Biodiversity Loss

Ever since the US President refused to sign the Biodiversity Treaty at the Earth Summit in 1992 the word ‘biodiversity’ has been bandied around by politicians and economists. But what exactly is biodiversity? How important is it to humanity?

Biodiversity is shorthand for biological diversity or the variability of living organisms and the ecological complexes of which they are part. It is the total variety of genetic strains, species and ecosystems. This diversity is a wonder and a delight but also a great responsibility.

Currently there is much concern over the increasing impact of our human actions on biodiversity. There are widespread calls for political action to halt the loss of species and protect the living world around us.

Worldwide there are an estimated 5 to 30 million species of animals and plants, each genetically unique. Most remain unidentified. Some 1.4 million animal species alive today have been named and described. Named plant species are far fewer, numbering around 400,000. Biodiversity is not uniformly distributed over the earth’s surface. The tropics cover 42% of all land but contain two-thirds of all animal species. Rain-forests cover 6 % of all land but contain two-fifths of all plant and animal species. Comprehensive measurement of biodiversity is difficult. However, we can compare numbers of species between sites as a simple index of relative biodiversity.

Endangered

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters. Also it could mean that due to deforestation there may be a lack of food and/or water. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has calculated the percentage of endangered species as 40 percent of all organisms based on the sample of species that have been evaluated through 2006. (Note: the IUCN groups all threatened species for their summary purposes.) Many nations have laws offering protection to conservation reliant species: for example, forbidding hunting, restricting land development or creating preserves. Only a few of the many species at risk of extinction actually make it to the lists and obtain legal protection. Many more species become extinct, or potentially will become extinct, without gaining public notice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species

Threatened and Extinct Species

he International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is a group of organisations and scientific experts that work for the protection of sustainable (able to be maintained) living resources. It is considered to be the best authority about the status of living things on the planet.

The IUCN:
keeps watch on species* and ecosystems** thoughout the world;

plans conservation action;

encourages conservation by governments and other organisations;

provides help and advice necessary for conservation action.

*species means a group of one kind of animal

** an ecosystem is a group of living things in the one environment, all interacting together and depending on each other. For example, if a forest disappears then all the plants, mammals, birds, insects, reptiles and perhaps even fish are affected in some way because their shelter, food, protection, nests etc have gone.

The IUCN has developed categories to describe threatened species. 'Threatened' is the term used for species that are in the Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable categories below.

The IUCN publishes a Red List of Threatened Species every four years. You can see the Red List:

The IUCN categories for threatened species are:

Extinct 'Extinct in the Wild'	The species has definitely not been seen in the wild in the past 50 years The species only exists in captivity, and no longer in the wild	Example: Thylacine Example: Kakapo	Find out more about extinction
Critically Endangered	The species is facing an extremely high risk of becoming extinct very soon	Example: Mountain Gorilla	Find out about the Critically endangered Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat
Endangered	The species is in danger of becoming extinct. This includes species that *may* be extinct but have been seen in the wild less than 50 years ago.	Example: Peregrine Falcon	Some Australian endangered species
Vulnerable	The species is likely to move into the Endangered category soon if conditions do not change.	Examples: Hippopotamus Galapagos marine iguana	Find out about the Humpback Whale
Near Threatened	Species whose numbers are dropping and is close to becoming vulnerable or endangered.	Example: European Otter	Find out about the Near Threatened Buzzing Frog
Least Concern	A species that is not vulnerable or endangered, but is common
Data Deficient	There is not enough information at this time to know which category a species is in.
Commercially threatened	A species with good numbers at the moment, but which are being killed in large numbers for commercial reasons. The species will become endangered unless the killing can be controlled.	Example: Pearl oysters