Scientists told about the extent of the “biological annihilation” animals
The sixth mass extinction of animals, human-induced, has led to a sharp reduction of habitat for most species and 30% of them are now on a direct path to extinction, according to a paper published in the journal PNAS.
“What we saw, can be called the process of total biological annihilation, even if some kinds, which include these wildlife populations, still exist somewhere on Earth.
The main reasons for this are two things — the overpopulation of the planet people and the economy of consumption and the myth that infinite growth is possible on our finite planet is quite.Rodolfo Dirzo Scientist from Stanford University
A group of ecologists led by Paul Ehrlich (Paul Ehrlich) two years ago, said that now on Earth there is a sixth mass extinction of animals. According to their calculations, in the era prior to the anthropocene — age of man, every hundred years, disappeared for about two mammal species, for every ten thousand of the then existing species of animals.
In the XX and XXI centuries, this figure rose to 114 times.
In other words, the number of species that ceased to exist during this time, usually disappears for ten thousand years, not in one century. Rate of animal extinction in recent years, as scholars have noted, is rapidly approaching, how fast disappearing flora and fauna species 66 million years ago when dinosaurs disappeared, marine reptiles and pterosaurs.
Similar conclusions believe not all scientists, so Ehrlich and his colleagues have prepared a new study in which they tracked how to reduce the population of approximately 27,6 thousand species of vertebrates from 1900 to 2015. This time scientists have drawn attention not only to rare and endangered species, but also those representatives of the animal world that is not threatened by extinction because of their extremely high prevalence.
This study showed that the sixth mass extinction is actually more extensive than initially considered environmentalists.
For example, it was found that the habitats of virtually all mammals, which they were able to study has declined over the last hundred years by 30% or more, still 40% of them 80% or more. In General, every 10 thousand square kilometers of the Earth’s surface has lost approximately 100-150 birds of different species, 20-30 reptiles and about 15-30 mammals over the last 100-120 years. Russia declined the number of species and habitats amphibians and reptiles.
Moreover, about 30% of the animals, including a large number of very common types, such as normal swallows or viviparous lizards, have lost not only the areas of the dwelling with a considerably reduced their numbers. Hardest hit large mammals living in Southeast Asia and in tropical Africa and in the Eastern United States and Western Europe.
Scientists estimate that within 20-30 years, the situation may rapidly deteriorate and many ecosystems will cease to exist due to the extinction of many key species.
“Unfortunately, our descendants will have to do without aesthetic pleasure, which give us the animals, and the source of inspiration, who are these beings, our only living companions in the Universe,” concluded Ehrlich.