Two million species endangered worldwide
Around two million species are endangered worldwide - twice as many as assumed in the latest global inventory by the World Biodiversity Council (IPBES) in 2019. This is the conclusion of an international study published in the journal PLOS One. According to the study, a fifth of all animal and plant species examined in Europe are threatened with extinction in the coming decades, with plants and invertebrates being particularly hard hit.
The researchers included all 14,669 animal and plant species in the study that were on the Red List for Europe at the end of 2020. That is ten percent of the continent's species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) places species whose populations are analyzed on this list. Many are not endangered or only slightly endangered, but others are threatened with extinction or even already extinct.
Invertebrates particularly affected
The team led by lead author Axel Hochkirch from the National Museum of Natural History Luxembourg and the University of Trier analyzed all known vertebrate species (amphibians, birds, fish, reptiles and mammals) in Europe as well as important invertebrate groups such as butterflies and bees and various plant species. 2839 of the 14,669 species studied by the team, a total of around 19 percent, are threatened with extinction in Europe. 125 animal and plant species are already considered extinct, regionally extinct or possibly extinct.
The study describes a particular threat to plants native to Europe: around 27 percent are threatened with extinction. The figures are also high for animal species - 24 percent of invertebrates and 18 percent of vertebrates are affected.This pattern is remarkable, according to the research team, considering that much more attention is paid to vertebrates. "One of the most important findings is that the number of endangered species does not differ significantly across the various species groups," says Hochkirch.
More precise information, more alarming results
Other experts consider the current data to be extremely relevant and credible. Matthias Glaubrecht, Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Hamburg, explains: "The new study shows much more clearly and comprehensively than before that significantly more species are threatened with extinction. Europe is one of the regions for which we still have the best data. If the situation here is already so dramatic, this means that the biodiversity crisis in other, far more species-rich regions is very likely to be even more explosive - especially in the still insufficiently researched tropical regions, such as Asia and Africa."
Using new data sets, the team also calculated the number of animal, plant and fungal species threatened with extinction worldwide: at two million, the number is twice as high as in the most recent IPBES report from 2019, when IPBES came to the conclusion that one million of the estimated eight million species were threatened. The doubling to two million threatened species within a few years can be explained by new and more precise information, explains Josef Settele, co-author of the last IPBES report: "The studies ultimately build on each other and thus also reflect the progress of knowledge. The 2019 IPBES report also mentioned a data gap, which we are now getting closer to closing."
The data situation remains a problem, the study authors write: "Our analysis reveals some major gaps in knowledge and a corresponding need for research." Many species, especially among the invertebrates, have not even been described yet. It is often difficult to accurately assess their status: if there are only very few specimens left in a region, they are almost impossible to find in field studies. Glaubrecht also confirms this: "We know too little about all these species to have noticed their disappearance for a long time. There are species that we are destroying faster than we can study them."
Who is to blame?
The causes of species extinction are manifold, but the team believes that the greatest threat is the intensive economic use of land and seas, which leads to habitat loss. "While the finding that agricultural land-use change is a major threat has been made many times before, our analysis is the most comprehensive and unequivocal to date, confirming the scale of this threat on a continental scale," the authors say. The overexploitation of biological resources and extreme weather conditions caused by climate change also pose a massive threat to biodiversity.
However, the researchers also see reason for hope: the resettlement of animal species and special protection can help to preserve biodiversity. "It is important to introduce measures to protect endangered species. These have already been very successful with vertebrates, as evidenced by the spread of previously endangered species such as the black stork, white-tailed eagle, peregrine falcon, eagle owl and otter," says Hochkirch. "It is important to implement the necessary conservation measures in good time. We already have enough evidence to act - what we lack is action."
The environmental foundation WWF is also pushing for this. The study once again makes it clear that more support from politicians is urgently needed and that they must fulfill their voluntary commitments from the World Summit on Nature in Montreal in December 2022. Among other things, the international community agreed there to protect at least 30 percent of the world's land and sea areas by 2030. The Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz's promise of financial aid must not be broken, writes the Environmental Foundation. At the UN General Assembly in September 2022, Scholz pledged that Germany would provide 1.5 billion euros annually for international biodiversity conservation from 2025.
The findings of the study suggest that science plays a crucial role in identifying and assessing the threats to animal and plant species, as it led to the discovery of over two million endangered species worldwide. Further, the conservation of nature is a global concern, with animals like invertebrates, such as butterflies and bees, also facing extinction due to habitat loss and overexploitation of biological resources.
Source: www.dpa.com
