# Rapid Extinction Virus: Affects on Ecosystem **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 20, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapid-extinction-virus-affects-on-ecosystem/408732 "2007-06-20T16:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapid-extinction-virus-affects-on-ecosystem/408732/1 "2007-06-20T16:24:06Z")
**Purely Hypothetical** The Rapid Extinction Virus incubates in the human system for 1 week, after which it reproduces in the system with no symptoms for 1 week. After reproduction in the system it launches airborne spores which are highly contagious. Once it reaches a certain critical mass within the system it kills within 1 day. Now, I am not interested in arguing the plausibility of this scenario. What I am interested in, is the effect on the ecosystem if suddenly all humans died, or a significant portion of humanity died so as to make the regulation of civilization untenable. What kind of persistent systems would last after human beings died continuing to affect the environment. This is from power systems, to radiation, to electromagnetic waves, chemicals released into the environment, automated factory processes, terminator seeds, control of pollenating bees, fisheries etc… This question is more about what parts of the ecosystem we actively promote and maintain as opposed to what we adversely affect through ignorance. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapid-extinction-virus-affects-on-ecosystem/408732/2 "2007-06-20T16:39:37Z")
Ever see that commercial, some oil company stroking itself for its newfound ecological conscience? Music is _Ode to Joy_, and all the animals are clapping and cavorting about in shameless glee? Something like that. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapid-extinction-virus-affects-on-ecosystem/408732/3 "2007-06-20T17:25:41Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Ever see that commercial, some oil company stroking itself for its newfound ecological conscience? Music is _Ode to Joy_, and all the animals are clapping and cavorting about in shameless glee? Something like that. [/QUOTE] Ha, no I never saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapid-extinction-virus-affects-on-ecosystem/408732/4 "2007-06-21T12:24:34Z")
New Scientist had a feature on a similar topic last year, although they opted for exodus rather than plague because of the tricky problem of dealing with 6 billion corpses. Makes interesting reading. [“The earth without people”](http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19225731.100-imagine-earth-without-people.html) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapid-extinction-virus-affects-on-ecosystem/408732/5 "2007-06-21T23:13:23Z")
The human race has already caused one of the great mass extinctions in the Earth’s history. If we went away, new species eventually would evolve to fill vacant ecological niches – always the aftermath of a mass extinction. Speculation about that [here.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Man) Of course, evolution takes a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapid-extinction-virus-affects-on-ecosystem/408732/6 "2007-06-21T23:30:18Z")
You mean, we might not even be present to welcome the Insect Overlords? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapid-extinction-virus-affects-on-ecosystem/408732/7 "2007-06-22T00:56:37Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] New Scientist had a feature on a similar topic last year, although they opted for exodus rather than plague because of the tricky problem of dealing with 6 billion corpses. Makes interesting reading. [“The earth without people”](http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19225731.100-imagine-earth-without-people.html) [/QUOTE] _shrug_ Six billion corpses means a brief population boom among scavengers that can eat human flesh, followed by a Malthusian crisis and mass die-offs among those species when said food supply is exhausted. Within a year, everything would be back where it was before the plague, except for the absence of humanity.