Natural History Wanderings

Przewalski's Horses-Image via Wikipedia

The UN is currently holding the 10^th Convention on Biological Diversity in Japan.

The news is not good.  Many species are at risk for extinction.

Prior to the Convention was the release of the U.N.’s third Global Biodiversity Outlook report this past  May 2010.   It was quite pessimistic about recent efforts to decrease species loss.   In 2002 targets were set to  “a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level” .   In  2010 these targets were not met by any government.

It is believed that twenty percent of all species are in danger of extinction.  Amphibians are the most endangered, with 30% of species threatened.  21% of mammals, reptiles, and fish are threatened and 12% of birds are threatened with extinction.  The paper reported that an average of 52 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year.

Most losses and threats are due to declining habitat resulting from agriculture, forestry and increases in alien species.

There were some positive notes.  60 plus mammals, birds and amphibian species  status has improved, including three species once considered extinct that have made a comeback due to conservation efforts. These are the California Condor and the black-footed ferret in the United States, and the Przewalski’s horse native in Mongolia.

The U.N.’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is supposed to be a legally binding treaty consisting of 193 members or “Parties” (192 governments plus the European Union).  However, since no members met their goals in recent years it makes one wonder.

To read more about loss of animal check the sources for this article:

• Grim news on animal extinction threat greeting Japan biodiversity summit
• Conservation offers hope for biodiversity decline
• More species slide to extinction

Plants Also Face Extinction Risk

A risk assessment, called the Sampled Red List Index for Plants, was conducted by plant scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.  In the  article Threats to the world’s plants assessed in nature.com it was reported that 20% of the world’s 380,000 plant species are at risk of extinction.

Plants are even more threatened than birds, according to this first global analysis of the status of plant biodiversity.   It found that gymnosperms — or seed-bearing plants — including conifers and cycads, were the most at-risk group of plants, with more than 75% of cycad species  threatened with extinction.

The biggest threat to plants’ survival is habitat loss, from the conversion of natural habitats for agriculture and livestock grazing.

Related Articles

• 1/5 Of Vertebrates Face Extinction (blogs.discovermagazine.com)
• Study: A fifth of the world’s vertebrates at risk of extinction (cnn.com)
• One-fifth of world’s back-boned animals face extinction, study warns (guardian.co.uk)