Post by Wolfie on Oct 6, 2008 19:21:07 GMT -5
HALF the world's mammals are declining in population and more than a third probably face extinction, said an update today of the Red List, the most respected inventory of biodiversity.
A comprehensive survey of mammals included in the annual report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which covers more than 44,000 animal and plant species, shows that a quarter of the planet's 5,487 known mammals are clearly at risk of disappearing forever.
But the actual situation may be even grimmer because researchers have been unable to classify the threat level for another 836 mammals due to lack of data.
"In reality, the number of threatened mammals could be as high as 36 per cent,'' said IUCN scientist Jan Schipper, lead author of the mammal survey, in remarks published separately in the US-based journal Science.
The most vulnerable groups are primates, our nearest relatives on the evolutionary ladder, and marine mammals, including several species of whales, dolphins and porpoises.
"Our results paint a bleak picture of the global status of mammals worldwide,'' Ms Schipper said.
The revised Red List, unveiled at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, is further evidence that Earth is undergoing the first wave of mass extinction since dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, many experts say.
Over the past half-a-billion years, there have only been five other periods of mass extinction.
Nearly 40 per cent of the 44,838 animal and plant species covered by the index are listed as threatened, with 3,000 of them classified as critically endangered, meaning they face a very high probability of extinction.
Widely viewed as the gold standard for measuring biodiversity, the updated list draws from the input of 1800 scientists in 130 countries.
Plants and animals are classified in one of half-a-dozen categories depending on their survival status.
There were a few slivers of good news showing that focused conservation efforts can prevent a species from slipping into the category from which there is no return, extinct.
The black-footed ferret, native to the United States, was moved from the category, Extinct in the Wild, to Endangered after it was successfully introduced into seven US states and Mexico over a period of 18 years.
The European bison and the wild horse of Mongolia made similar comebacks from the brink starting in the early 1990s.
But these remain exceptions that highlight the need to act before other species populations dwindle to the point of no return, experts said.
"The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be to prevent future extinctions,'' said Jane Smart, the head of IUCN's species program.
"We now know what species are threatened, what the threats are and where.''
Source
A comprehensive survey of mammals included in the annual report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which covers more than 44,000 animal and plant species, shows that a quarter of the planet's 5,487 known mammals are clearly at risk of disappearing forever.
But the actual situation may be even grimmer because researchers have been unable to classify the threat level for another 836 mammals due to lack of data.
"In reality, the number of threatened mammals could be as high as 36 per cent,'' said IUCN scientist Jan Schipper, lead author of the mammal survey, in remarks published separately in the US-based journal Science.
The most vulnerable groups are primates, our nearest relatives on the evolutionary ladder, and marine mammals, including several species of whales, dolphins and porpoises.
"Our results paint a bleak picture of the global status of mammals worldwide,'' Ms Schipper said.
The revised Red List, unveiled at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, is further evidence that Earth is undergoing the first wave of mass extinction since dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, many experts say.
Over the past half-a-billion years, there have only been five other periods of mass extinction.
Nearly 40 per cent of the 44,838 animal and plant species covered by the index are listed as threatened, with 3,000 of them classified as critically endangered, meaning they face a very high probability of extinction.
Widely viewed as the gold standard for measuring biodiversity, the updated list draws from the input of 1800 scientists in 130 countries.
Plants and animals are classified in one of half-a-dozen categories depending on their survival status.
There were a few slivers of good news showing that focused conservation efforts can prevent a species from slipping into the category from which there is no return, extinct.
The black-footed ferret, native to the United States, was moved from the category, Extinct in the Wild, to Endangered after it was successfully introduced into seven US states and Mexico over a period of 18 years.
The European bison and the wild horse of Mongolia made similar comebacks from the brink starting in the early 1990s.
But these remain exceptions that highlight the need to act before other species populations dwindle to the point of no return, experts said.
"The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be to prevent future extinctions,'' said Jane Smart, the head of IUCN's species program.
"We now know what species are threatened, what the threats are and where.''
Source
