Do magnetic flips cause mass extinctions ?

[zelootje]

I don`nt think magnetic flips cause any thing but a little bad weather and at the rate it going will just be gradual .Now there was a time in history where the earth was turned on it axis 90 degrees when the was so much ice on the pole that cause a slippage.

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I read somewhere that cosmic rays influence cloud coverage and that in turn reduces the temperature; i believe it was here but because i found the lack of sources disappointing, i started looking for more info and found it not only plentiful but also convincing (speaking as a layman:-):

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/01/02/1213389110.full.pdf

http://www.agci.org/dB/PPTs/10S1_0614_RMcPherron.pdf

influx of cosmic rays happens all the time but is deflected by solar activity and our own geomagnetic barrier; I immediately realised that a convergence of those two (lower solar activity AND lower geomagnetic activity) can be quite devastating

besides, even if "the downfall" is gradual (be it rising sea levels or a new ice age), my point stays the same: people like me will bleed money for it; also remember: a harbour is what it is: a static structure serving some use but if its reason of being gradually disappears (rising or dropping sea levels), we will have to move it eventually; there are thousands of harbours and they are only one tiny fraction of the problems we're facing when our climate is changing (getting hotter, or getting colder)

[DONTEATUS]

Well either that or the Ape virus is going to Kill us all off ! I`ll take the asteroid for one ! ITs really quick and painless !

[+DieChecker]

I'd imagine increased radiation exposure to life for a period of time might actually fuel a lot of mutation. Some animals would die off bit many would also adapt. A pole flip woukd be Interesting to see but life has evolved on earth with it happening so I don't think life woukd be affected all that much. Mass extinctions can a d do happen over time aswell. A thousand years is a geological blip. In fact we are in the middle if a mass extinction right now causes by humans.

I find it interesting that something like a species of butterfly that lives only in one meadow in northern California, and eats from only one kind of flower MUST be protected from extinction. Seems to me that a species that has become so specialized that it lives no where else and lives off only one food source is basically on the way into extinction anyway. The world turns and that meadow will be overrun eventually by stronger, tougher, faster growing plants.

I agree that even if there is a little more radiation, it might be good for the ecology of the world in the long run, as mutation will lead to better survivors.

[+DieChecker]

Well either that or the Ape virus is going to Kill us all off ! I`ll take the asteroid for one ! ITs really quick and painless !

I saw that movie the other day. It wasn't nukes, like Charlton Heston thought, but a virus that took us out.

[docyabut2]

l don't think a gradual magnetic flip will cause much, but a sense of direction that could cause animals and insects like the bees to lose their direction to migrate.

[+DieChecker]

l don't think a gradual magnetic flip will cause much, but a sense of direction that could cause animals and insects like the bees to lose their direction to migrate.

Maybe that explains how Canadian geese went to Hawaii and formed the ancestors of the current Hawaiian geese?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nene_(bird)

The nene evolved from the Canada goose (Branta canadensis), which most likely arrived on the Hawaiian islands about 500,000 years ago, shortly after the island of Hawaiʻi was formed.

500,000 years ago was "close" to the time of the last magnetic flip, yes?