Math fix shows wildlife extinction rate at least 100 times worse than predicted

Wildlife extinction rates 'seriously underestimated'

Ian Sample
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday July 2, 2008

Endangered species may become extinct 100 times faster than previously thought, scientists warned today, in a bleak re-assessment of the threat to global biodiversity.

Writing in the journal Nature, leading ecologists claim that methods used to predict when species will die out are seriously flawed, and dramatically underestimate the speed at which some plants and animals will be wiped out.

The findings suggest that animals such as the western gorilla, the Sumatran tiger and the Malayan sun bear, the smallest of the bear family, may become extinct much sooner than conservationists feared.

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"Some species could have months instead of years left, while other species that haven't even been identified as under threat yet should be listed as endangered," said Melbourne.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/02/climatechange.endangeredspecies

An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth

Species are dying out at a rate not seen since the demise of the dinosaurs, according to a report published today – and human behaviour is to blame. Emily Dugan counts the cost

Friday, 16 May 2008

The world's species are declining at a rate "unprecedented since the extinction of the dinosaurs", a census of the animal kingdom has revealed. The Living Planet Index out today shows the devastating impact of humanity as biodiversity has plummeted by almost a third in the 35 years to 2005.


The report, produced by WWF, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Global Footprint Network, says land species have declined by 25 per cent, marine life by 28 per cent, and freshwater species by 29 per cent.

Jonathan Loh, editor of the report, said that such a sharp fall was "completely unprecedented in terms of human history". "You'd have to go back to the extinction of the dinosaurs to see a decline as rapid as this," he added. "In terms of human lifespan we may be seeing things change relatively slowly, but in terms of the world's history this is very rapid."

And "rapid" is putting it mildly. Scientists say the current extinction rate is now up to 10,000 times faster than what has historically been recorded as normal.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/an-epidemic-of-extinctions-decimation-of-life-on-earth-829325.html

cross-post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3312639

Hell of an expression, that simple single-syllable word, ain't it?

Actually I originally got the information from the Center for Biological Diversity email I receive, and that's the exact word they used.

Depressing and alarming how many predictions are being made in the scientific community that severly underestimate worse case, either by math error or by summaries that are too conservative.

here's an article I posted yesterday where it's been found that the condition of and threat to the coral reefs around the world is much worse than originally thought.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x160606