Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Mar 12, 2020 19:07:28 GMT 2
(.#A.084).- 911. Animals at risk.
911. Animals at risk.
In our solar system, Earth is for the moment the only planet where life as we know it can develop and flourish: a speck of dust in the starry vastness. But to maintain this privilege, animal and plant species had to face more than one danger. In the past, they have encountered destructive meteor showers, gigantic volcanic eruptions and extreme variations in temperature. Despite everything, life has always managed to triumph. The problem facing species today is much more devious: a tranquil threat, which has neither the clatter of meteorites nor the radicality of an ice age. Yet the species is disappearing at a dangerously disturbing rate ...
Originally
Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago. It will have taken almost 3 billion years before its biodiversity exploded into a rich variety of life forms. The best known of all is undoubtedly the dinosaurs who reigned supreme on Earth for 150 million years. Confronted with major natural cataclysms for which they were not adapted, these giants simply died out 65 million years ago. By the same token, they have given way to new groups of animals better prepared for the new living conditions thus created: mammals and birds, to name a few. But although this extinction is one of the most spectacular, it is estimated that the Earth experienced 4 others before that of the dinosaurs. In each episode, between 50 and 90% of the living species present have been wiped off the map, leaving a new generation of species to flourish and occupy the space now free.
Then appeared the human ...
But here it is: if the Earth now had less to fear that the sky would fall on its head, it saw a danger appear even more worrying a few hundred thousand years ago: the human being! This dominant species is growing at a staggering rate: in 2009, the world population is estimated at 6.8 billion, including more than 4 billion in Asia alone. Global annual growth is around 1.14%, or nearly 4 births per second. All these mouths to feed necessarily impose an enormous pressure on resources. For example, in Canada, the rate of use of living resources is equivalent to the productivity of 7.5 hectares per individual, while the average yield of the planet supporting consumption is approximately 2.2 hectares per individual. If current global growth in resource consumption continues, it will take the equivalent of two planets Earth to meet needs by the end of this century!
Consequences for wildlife
All living species being closely linked to each other, human actions necessarily influence the fate of animal species. And the overall picture is not reassuring: out of 44,838 species of animals and plants listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2008, 16,928 were threatened with extinction, one species on three! More than 1,800,000 species have been identified to date, but it is estimated that between 5 and 20 million species are still unknown to us and remain to be discovered. At the rate things are going, many of them risk disappearing without even having a name. While at the time of the dinosaurs, the rate of disappearance was one species every 1000 years, it is believed that it is now one species every 20 minutes! It is even argued that half of the living species could disappear within 100 years. If large carnivores like the tiger or the polar bear impress with their efficiency, they appear pale in front of THE biggest predator on the planet: humans!
The Canadian situation
In the eyes of the world, Canada is a vast, essentially wilderness. The richness of its grandiose landscapes does not, however, protect it from danger: the country is young, but the thirst for resources is great! Since the arrival of the first European settlers 500 years ago, 13 species present in Canada have disappeared from the surface of the globe and 23 others are no longer present on our territory. Currently, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) estimates that almost 585 species in the country are threatened in different ways. Among the extirpated species are the Dawson caribou, the sea mink, the Labrador eider, the great penguin, the passenger pigeon and the walleye. Many others have special concern and are closely monitored by COSEWIC. Among them are the prairie dog, the Nuttall rabbit, the polar bear, the Atlantic walrus, the harlequin duck, the purple salamander and the American eel.
A necessary awareness
The facts speak for themselves: the changes brought about by human activities deeply disturb the fragile balance between living species and precipitate the disappearance of the most sensitive species. Far from having the spontaneous effects of a natural disaster, these disturbances must rather be considered as a heavy gear which, without a rapid and drastic intervention, is likely to entail over a long period of heavy consequences for our planet. Many scientists claim that we have entered the 6th era of mass extinction. Will humans be one of those species that can adapt and survive?
© Association of Endangered Species 2020. All rights reserved.
F I N .
911. Animals at risk.
In our solar system, Earth is for the moment the only planet where life as we know it can develop and flourish: a speck of dust in the starry vastness. But to maintain this privilege, animal and plant species had to face more than one danger. In the past, they have encountered destructive meteor showers, gigantic volcanic eruptions and extreme variations in temperature. Despite everything, life has always managed to triumph. The problem facing species today is much more devious: a tranquil threat, which has neither the clatter of meteorites nor the radicality of an ice age. Yet the species is disappearing at a dangerously disturbing rate ...
Originally
Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago. It will have taken almost 3 billion years before its biodiversity exploded into a rich variety of life forms. The best known of all is undoubtedly the dinosaurs who reigned supreme on Earth for 150 million years. Confronted with major natural cataclysms for which they were not adapted, these giants simply died out 65 million years ago. By the same token, they have given way to new groups of animals better prepared for the new living conditions thus created: mammals and birds, to name a few. But although this extinction is one of the most spectacular, it is estimated that the Earth experienced 4 others before that of the dinosaurs. In each episode, between 50 and 90% of the living species present have been wiped off the map, leaving a new generation of species to flourish and occupy the space now free.
Then appeared the human ...
But here it is: if the Earth now had less to fear that the sky would fall on its head, it saw a danger appear even more worrying a few hundred thousand years ago: the human being! This dominant species is growing at a staggering rate: in 2009, the world population is estimated at 6.8 billion, including more than 4 billion in Asia alone. Global annual growth is around 1.14%, or nearly 4 births per second. All these mouths to feed necessarily impose an enormous pressure on resources. For example, in Canada, the rate of use of living resources is equivalent to the productivity of 7.5 hectares per individual, while the average yield of the planet supporting consumption is approximately 2.2 hectares per individual. If current global growth in resource consumption continues, it will take the equivalent of two planets Earth to meet needs by the end of this century!
Consequences for wildlife
All living species being closely linked to each other, human actions necessarily influence the fate of animal species. And the overall picture is not reassuring: out of 44,838 species of animals and plants listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2008, 16,928 were threatened with extinction, one species on three! More than 1,800,000 species have been identified to date, but it is estimated that between 5 and 20 million species are still unknown to us and remain to be discovered. At the rate things are going, many of them risk disappearing without even having a name. While at the time of the dinosaurs, the rate of disappearance was one species every 1000 years, it is believed that it is now one species every 20 minutes! It is even argued that half of the living species could disappear within 100 years. If large carnivores like the tiger or the polar bear impress with their efficiency, they appear pale in front of THE biggest predator on the planet: humans!
The Canadian situation
In the eyes of the world, Canada is a vast, essentially wilderness. The richness of its grandiose landscapes does not, however, protect it from danger: the country is young, but the thirst for resources is great! Since the arrival of the first European settlers 500 years ago, 13 species present in Canada have disappeared from the surface of the globe and 23 others are no longer present on our territory. Currently, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) estimates that almost 585 species in the country are threatened in different ways. Among the extirpated species are the Dawson caribou, the sea mink, the Labrador eider, the great penguin, the passenger pigeon and the walleye. Many others have special concern and are closely monitored by COSEWIC. Among them are the prairie dog, the Nuttall rabbit, the polar bear, the Atlantic walrus, the harlequin duck, the purple salamander and the American eel.
A necessary awareness
The facts speak for themselves: the changes brought about by human activities deeply disturb the fragile balance between living species and precipitate the disappearance of the most sensitive species. Far from having the spontaneous effects of a natural disaster, these disturbances must rather be considered as a heavy gear which, without a rapid and drastic intervention, is likely to entail over a long period of heavy consequences for our planet. Many scientists claim that we have entered the 6th era of mass extinction. Will humans be one of those species that can adapt and survive?
© Association of Endangered Species 2020. All rights reserved.
F I N .
