Massive human activity extinctions
Although human activity has long been known about the value of biodiversity, it has caused massive extinctions. As stated in August 1999 (former link), the Environment New Service presently has a rate of 1.000 times the background rate. It may increase to 10.000 times the background rate in the next century if current trends continue to [result in] a loss that would equate easily with historic extinction.
The primary assessment, Millennium Ecosystem Evaluation (MES), published in March 2005, shows that 10-30% of the mammal, birds, and amphibian species at risk of extinction are considerably irreversible in their variety of life on Earth as a result of human activity. The WWF stated that Earth could not maintain the fight to revival the demands we put on it. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The IUCN highlights in a video that some species are threatened with death. The International Union for Conservation of Nature. Moreover,
- There is a threat of death
- One in eight birds
- One animal out of 4
- One conifer out of 4
- One amphibian out of three
- Six of seven marine tortoises
- 75% of agricultural crop genetic diversity was lost
- 75% of world fishing is fully or excessively exploited
- Because global temperatures increase by more than 3.5°C, up to 70% of the world’s known species risk extinction
- 1/3 of the world’s reef construction corals are endangered.
- Severe water scarcity affects over 350 million people.
Species confront varying levels and types of dangers in various regions of the planet. In most situations, however, general trends suggest a decreasing tendency.
The pace of biodiversity loss was not lowered, as the UN 3rd World Biodiversity Outlook explains, since the principal five stresses are constant, even worsening, on biodiversity:
- Loss of habitat and decay
- Change in climate
- Excessive load of nutrients and other pollutants
- Overuse and unsustainable consumption
- Invasive species of aliens
More governments indicate that such pressures damage biodiversity in their countries to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (see p. 55 of the report).
The IUCN maintains the Red List to assess, at the global level, the conservation status of species, sub-species, variations, and even selected subpopulations.
Extinction threatens to accelerate any accomplishments in conservation. Amphibians are at the most significant risk, whereas in recent years, the risk of extinction has increased dramatically.
The reasons are various: exploitation of human resources, climate change, fragmented habitats, loss of habitat, the acidity of the oceans, and more.
Research of long-term patterns in fossil records indicates how fast biodiversity may recover following the waves of extinction is constrained by inherent speed constraints. The fast pace of extinction, therefore, means that nature might take a long time to recover.
As UC Berkeley revealed, scientists have discovered, using DNA comparisons, what they dubbed parallelism, an evolutionary notion when two species find the same adaption independently to a given environment. This ramifies in the protection of biodiversity and endangered species. This is because in the past, what we could have thought might be several species. However, as experts have pointed out, grouping them all underrepresents biodiversity and would otherwise not protect these many evolutionary forms.