Is Species Loss Unraveling the Web of Life?

Life on Earth has been marked by extinction throughout its history, however scientific assessment of current levels of species loss seems to indicate extinction rates much higher than average. Is the Earth experiencing the sixth great wave of extinction? The World Conservation Union, which has assessed species conservation status for 40 years, estimates the current rate of extinction to be at least 100 times the normal rate.

The suspected cause of this increased rate of extinction is related to the rapid expansion of the human population in the past century. Loss of habitat, pollution, excessive exploitation of species for food and other natural products, competition with introduced species and climate change all threaten the survival of many plants and animals. The 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identifies 15,589 species thought to be facing extinction.

Life on Earth can be thought of as an interconnected web of species that depend on each other for survival, and humans are not excepted.

Links:

• Biodiversity: The sixth great wave from the BBC News


• Global warming threatens millions of species from NewScientist.com


• The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources


• 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants from IUCN with a searchable database of endangered plants


• The Endangered Species Program from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Includes searchable databases of endangered species.


• Mass Extinction Underway over 200 links to authoritative reports compiled by David Ulansey, Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 11:46 AM on January 10, 2005