日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
World
Home / World / Newsmakers

500 land-based vertebrates face extinction threat

By KARL WILSON in Sydney | China Daily Global | Updated: 2020-06-23 09:52
Share
Share - WeChat
An aerial photo taken on Friday shows workers covering the Presena glacier located at an altitude of 2,700 to 3,000 meters on the border between Lombardy and Trentino in northern Italy, with huge geotextile sheets-which are permeable textile material used for increasing soil stability and providing erosion control-in order to delay snow melting on skiing slopes. MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP

Human activity and climate change are driving more than 500 land-based vertebrates-amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles-to the brink of extinction, according to researchers.

Professor Paul Ehrlich from the department of biology at Stanford University in California, said: "When humanity exterminates populations and species of other creatures, it is sawing off the limb on which it is sitting, destroying working parts of our own life-support system."

He added: "The conservation of endangered species should be elevated to a national and global emergency for governments and institutions, equal to climate disruption to which it is linked."

Ehrlich is one of the authors of a study published in the scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

The study says the extinction is accelerating and calls for immediate global conservation actions to prevent a "catastrophic ecosystem collapse".

Researchers looked at 29,400 species-on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species and from Birdlife International, a worldwide alliance of nongovernmental organizations that promotes the conservation of birds and their habitat-and found that 1.7 percent, or 515 of these species, are on the brink of extinction.

They also say 84 percent of the 388 terrestrial vertebrate species that have fewer than 5,000 remaining individuals are located in the same geographical regions as species on the brink and may therefore soon face a similar risk due to the human-driven collapse of regional biodiversity.

Additional analyses suggest that terrestrial vertebrate species on the brink have collectively lost approximately 237,000 populations since 1900.

Call for global action

According to the authors, the findings underscore the need for global action to prevent further loss of terrestrial vertebrate species.

The study says, "There will be more pandemics if we continue destroying habitats and trading wildlife for human consumption as food and traditional medicines.

"It is something that humanity cannot permit, as it may be a tipping point for the collapse of civilization. What is at stake is the fate of humanity and most living species."

"We are facing our final opportunity to ensure that the many services nature provides us do not get irretrievably sabotaged," said Professor Gerardo Ceballos of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who led the research.

Commenting on the study, Diana Fisher, associate professor, School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland, and vice president of the Australian Mammal Society, said species on every continent except for Antarctica are under threat.

"This is an important study that deserves attention," Fisher said. Why? "Because so many people do not realize how much of the world's wildlife faces impending extinction."

Australia has the second highest number of land vertebrates on the brink of extinction, despite being the smallest continent. Only South America has more species on the brink, because of the many critically endangered frogs there.

The study highlights the wildlife trade, but, in Australia, habitat loss and invasive predators and diseases are particularly serious threats.

Amy Coetsee, a threatened species biologist at Zoos Victoria, said: "Globally, humans are driving many species towards extinction at an accelerated rate."

She said the latest study is a "wake-up call" to take urgent action on a global scale, to reverse the extinction crisis.

"If we don't, civilization is at risk. Australia has the worst mammal extinction record in the world. Many of our unique species are on the brink of extinction due to habitat destruction, introduced species, such as cats, foxes, cane toads, and climate change," Coetsee said.

Fertile soils degraded

"We can already see the evidence of what happens when we lose species. Since European settlement, our once fertile soils have become degraded as our digging mammals, such as bandicoots, potoroos and bettongs, have disappeared across most of their range. These diggers perform an important role when they turn over the soil every night looking for food."

She added: "Whilst we are currently on a devastating trajectory, there is hope we can reverse the extinction crisis. With strong environmental laws that protect native wildlife, long-term investment into threatened species recovery and a renewable energy future, we will save species from extinction."

Chris Johnson, professor of wildlife conservation at the University of Tasmania, said the current rate of extinction of species is higher than at any time since 65 million years ago, when the collision of a space rock with the Earth killed off dinosaurs and many other species.

"Threats to species in today's world-things like habitat destruction and climate change-are growing rapidly," Johnson said.

"This suggests the rate of extinction may be about to increase further. The significance of this study is that it provides evidence for that impending rise in extinctions," he said.

"The tragedy of all of this is that we have the knowledge to save species from extinction, and doing that is cheap in a global context. But this task is just not given enough priority by society and governments."

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1994 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲网在线观看 | 韩国色片 | 亚洲欧洲日韩av | 亚洲免费婷婷 | 国产成人一级 | 成人在线视频网站 | 国产精品婷婷午夜在线观看 | 制服.丝袜.亚洲.另类.中文 | 亚洲欧美日韩精品 | av网站免费在线 | 天天操天天透 | 毛片网站在线播放 | 在线免费中文字幕 | 午夜伦理网 | 免费av在线播放 | 国产一区二区精彩视频 | 五月婷婷一区二区三区 | 成人午夜淫片免费观看 | 欧美日韩一级在线 | 91亚洲一区| 日本黄色动态图 | 婷婷激情综合网 | www.中文字幕在线观看 | 日本加勒比中文字幕 | 天天操你 | 黄色av播放 | 一级免费片 | 久久新视频 | 国产精品视频在线观看 | 午夜三级视频 | 亚洲欧美综合在线观看 | 日本免费a级片 | 国产乱码精品一品二品 | 成人午夜免费在线观看 | 午夜激情在线视频 | 中文字幕av久久爽一区 | 日韩手机在线 | 太骚了全程淫语小说 | 久久久久久免费视频 | 欧美精品久久久久久久久久 | 国产一级精品视频 |