People are a ‘far greater threat’ to endangered mammals than the climate is
“Human population size is able to predict
past extinctions with 96% accuracy,” the experts argue.
So say a team of scientists who have used
computer simulation and Bayesian
modelling to track the fate of mammals since the beginning of
the Late
Pleistocene more than 120,000 years ago. What they have found
is that humans have had a far greater impact on the extinction of mammals than
changing climates, which have had “a negligible impact.”
“Mammoths, for example, survived several
ice ages before the last one and there is no climatic reason why they should
not be alive in Siberia today,” notes Daniele
Silvestro, a computational biologist who was an author of a new study.
That may sound counterintuitive in the
face of the various threats from climate change, yet “human population size is
able to predict past extinctions with 96% accuracy,” the experts argue. “Based
on current trends, we predict for the near future a rate escalation of
unprecedented magnitude,” they write in .
Over the past 126,000 years no fewer than
351 species of mammal have gone extinct on Earth with around 80 species having
done so over the past 500 years alone from so-called Tasmanian tigers in
Australia to actual indigenous tigers on Bali.
And as human populations continue to grow
across much of the planet with increasing ecological impacts, the rate of
mammalian extinction is accelerating to a rate that is 1,700 times higher than
at the beginning of the Late Pleistocene. Generally, the more people live
concentrated in a certain area, the higher the rate of extinction among larger
slow-bleeding mammals there, according to the scientists who employed computer
models to reach their conclusion.
We have long known that continued habitat
loss and poaching or hunting can greatly imperil populations of mammals,
especially in places with large numbers of people. However, even relatively few
people can wreak havoc with endangered animals.
Based on current trends the researchers
predict that as many as 558 species of mammal will have gone extinct in the
wild by the end of this century. “By the year 2100, we predict all areas of the
world to have entered a second wave of extinctions,” they warn, adding that the
rate of extinction then will be 30,000 times the natural level.
In some areas of the planet mass
extinctions of larger mammals are already well under way as a result of human
activities. “We find that Australia and the Caribbean in particular have
already today entered the second extinction wave based on the extinctions that
have occurred during the past decades,” the scientists write.
This does sound pretty beak, but not all
is lost. At least not yet. “We can save hundreds of species from extinction
with more targeted and efficient conservation strategies,” stresses Tobias
Andermann, a biologist at the University of Gothenburg who was the first author
of the study.
“But in order to achieve this, we need to
increase our collective awareness about the looming escalation of the
biodiversity crisis and take action to combat this global emergency,” he adds.
“Time is pressing.”
https://www.sustainability-times.com/environmental-protection/people-are-a-far-greater-threat-to-endangered-mammals-than-the-climate/
No comments:
Post a Comment