Scientists from Stanford, Princeton, and UC Berkeley have published a report in which they claim Earth has entered a new period of extinction. This would be the 6th mass extinction period of our planet.
Perhaps most noteworthy of the report is the conservative approach to the study the lead authors claim to have taken. Even with the conservative analysis, the numbers are astonishing. In the last century, the Earth has seen a much more vast number of vertebrates become extinct than would have without human influence. To be precise, the rate of vertebrates’ disappearance from the planet has been 114 times greater in the last century than it would have been sans the destructive tendencies and actions of humans.
The scientists note over 400 vertebrates have experienced extinction since 1900, with the greatest numbers belonging to amphibian species at 146 and fish at 158 species lost. Mammals (69 species lost), birds (80), and reptiles (24) were on the lower end of the number of species lost, but still had staggering numbers for such a short period of time.
In the report, Professor Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University called the species on the path toward extinction the “walking dead,” but it is not just the animal species that these researchers are worried about.
The report is not just a cause for concern for the animal and nature lovers among us. The scientists would say that every individual on the planet should be worried and interested in this report. Speaking about this new period of extinction, one of the lead authors, Dr. Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, says in the published report, “If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover, and our species itself would likely disappear early on.” It would only take about three generations for humans to feel significant effects of this sixth period of extinction.
What would expedite the destruction of the human population would be the amount of immense stress on certain necessary ecosystems. For example, the bee population, especially essential for crop pollination, could be lost, which would further stress the production of food crops essential to feeding an increasingly overpopulated planet. The loss of large herbivores could create empty landscapes.
The authors state our window for preventing the numerous effects of this continued pace of extinction is “rapidly closing.” But there is still a window. Efforts would need to be “greatly intensified…to conserve already threatened species and to alleviate pressures on their habitats.” When we realize that these pressures on species include combating rapid habitat loss and climate change, we see preventing this phase of extinction will be no small feat. Rapid action is necessary and humans need to heed this call to action.
(Photo courtesy of Geek Calendar)
More liberal Obama scare tactics to make us think something is wrong with using the earth’s resources. What a bunch of BS. The world was put here for humans and for humans to exploit.
Good article except that the finding was published 10 days earlier by another researcher who doesn’t have a promotions board at his university.
Date: 27 May 2015
Vertebrate biodiversity losses point to a sixth mass extinction
Malcolm L. McCallum
Abstract
The human race faces many global to local challenges in the near future. Among these are massive biodiversity losses. The 2012 IUCN/SSC Red List reported evaluations of ~56 % of all vertebrates. This included 97 % of amphibians, mammals, birds, cartilaginous fishes, and hagfishes. It also contained evaluations of ~50 % of lampreys, ~38 % of reptiles, and ~29 % of bony fishes. A cursory examination of extinction magnitudes does not immediately reveal the severity of current biodiversity losses because the extinctions we see today have happened in such a short time compared to earlier events in the fossil record. So, we still must ask how current losses of species compare to losses in mass extinctions from the geological past. The most recent and best understood mass extinction is the Cretaceous terminal extinction which ends at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) border, 65 MYA. This event had massive losses of biodiversity (~17 % of families, >50 % of genera, and >70 % of species) and exterminated the dinosaurs. Extinction estimates for non-dinosaurian vertebrates at the K–Pg boundary range from 36 to 43 %. However, there remains much uncertainty regarding the completeness, preservation rates, and extinction magnitudes of the different classes of vertebrates. Fuzzy arithmetic was used to compare recent vertebrate extinction reported in the 2012 IUCN/SSC Red List with biodiversity losses at the end of K–Pg. Comparisons followed 16 different approaches to data compilation and 288 separate calculations. I tabulated the number of extant and extinct species (extinct + extinct in the wild), extant island endemics, data deficient species, and so-called impaired species [species with IUCN/SSC Red List designations from vulnerable (VU) to critically endangered (CR)]. Species that went extinct since 1500 and since 1980 were tabulated. Vertebrate extinction moved forward 24–85 times faster since 1500 than during the Cretaceous mass extinction. The magnitude of extinction has exploded since 1980, with losses about 71–297 times larger than during the K–Pg event. If species identified by the IUCN/SSC as critically endangered through vulnerable, and those that are data deficient are assumed extinct by geological standards, then vertebrate extinction approaches 8900–18,500 times the magnitude during that mass extinction. These extreme values and the great speed with which vertebrate biodiversity is being decimated are comparable to the devastation of previous extinction events. If recent levels of extinction were to continue, the magnitude is sufficient to drive these groups extinct in less than a century.
Linked here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10531-015-0940-6