The Biological Echo: How Mass Extinctions Shape the Epigenetic Future
Psalm 104 All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you hide your face, they are terrified. When you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. Throughout Earth's history, the "Big Five" mass extinction events have acted as more than just scythes cutting through the tree of life; they have served as profound "biological resets." While traditional evolutionary theory focuses on how these catastrophes prune genetic diversity, a burgeoning field of study suggests that the survivors of these events carry a hidden legacy. This legacy is not written in the DNA sequence itself, but in the epigenetic architecture—the chemical switches that determine how genes are expressed. When a planetary-scale disaster occurs, it doesn't just kill; it forces the survivors into a state of extreme physiological stress. This stress leaves a ...