Many of life didn't manage to and went extinct.

Re:Time flies in Google Earth’s biggest update in years by joycian on Saturday April 17, 2021 @03:17PM (#26846701)
Yes, I think you're right, I should've written increased. Thanks for the correction :).