[From The Straight Dope]
…consider the Permian extinction of 251 million years ago. You remember — the cataclysmic event where maybe 95 percent of all species on earth died off? … One of the various theories about its origin is that a huge upsurge of hydrogen sulfide, produced by anaerobic microbes in the ocean, had a deadly two-pronged effect: the gas (a) asphyxiated animals and plants and (b) weakened the ozone layer, allowing high levels of UV radiation to play havoc with the food chain. What do scientists think caused these anaerobic critters to kick into high gear? Get this — a period of global warming….
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