Current Environmental Impact on Biodiversity
Loss of Biodiversity due to Changing Environmental Factors
Nov 11, 2008
Samuel Butler (1835 – 1902), in Notebooks, published in 1912 said “All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.” At the present time studies are beginning to show that the drive for progress is not only overspending humanity’s environmental means, but that of all species on the planet.
Red List of Endangered Species
In a press release, published in Barcelona on October 6, 2008 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), on the publication of their 2008 “Red List of Threatened Species”, Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General says “Within our lifetime hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions, a frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live.” The list highlights a number of areas where species are threatened by a changing environment.
Environmental Threat to Mammals
- 188 mammals are in the highest threat category of Critically Endangered, with the Iberian Lynx down to a population of between 84 and 143, while the Chinese Pere David’s Deer is now classed as extinct in the wild.
- The Polar Bear population is estimated to have fallen by 33% over the last 45 years. The Red List notes that “The increasing changes in the sea ice that affect access to prey will have a negative effect on the bears. With less food, polar bears will fail to reproduce more often and give birth to smaller young that have higher mortality rates.” It also goes on to list pollutants in the food chain, especially in Greenland, the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea as second only to loss of sea ice, as a major threat.
- Habitat loss, such as deforestation, intensive farming and change in land use affect nearly 40% of the world’s mammals. This is most extreme in Central and South America, West, East and Central Africa, Madagascar, and in South and Southeast Asia.
Environmental Threats to Marine Species
According to a report based on the Red List entitled “Status of the World’s Marine Species”, by Beth A. Polidors et al, published by the IUCN in 2008, “The oceans are home to a large percentage of Earth’s biodiversity, occupying 70 percent of its surface”. Highlights of the report are:
- 17% of shark and ray species are in the threatened category and 13% are considered near threatened and may reach the thresholds for a threatened category in the near future if current threats are not reduced.
- Groupers, found mostly in the tropics and sub tropics, are a very important source of food, but now 12% of the world’s grouper species are threatened with extinction.
- Marine mammals include whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and walruses. 25% of these marine species are now under threat.
- Almost one third (27%) of marine sea birds, including the Albatross and Puffin are threatened with extinction.
- The major threats to marine species are over fishing, loss of habitat due to coastal erosion or development, water pollution, loss of food and environmental changes due to global warming.
Amphibians and Climate Change
A report published in Volume 439 in Nature, in January 2006, entitled “Widespread Amphibian Extinctions from Epidemic Disease Driven by Global Warming”, the authors, J. Allen Pound et al show that thousands of species of amphibians have suffered dramatic declines and hundreds of species have disappeared. They conclude by stating “We establish that global climate change is already causing the extinction of species."
Depleting the planet’s environmental resources, coupled with global warming is proving a danger not only to mankind, but to all the species in the world. Loss of biodiversity is putting the planet in peril.
