This time it is not about meteorites, or climatic changes or any other phenomenon of a natural nature. Those responsible, in this case, are humans. The human being has doomed the Earth to its sixth wave of mass extinction .
This is attested by the majority of scientists in an extensive study of several universities led by the University College London (United Kingdom), the Stanford and California universities in Santa Barbara (USA) and scientific institutions from different countries included in the journal Science .
In it, the obvious fact is made evident that the current biodiversity of the planet is in serious danger. More than 320 terrestrial vertebrates have become extinct (since 1500) and of the species that survive, their population has decreased an average of 25%. Invertebrates suffer the same fate.
We are facing the first steps of the sixth wave of biological mass extinction of the planet , in which insects, spiders or worms, so important in our daily lives (as in pollination, control of crop pests or decomposition and the cycle of nutrients) have suffered such a decline that their loss and deterioration only testify to the worrying situation in which we find ourselves.
This loss in the number of invertebrates is due, above all, to the alteration of the climate on a global scale and the loss of their habitat. Their decline in numbers endangers the ability of nature to provide human beings with the elements they need to live.
“We were shocked to discover similar losses in invertebrates to larger animals, as invertebrates were previously thought to be more resistant. Although we do not fully understand what the long-term impact of declining these numbers will be, we are currently in the potentially dangerous position of losing an integral part of ecosystems without knowing what role they play, ”says study leader Ben Collen. .
