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Why do salmon eaters don’t care about Australian threatened species?
“Australia has the highest rate of mammalian extinctions in the world … The only way to protect the hundreds of threatened Australian forest species is to end native forest logging....The Maugean skate is very much at the forefront of the zero extinction target."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/29/why-does-leonardo-dicaprio-care-so-much-about-australian-wildlife
#Conservation #extinctions #Biodiversity #laws #Skate #MaugeanSkate #salmon #food #NSWLogging #koalas #OpenNetPens #SeaBased #Fish #farms #pollution
The Guardian · Why does Leonardo DiCaprio care so much about Australian wildlife?
Pathways to Borough Park (revised)
17" x 21"
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Exploding #Stars May Have Caused Two of #Earth's Mass #Extinctions
https://www.universetoday.com/articles/exploding-stars-caused-two-of-earths-mass-extinctions
Universe TodayExploding Stars May Have Caused Two of Earth's Mass ExtinctionsSupernova explosions are powerful enough to cause mass extinctions if they're close enough. But can we tie supernovae to any of Earth's five mass extinctions? New research shows supernovae could be responsible for the Late Devonian and Late Ordovician mass extinctions.
Restoring wildlife habitats in wealthy nations could drive extinctions in species-rich regions…
Some efforts to preserve or rewild natural #habitats are shifting harmful land use to other parts of the world—and this could drive an even steeper decline in the planet's #species... #extinctions #wildlife #ecology
for much deliberation · Restoring wildlife habitats in wealthy nations could drive extinctions in species-rich regions…Some efforts to preserve or rewild natural #habitats are shifting harmful land use to other parts of the world—and this could drive an even steeper decline in the planet’s #species… #ex…
Global warming and mass extinctions: What we can learn from plants from the last ice age | ScienceDaily…
Global warming is producing a rapid loss of plant species -- according to estimates, roughly 600 plant species have died out since 1750 -- twice the number of animal species lost... #globalwarming #species #iceage #extinctions
for much deliberation · Global warming and mass extinctions: What we can learn from plants from the last ice age | ScienceDaily…Global warming is producing a rapid loss of plant species — according to estimates, roughly 600 plant species have died out since 1750 — twice the number of animal species lost… #…
Study of more than 600 animal and plant species finds genetic diversity has declined globally
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/30/study-of-more-than-600-animal-and-plant-species-finds-genetic-diversity-has-declined-globally
#biodiversity #extinctions #loss #GBF #GeneticDiversity #wildlife #birds #mammals #habitat #humanImpact #harassment #OnGroundConservation #conservation
The Guardian · Study of more than 600 animal and plant species finds genetic diversity has declined globally
There is a “background level of genetic diversity loss across species”.
Biodiversity continues to be lost worldwide at unprecedented rates
"Genetic diversity loss occurs globally and is a realistic prediction for many species, especially birds and mammals, in the face of threats such as land use change, disease, abiotic natural phenomena and harvesting or harassment. Conservation strategies designed to improve environmental conditions, increase population growth rates and introduce new individuals (for example, restoring connectivity or performing translocations) may maintain or even increase genetic diversity. Our findings underscore the urgent need for active, genetically informed conservation interventions to halt genetic diversity loss."
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Shaw, R.E., Farquharson, K.A., Bruford, M.W. et al. Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08458-x
#biodiversity #extinctions #loss #GBF #GeneticDiversity #wildlife #birds #mammals #HabitatGrab #humanImpact #harassment #OnGroundConservation #conservation
"The late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions thereby represent an early, large-scale human-driven environmental transformation, constituting a progenitor of the Anthropocene, where humans are now a major player in planetary functioning"
#biodiversity #Environment #extinctions
Cambridge CoreThe late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions: Patterns, causes, ecological consequences and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene | Cambridge Prisms: Extinction | Cambridge CoreThe late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions: Patterns, causes, ecological consequences and implications for ecosystem management in the Anthropocene - Volume 2
Human activities are a leading cause of #species #extinctions.
About 5% of known #bird species have gone extinct over the past 130 000 years, and these species are more distinct in terms of their traits and lineages then would be expected by chance.
Future extinctions are predicted to cause even more severe effects on avian functional and phylogenetic #diversity, emphasizing a need for conservation efforts, especially on island.
#ecology #biology
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk7898
The #Corals That Survive #ClimateChange Will Be Unrecognizable
They have endured so much, and to endure this, they’ll have to adapt dramatically.
By Marina Koren
August 28, 2024
"Earth belonged to the corals first. And over hundreds of millions of years, they proved themselves remarkably good at adapting to each new version of the planet. As other groups of organisms dropped out of existence, corals endured so many catastrophes that their history reads like a biblical tale of resilience. Through #extinctions mass and minor, through #volcanic eruptions #and asteroid strikes, the corals survived.
"And for tiny marine animals, they managed to exert tremendous force on the planet’s landscape. Corals have raised whole islands into existence. They are the natural guardians of #coastlines; they sustain an estimated quarter of known #MarineLife. If the reefs ringing the #Maldives die, an entire nation could erode into the sea. Humans live in these places because corals exist.
"The Earth that humans evolved on, in other words, is a coral planet. Today, the animals provide #ecosystems that support the livelihoods of about 1 billion people. They are so fundamental to life as we know it that scientists wonder if one way humanity could discover alien life is by detecting the signature of fluorescent corals in the shallow waters of another planet. Corals are also, famously, being devastated by climate change. Even in a future where they survive in some form, their transformation could make our own experience of this planet profoundly different.
"The earliest corals emerged about 500 million years ago, roughly alongside plant life on land. But the modern version of coral reefs appeared a short 4 million years ago, around the time our human ancestors began to walk upright (give or take a few million years). When researchers try to rescue suffering corals, carefully cutting pieces away and transporting them to aquariums, they’re visiting underwater metropolises that are thousands of years old. Despite all that corals have been through, given how fast conditions on Earth are changing, life has likely never been quite as stressful for them as it is now, according to the coral experts Bertrand Martin-Garin and Lucien Montaggioni in their book, Corals and Reefs.
"Earlier this month, scientists reported that #Australia’s #GreatBarrierReef is sitting in water that, in one decade, has become hotter than at any other point in the past 400 years. #Caribbean coral colonies are still reeling from the havoc of last year’s historic #MarineHeatWave. Around the world, extraordinarily hot ocean temperatures have plunged corals into one of the worst #CoralBleaching events in recorded history—they’re expelling the #algae that live in their tissues and turning a ghostly white. Corals can survive bleaching, if conditions improve. But the longer they remain without that algae, the more likely they are to die.
"'These are strange days on planet Earth,' Derek Manzello, a coral-reef ecologist and the coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, once told me. The planet used to give corals hundreds of thousands of years to adjust to a new reality; #HumanActivities—the burning of #FossilFuels but also #overfishing and #pollution that have brought on #GlobalWarming—have introduced a rate of change more dramatic than anything else in the geological record. “If we wanted to kill all reef-building corals on the planet, it would be hard to imagine a collection of activities quite as pointed and effective as what we’ve arrived at,' Stuart Sandin, a marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told me."
Archived copy:
https://archive.ph/GF6tp
The Atlantic · The Corals That Survive Climate Change Will Be Unrecognizable
“The only complex life we know to exist ANYWHERE in the universe.
Being obliterated so that shareholders can amass imaginary wealth.
It’s as heartbreaking as it is shameful.” - ClimateDad77 on X
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#SeaLevelRise wipes out a #US #species for the first known time
The loss of the only known stand of Key Largo tree cactus in the US shows how rising seas can alter the #coastal environment.
It may be the first sea level rise-related loss of a species in the U.S., although globally, other species have been lost to this and other #climate-related factors.
It could also be an indicator of #extinctions to come for other plants and animals in similarly vulnerable environments.
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/09/sea-level-rise-wipes-out-an-entire-us-species
Axios · Sea level rise wipes out an entire U.S. species
Humans Played Key Role in Megafauna Extinctions, New Research Confirms
https://www.sci.news/paleontology/humans-megafauna-extinctions-13068.html #paleontology #megafauna #extinctions #OurBad
Sci.News: Breaking Science News · Humans Played Key Role in Megafauna Extinctions, New Research Confirms | Sci.NewsAcross the last 50,000 years land vertebrate faunas have experienced severe losses of large species (megafauna), with most extinctions occurring in the Late Pleistocene and Early to Middle Holocene.
The Unseen #DeepSea Legacy of Whaling https://nautil.us/the-unseen-deep-sea-legacy-of-whaling-537454/
#WhaleFalls, Suspended Ground, and Extinctions Never Known https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article/12/2/454/166998/Whale-Falls-Suspended-Ground-and-Extinctions-Never
"It’s not just #whales who were decimated, but the creatures who live where they fall... When we encountered #WhaleFall ecosystems, our decimation of these habitats had been underway for centuries. Although no direct evidence of whale-fall specialist #extinctions has yet been found, that might be because the baseline shifted before anyone observed it"
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Replied to VeganPizza69 ⓋⒶ
11/
Another nail in the coffin of the theory that climate, not humans, caused mass megafauna extinctions about 100,000 years ago. This debate has been going on under the term of "the Overkill hypothesis", with opponents claiming that the extinctions were due to climate changes, not due to humans coming in and killing large animals.
Here's the article: "People, not the climate, caused the decline of the giant mammals" https://nat.au.dk/en/about-the-faculty/news/show/artikel/people-not-the-climate-caused-the-decline-of-the-giant-mammals
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The new study presents brand new data that sheds new light on the debate. By looking at the DNA of 139 large living mammals – species that have survived for the past 50,000 years without becoming extinct – the researchers can show that the populations of these animals have also declined over the period. This development seems to be linked to the spread of humans and not climate change.
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"We’ve studied the evolution of large mammalian populations over the past 750,000 years. For the first 700,000 years, the populations were fairly stable, but 50,000 years ago the curve broke and populations fell dramatically and never recovered,” he says, and continues: "For the past 800,000 years, the globe has fluctuated between ice ages and interglacial periods about every 100,000 years. If climate was the cause, we should see greater fluctuations when the climate changed prior to 50.000 years ago. But we don't. Humans are therefore the most likely explanation.”
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Paper: "Megafauna extinctions in the late-Quaternary are linked to human range expansion, not climate change" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221330542300036X
- Modern humans (Homo sapiens) drive late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions, with no role for climate change.
- The strong body-size bias of the late-Quaternary extinctions is also linked to modern humans, not climatic change.
- The late-Quaternary extinctions represent the first planet-wide, human-driven transformation of the environment.
In case anyone is looking for fundamental errors...
nat.au.dkPeople, not the climate, caused the decline of the giant mammalsFor years, scientists have debated whether humans or the climate have caused the population of large mammals to decline dramatically over the past several thousand years. A new study from Aarhus University confirms that climate cannot be the explanation.
The planet is heating up faster than predicted, says scientist who sounded climate alarm in the 1980s
By Laura Paddison, CNN
Published Nov 2, 2023
"The planet is on track to heat up at a much faster rate than scientists have previously predicted, meaning a key global warming threshold could be breached this decade, according to a new study co-authored by #JamesHansen — the US scientist widely credited with being the first to publicly sound the alarm on the #ClimateCrisis in the 1980s.
"In the paper, published Thursday in the journal Oxford Open #ClimateChange, Hansen and more than a dozen other scientists used a combination of paleoclimate data, including data from polar ice cores and tree rings, climate models and observational data, to conclude that the Earth is much more sensitive to climate change than previously understood.
"'We are in the early phase of a #ClimateEmergency,' according to the report, which warns a surge of heat 'already in the pipeline” will rapidly push global temperatures beyond what has been predicted, resulting in warming that exceeds 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in the 2020s, and above 2 degrees Celsius before 2050.
"The findings add to a slew of recent research that concludes the world is hurtling toward 1.5 degrees, a threshold beyond which the impacts of climate change — including #ExtremeHeat, #drought and #floods — will become significantly harder for humans to adapt to.
"'The 1.5-degree limit is deader than a doornail,' said Hansen on a call with reporters. 'And the 2-degree limit can be rescued, only with the help of purposeful actions.'"
My #introduction keywords: #academic #evolution #cooperation #ecology
I'm a #postdoc specialising in evolutionary and ecological modelling at #NUS #Singapore currently working on #theoretical #models for the evolution of cooperation, in collaboration with Hisashi Ohtsuki, at #SOKENDAI, #Japan.
Previous work: estimating undetected #extinctions, #qualitativemodelling, migratory #phenology, #foodweb #modelling, local #adaptation, #carryover effects, #dispersal.
My blog https://nadiah.org/
Nadiah Pardede KristensenNadiah Pardede Kristensen