A new study recently revealed that the sixth mass extinction of the biodiversity of Earth is presently underway. Such study validates the warnings that species of this planet have been dying off at a quicker rate in the past few centuries.
As indicated in a report from The Independent, the Earth has thus far experienced "five major species die-offs," extinction occurrences marked by mass biodiversity loss because of extreme natural phenomena.
Nonetheless, the present one is totally caused by human activities, the new research published last week said. This study approximated that since 1500, this planet could already have lost from 7.5 to 13 percent of its two million identified species.
In a statement, the lead author of the study, Robert Cowie, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa said, severely increased rates of species extinction, and decreasing abundances of numerous plant and animal populations are well documented, however, some deny that such phenomena are amounting to mass extinction.
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The red panda, native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China, is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, because the wild population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 mature individuals and continues to decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and inbreeding depression.
Similar to 'Climate Denial'
According to experts, similar to climate denial, many do not accept that the current species' die-offs are amounting to sixth mass extinction.
They also said that such a denial was because of a "biased view of the unfolding crisis" with a focus only on birds and mammals, disregarding the extinction rate of invertebrates, constituting approximately 95 percent of identified animal species.
In their study published in the Biological Reviews journal, the researchers wrote, frequently, they're using the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN to back their stance, contending that the species extinction rate does not differ from the background rate.
Nevertheless, the study authors wrote, the Red List is "heavily biased," that it states, nearly all mammals and birds but just a small fraction of invertebrates, have been examined against conservation criteria.
With invertebrates like insect species, being less likely to be evaluated than the better-known ones in other groups, researchers explained these creatures may "well be the most likely" to be endangered, and thus to have gone extinct.
Thus, they continued in their research, the figures assessed as "extinct" on the Red List are considered "under-estimates," and unsuitable to use to approximate actual extinction levels.
Extinction Rate Beyond the Standard
Whereas the IUCN Red List proposes that roughly 900 species are extinct, the study authors said the actual number of die-offs immensely goes beyond the normal background rate of extinctions on Earth.
They approximated that between 150,000 and 260,000 of the almost two million identified species may have gone into extinction since around the year 1500.
Among the Earth's life forms that undergo die-off, the research showed more evidence that land species, specifically island species, are experiencing far greater extinction rates compared to the continental ones.
While some in the field said this die-off is a natural path and that humans are just another species that play their role on this planet, the study authors argued that humans are the lone species with a conscious choice regarding the future of Earth.
In response to this issue, a related FR24 News report said, the researchers called on scientists to collect and document as many species as possible "before it's too late" for them to be investigated.
Related information about the sixth extinction is shown on Hashem Al-Ghaili's YouTube video below:
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Check out more news and information on Endangered Species in Science Times.
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