Based on U.N. data June 2013; geohive.com Jan 2017; www.worldometers.info Mar 2020
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6 billion in 1999
7.7 billion in 2020
Nat. Geo., Mar. 2011
“Human Impact”
I = P A T Population Growth Affluence Technology
Threats to Biological Diversity
The Human Factor:
30 May 2014
Pimm SL, et al. (2014). The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection. Science 344DOI: 10.1126/scinece.1246752
Pimm SL, et al. (2014). The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection. Science 344DOI: 10.1126/scinece.1246752
30 May 2014
Species Extinction Happening 1,000Times Faster Because of Humans?
Threats to Biological Diversity
The Human Factor:
Threats to Biological Diversity
12 July 2017
11 July 2017
See study – next slide
PNAS 2017 ; published ahead of print July 10, 2017, doi:10.1073/pnas.1704949114
A decade after the “Save the Rainforest” movement forced changes that dramatically slowed deforestation across the Amazon basin, activity is roaring back in some of the biggest expanses of forests in the world. That resurgence, driven by the world’s growing appetite for soy and other agricultural crops, is raising the specter of a backward slide in efforts to preserve biodiversity and fight climate change.
In the Brazilian Amazon, the world’s largest rain forest, deforestation rose in 2015 for the first time in nearly a decade, to nearly two million acres from August 2015 to July 2016. That is a jump from about 1.5 million acres a year earlier and just over 1.2 million acres the year before that, according to estimates by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.
Here across the border in Bolivia, where there are fewer restrictions on land clearance, deforestation appears to be accelerating as well.
Somphot Duangchantrasiri, head of the Khao Nang Rum wildlife research station, which runs a camera trapping project in Petchaburi's Kaeng Krachan National Park, said his team had found the tiger population in the park was on the decline.
In their most recent camera-trapping project between November last year and January this year, no images of tigers were recorded. Significantly less tiger activity was also documented compared to a similar exercise in 2002.
''It is a warning sign of the [declining] tiger population in the site,'' he said. ''Although we can't say for certain there are no tigers left in the park, their population is certainly under threat due to deforestation and poaching,'' Mr Somphot said.
Tiger populations in two major national parks in the southern Tenasserim mountain range are on the brink of extinction, authorities have warned.
15 Dec. 2012
CNN.comOctober 25th, 2011
Vietnam's rare Javan rhinoceros was declared extinct in that area after poachers killed the last remaining animal in the country for its horns, the World Wildlife Fund said. The country had been struggling to keep the population alive amid widespread poaching that the WWF said was the cause of many Asian rhino species being brought to the "brink of extinction."
The group said trying to bring the species back into the area won't work. “Reintroduction of the rhinoceros to Vietnam is not economically or practically feasible," WWF’s Asian Elephant and Rhino Program Coordinator Dr. Christy Williams said. "It is gone from Vietnam forever."
So now, the Javan rhino only exists in one area in the world, according to the WWF. The group reported that there is onepopulation of less than 50 animals in the Ujung Kulon Nat.Park in Java, Indonesia. Now, workers will turn their attention there, working with anti-poaching patrols to hopefully keep the species from going extinct.
The Javan rhinoceros is in danger of becoming extinct.
So… THE DEBATE: 1) Is global warming real?2) Is global warming caused by humans?
The short answer… Yes, and YES
“Indicator Species”Photo by Joel Sartore (Nat. Geo.)
(from Nat. Geo. 2009)
13 Feb 2020
“Indicator Species”
1/5 (almost 20%) of earth’s coral reefs have been lost – rest may be lost in 20-40 yrs. (10 Dec 2008, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network)
10 Dec. 2008
-50% of world’s coral lost in past 30 yrs-90% will be gone by 2050-loss of coral is an ecological catastrophe-loss of coral will undermine human health
IPPC – est. in 1988 by the U.N. and the World Meteorological Organizationhttp://www.ipcc.ch/index.htm
- IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
6th Assessment Report: Expected sometime in 2019
IPCC PRESS RELEASE - 8 October 2018 (in Preparation to the 6th Assessment Rpt)INCHEON, Republic of Korea
IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC
-The report’s full name is: “Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.”
-Limiting global warming to 1.5ºC would require rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changesin all aspects of society, the IPCC said in a new assessment.
-One of the key messages that comes out very strongly from this report is that we are already seeing the consequences of 1°C of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levelsand diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other changes,”
Global Warming – Caused by Humans??
IPPC – est. in 1988 by the U.N. and the World Meteorological Organizationhttp://www.ipcc.ch/index.htm
25 Mar 2019Conservation Status of Animals and Plants
Two major international organizations that classify species with regard to relative risk of extinction and degree of protection needed:
• IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature)
• CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)
CITES (established March 1973)
International agreement among governments - helps ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals/plants does not threaten their survival.
Species covered by CITES are listed in three appendices according to the degree of protection needed.
Appendix I: species threatened with extinction.
Appendix II: species not necessarily threatened with extinction.
Appendix lll: species that are protected in at least one country.
Currently 182 countries are members of CITES
http://www.cites.org/
IUCN (established October 1948)
The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) has been assessing the conservation status of taxa for over 50 years.
“IUCN Red List of Threatened Species”
(established in 1964)
The Red List has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.
http://www.iucnredlist.org/
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
The aim of the Threatened Species Categories classification system is to provide an explicit, objective framework for the classification of species according to their extinction risk so as to focus attention on conservation measures designed to protect them.
The threatened species categories used in the IUCN Red List have been in place for over 50 years. The current 2019 IUCN Red List version is:
“The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2018-2.”
These categories have become widely recognized internationally and are now in use in a wide range of publications and listing produced by numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations.
IUCN Red List Threatened Species CategoriesThe Categories: [ver. 2018-2.]
2019 Red List details the conservation status of >96,500 species
26,500 (27.5%) of the species listed are threatened with extinction
percent threatened with extinction:
25.0% of evaluated mammal species14.0% of evaluated bird species 40.0% of evaluated amphibian speciesinsuf eval reptilesinsuf eval fishinsuf eval plants
RANK Mammals Birds Reptiles Amphibians Plants
1 Brazil (524)
Colombia (1815)
Australia (755)
Colombia (583)
Brazil (53,000)
2 Indonesia(515)
Peru (1703)
Mexico (717)
Brazil
(517)
Colombia (47,000)
3 China(499)
Brazil (1622)
Colombia (520)
Ecuador (402)
Indonesia(37,000)
4 Colombia (456)
Ecuador (1559)
Indonesia(511)
Mexico (284)
China(28,000)
5 Mexico (450)
Indonesia(1531)
Brazil (468)
China(274)
Mexico (24,000)
6 USA (428)
Venezuela (1360)
India (468) Indonesia(270)
S. Africa (23,000)
(adapted from R. B. Primack, 2000)
Top Six Rankings for countries with large numbers of species
