Question

What would happen to life on Earth if all the liquid fresh water were used up?

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Please post your question in the Biology section :
http://openstudy.com/study#/groups/Biology
This is the math section :)

Answer 3

Sadly life as we know it now wouldn't exist.
Plants would dry up. The ground would start cracking open for the lack of moisture. Animals along with humans will start dehydrating and dying off.

Answer 4

Or more sadly

How about you consider this question yourself?

It is a 'though experiment' but even without any special knowledge you can mak e a very good guess for yourself...

Answer 5

It's more obvious than actually venturing an 'experiment' such as this.
And besides the point, it's an educated guess not like you would know the predictions of the future.

Answer 6

I think it is more than an educated guess that all life on earth would cease without water

However - the question says 'liquid fresh water'

So the seas, and the frozen, and vapour fresh water would still exist

Have you considered the 'water cycle'?

'liquid fresh water' is a very small proportion of the total water on earth..

Answer 7

Have you put a thought into it? Because without fresh water what will be able to survive?
Humans along with Animals and Plants need fresh water to live on their lives. Think about it this way, if you were to drink large amounts of salt water every day you would sure die. Why? (May be asking) Because salt water withdraws all our inner bodies liquids and dries the victims body.

Answer 8

Vast numbers of different organisms are perfectly happy living in liquid salt water.

The 'water cycle' naturally converts salt > fresh> salt over time - so this is rather a ill defined question.

Answer 9

And what will be their main source of food once everything has died off.
Absolutely nothing.

Answer 10

they managte fine at the moment - eating OTHER salt water inhabitants.

Salt water is the MAIN type of water on earth and supports its own essentially self contained ecosystem.

If all the fresh water were to disappear instantly then land species would rapidly die, but the water cycle would slowly generate more fresh water, and almost certainly would be inhabited by adaptive sea creatures which would eventually evolve to colonise the other environments of fresh water and land.

Answer 11

My question to you is, What will happen once they have eaten all the other salt water inhabitants?

Answer 12

More will breed - exactly as they do now

Answer 13

is it your assertion that all life on this planet cannot live without 'liquid fresh water'?

Answer 14

We obviously can't.

Answer 15

in case you hadn't noticed humans are a very recent addition to the millions of species on earth

the question doesn't ask 'what would happen to humans' it asks what would happen to 'life on earth'

Answer 16

We humans need water to hydrate our bodies. Anything and everything we drink has a liquid called water. We are the main species on Earth. We govern the whole planet.
And if we weren't the intelligent species that can built, create, and mold piles of rubble into sky scrapers then who else would do it besides us. Not like the 'aliens' would come and give the animals assistance to do so.

Answer 17

What a bizarre post

It completely ignores the actual question.

Life on earth existed perectly OK without humans and will continue to exist when our trivial species is extint.

You talk as if building skyscrapers actually matters in the scheme of geological time.

There are species which have survived millions of years - and there are species which are vastly more successful in colonising every niche of this planet than we are.

Mankind in nothing special - and certainly does not constitute 'life on earth'

In the (extremely) hypothetical instance of 'liquid fresh water' disappearing then it is true that mankind and many other animals would die out - but life would continue in it many different forms as happily without us as it did before we evolved.

Answer 18

'govern the planet'

tell that to
plankton
bacteria
insects
protozoa
algae

etc. etc.

things that are unaffected by our passing presence - and things which kill vast numbers of their 'governors' every year

Answer 19

Oh please, seems like you are 'wise' enough to know then why are you even arguing.