There are many indications that suggest that the Earth could be on the verge of a mass extinction similar to those that have occurred five times during the last 540 million years. In each of these extinctions, three-quarters of the planet’s species disappeared.
In a new study published today in the journalNature, paleobiologists at the University of California, Berkeley, have analyzed this question and have concluded thatif we take into account the number of mammals that are currently critically endangered, that is, those whose risk of extinction in the next 3 generations is 50%, and we assume that the term is running out and that they will disappear in a maximum of 1000 years, it is confirmed that we are heading towards a sixth mass extinction. Specifically, if all species classified as “critically endangered”, “endangered” or “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) disappeared by the end of the 21st century and extinction continued at the same rate,more than three-quarters of all mammalian species would be extinct in 334 years and amphibians in less than 250, the researchers conclude.
The good news, according to study co-author Anthony D. Barnosky, is thatit’s not too late to saveto these species. Of course, it would be necessary to face threats as serious as thehabitat fragmentation, the spread of viruses and microbes, the increase ininvasive speciesor theglobal warming, all of them related to human activities. “So far, only one to two percent of all species in the groups that we know of have become extinct,” says Barnosky. “Yetwe have a lot of terrestrial biota to save“, adds the researcher, who assures that it is” important to dedicate resources and legislation for the conservation of species “if we want to achieve it.
