<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<div class="css-ov1ktg">
<div class=" css-1fkm2o5">
<div class="rail-wrapper css-so4veu">
<div class=" css-ac4z6z"><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="root">
<div class="css-vexkl">
<div class="css-g13mkd">
<div class="css-ov1ktg">
<div width="718" class="css-s84953">
<header class="css-d92687">
<h1 class="css-twhgrd">Biologists say mass extinction
event is accelerating: More than 500 species could
disappear by 2040</h1>
<div class="css-1v1wi0p">
<div class="css-7kp13n">By</div>
<div class="css-7ol5x1"><span class="css-fgeroe">Chris
Melore</span></div>
<div class="css-8rl9b7">studyfinds.org</div>
<div class="css-zskk6u">2 min</div>
</div>
<div class="css-1890bmp"><a
href="https://getpocket.com/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.studyfinds.org%2Fbiologists-say-mass-extinction-event-is-accelerating-more-than-500-species-could-disappear-by-2040%2F"
target="_blank" class="css-19cw8zk">View Original</a></div>
</header>
<div class="css-429vn2">
<div role="main" class="css-1ciuztk">
<div id="RIL_container">
<div id="RIL_body">
<div id="RIL_less">
<div lang="en">
<div class="RIL_IMG" id="RIL_IMG_1">
<figure> <img
src="https://pocket-image-cache.com//filters:no_upscale()/https%3A%2F%2Fi1.wp.com%2Fwww.studyfinds.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F06%2F233180_web.jpg%3Fresize%3D500%252C320%26ssl%3D1"
alt="The variable harlequin frog"> <figcaption>The
variable harlequin frog</figcaption> </figure>
</div>
<p><strong>STANFORD, Calif. — </strong>The
extinction of any species is a tragic event.
When dozens of species disappear from the
environment, however, biologists say the
impact is felt across the entire
world. After warning that Earth was entering
a sixth mass extinction event <a
rel="noopener noreferrer"
href="https://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/june/mass-extinction-ehrlich-061915.html">in
2015</a>, a new study says that crisis is
speeding up and may take hundreds of animals
from the world by 2040.</p>
<p>Biologists from Stanford University warn
that more than 500 land vertebrates (animals
with a backbone) are on the <a
rel="noopener noreferrer"
href="https://www.studyfinds.org/mit-mathematicians-predict-mass-extinction-2100/">brink
of extinction</a>. The study blames much
of the destruction on the wildlife animal
trade and other man-made problems.</p>
<figure
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27581"></figure>
<p>“When humanity exterminates populations and
species of other creatures, it is sawing off
the limb on which it is sitting, destroying
working parts of our own life-support
system,” says biologist Paul Ehrlich in a <a
rel="noopener noreferrer"
href="https://news.stanford.edu/2020/06/01/loss-land-based-vertebrates-accelerating/">statement</a>.</p>
<p>Researchers say at least 543 land
vertebrate species went extinct during the
20th century. Ehrlich and his team now say
that same number of animals could die out
within the next 20 years.</p>
<p>The study was published in <em><a
rel="noopener noreferrer"
href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/24/13596">Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences</a></em>
after a bipartisan group of U.S. senators
urged the White House to crack down on
illegal wildlife trading and close markets
that sell live animals.</p>
<h3>What is driving Earth’s mass extinction
event?</h3>
<p>Researchers blame most of the damage being
done to the animal kingdom on humans.
Population growth, the destruction of animal
habitats, wildlife gaming and trading, and
the effects of <a rel="noopener noreferrer"
href="https://studyfinds.org/tag/climate-change">climate change</a> are
all contributing to the crisis.</p>
<p>The study says 515 species of land animals
have fewer than 1,000 members left. Half of
those species have a population of less than
250. Most of these dying species live in
tropical and subtropical areas — where human
populations continue to close in.</p>
<h3>A devastating trickle-down effect</h3>
<p>If losing a species isn’t bad enough, the
researchers warn that extinction has a <a
rel="noopener noreferrer"
href="https://www.studyfinds.org/a-second-dust-bowl-would-affect-entire-worlds-food-supply-researchers-say/">world-changing
domino effect</a> that may end up killing
more species.</p>
<p>“Extinction breeds extinction,” the authors
write.</p>
<p>As animal populations shrink, those animals
are not able to perform their role for the
planet’s ecosystem. The study explains how
humans overhunting sea otters killed off the
main predator of kelp-eating sea urchins.
With no sea otters to eat the sea urchins,
kelp patches were ravaged in the 1700s. The
kelp-eating sea cow eventually went extinct
with no kept to eat.</p>
<p>“What we do to deal with the current <a
rel="noopener noreferrer"
href="https://www.studyfinds.org/darker-summers-ahead-fireflies-are-facing-extinction-study-says/">extinction
crisis</a> in the next two decades will
define the fate of millions of species,”
adds study co-author Gerardo Ceballos from
the National Autonomous University of Mexico
add.</p>
<h3>How can the animal kingdom be saved?</h3>
<p>Researchers are proposing a global
agreement that would ban any trading of wild
animal species. The study argues hunting and
capturing these animals is actually doing
harm to human health.</p>
<p>The authors point to the suspected <a
rel="noopener noreferrer"
href="https://www.studyfinds.org/newly-discovered-bat-coronavirus-provides-more-evidence-covid-19-is-of-natural-origins/">origins
of COVID-19</a>, bats and wet markets, as
evidence of the dangerous effect human
behavior is having on the animal kingdom.</p>
<p>“It’s up to us to decide what kind of a
world we want to leave to coming generations
– a sustainable one, or a desolate one,”
Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical Garden
said.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="css-1uezb08"><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>