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Global wildlife loss worse than previously thought: study

The global loss of wildlife is “much more alarming” than previously thought, suggesting nearly half of all species on the planet are experiencing rapid population decline, according to a new study. fast.

Humans have wiped out a huge number of species and pushed many others to the brink of extinction – with some scientists suggesting we’re entering a “sixth mass extinction”, this time around. caused by humans.

The main factor is the destruction of wildlife landscapes to make way for farms, towns, cities and roads, but climate change is also an important driver of the decline of species and is predicted to have an increasingly worse impact as the world warms.

The study’s authors analyzed more than 70,000 species globally – including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects – to determine if their populations are growing, shrinking or remain stable over time.

They found 48% of these species are decreasing in population size, with less than 3% seeing an increase, according to the study published Monday in the journal Biological Evaluation.

Co-author Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast, said their findings were a “strong warning”.

He told CNN: “Other studies, based on significantly smaller species numbers, have shown that the ‘extinction crisis’ is taking place more seriously than is generally considered. “Our findings provide a clear confirmation on a global scale.”

The study provides a “clearer picture” of the global extent of biodiversity loss, he added.

For decades, the extinction crisis has been defined by “conservation categories” — the label the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a United Nations commission, assigns to each, Pincheira-Donoso says. species they evaluate at a given time.

Based on that method, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies about 28% of species as threatened with extinction.

“What our study shows is not whether species are currently threatened, but rather whether their populations are becoming rapidly and increasingly large,” said Pincheira-Donoso. smaller or not”. Population decline over time is a precursor to extinction.

According to this assessment, 33% of species currently classified as “not threatened” in the IUCN Red List are in fact declining to the point of extinction.

The report shows that mammals, birds and insects are all seeing declines in species, but amphibians have been particularly hard hit overall, and are facing to a multitude of threats, including disease and climate change.

That’s better news for fish and reptiles, with many species appearing to have stable, rather than declining, populations.

The report shows that geographically, the decline tends to be concentrated in the tropics. One reason for that is that “animals in the tropics are more sensitive to rapid changes in the temperature of their environment,” says Pincheira-Donoso.

Brendan Godley, a professor of conservation science at the University of Exeter, who was not involved in the study, said the study provides new insights into population trends.

“This is an extremely impactful study that spans the globe and all groups of vertebrates and insects,” Godley told CNN.

“By carefully incorporating population trajectories, rather than more restrictive Red List Assessments, it highlights how much pressure wildlife is under from human influence,” he said. and how this plays out globally and among animal groups.”

There are positive stories of animals being brought back from the brink of extinction, he said, including great whales and sea turtles.

But, Godley added, “we should all be very worried about these outcomes.”

“Without thriving populations, species, habitats and ecosystems, we cannot survive,” he said.



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