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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsScientists Warn We Are Approaching The Next Mass Extinction
The decline of various animal populations and species loss are occurring at alarming rates on Earth, contributing to the worlds sixth mass extinction. While these deadly events may ultimately pave way for the emergence of new species, Stanford scientists have warned that if this defaunation that we are currently experiencing continues, it will likely have serious downstream impacts on human health. The study has been published in Science.
Biodiversity on Earth is extremely rich at present; its estimated to be the highest in the history of life on our planet. But scientists have been recording species abundance and population numbers for some time now and it is evident that we are experiencing a sharp downward trend. While the extinction of a species is normal and occurs at a natural background rate of around 1-5 per year, species loss is currently occurring at over 1,000 times the background rate.
Thanks to the fossil record, we are very familiar with large extinction events. Indeed, there have been 5 mass extinctions throughout the history of life on Earth, but there is a key difference between these past events and what is happening presently: humans are almost entirely to blame for the current mass extinction. Climate change, pollution, deforestation and overharvesting are all contributing factors. While its difficult to be certain of the causes of the previous mass extinctions, they have been attributed to natural events such as supervolcano eruptions and asteroid strikes.
By reviewing literature and analyzing various data sets, scientists have found that since 1500, 322 terrestrial vertebrates have become extinct. The remaining species are also suffering a 25% average decline in abundance. Invertebrates are also experiencing a huge blow with 67% of monitored populations showing 45% average abundance decline.
Read more at http:http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/scientists-warn-we-are-approaching-next-mass-extinction
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)killing off in our self-centered greed as a species.