Major extinctions of animal and plant life By the end of this decade, many well-known animal species are going extinct, or else have declined in such huge numbers that only those in captivity now exist. Off the eastern coast of Australia one of the worlds most beautiful natural wonders - the Great Barrier Reef - has been virtually destroyed by climate change, with less than 2% of coral remaining.* Rising levels of greenhouse gases have made the water too acidic for calcium-based organisms to grow.* Most of the colourful fish for which the reef is famous have also disappeared. On land, more than 50% of the continents 400 butterfly species have died out, as well as numerous reptiles including Boyds forest dragon, a rare and colourful lizard. In Europe, an astonishing 50% of amphibians have disappeared due to pollution, disease and loss of habitat caused by climate change. This includes many previously common species of frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians.* On the same continent, more than 20% of bird species have been lost, and around 15% of plants. In South Africas Kruger national park, a major conservation area, nearly 60% of the species under its protection have been lost. In the same region, 35% of proteaceae flowering plants have disappeared including the national flower, the King Protea.* In South America, nearly half of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed, with more than 2,000 native tree species becoming extinct. In Mexico, nearly 30% of animal species are either extinct, or critically endangered. In Southeast Asia, the Indian elephant is on the brink of extinction. Once a common sight in this part of the world, it has declined in huge numbers due to poaching for the ivory of its tusks, loss of habitat, and human conflict. In the Arctic, nearly 70% of polar bears have disappeared due to the shrinking of summer ice caused by global warming. By 2080 they will disappear from Greenland entirely, and from the northern Canadian coast, leaving only dwindling numbers in the interior Arctic archipelago. Many other well-known species of fish, bird and mammal become critically endangered around this time. This period is often referred to as the Holocene extinction event. As a direct result of human influences, the rate of species extinctions this century is between 100 and 1000 times the natural background or average extinction rates in the evolutionary time scale of Earth.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 20:07:12 +0000
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