What happens if a species goes extinct

Overall, the IUCN estimates that half the globe's 5, known mammals are declining in population and a fifth are clearly at risk of disappearing forever with no less than 1, mammals across the globe classified as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable.

In addition to primates, marine mammals — including several species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises — are among those mammals slipping most quickly toward extinction. PLANTS Through photosynthesis, plants provide the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat and are thus the foundation of most life on Earth.

They're also the source of a majority of medicines in use today. Of the more than , known species of plants, the IUCN has evaluated only 12, species, finding that about 68 percent of evaluated plant species are threatened with extinction. Unlike animals, plants can't readily move as their habitat is destroyed, making them particularly vulnerable to extinction.

Global warming is likely to substantially exacerbate this problem. Already, scientists say, warming temperatures are causing quick and dramatic changes in the range and distribution of plants around the world. With plants making up the backbone of ecosystems and the base of the food chain, that's very bad news for all species, which depend on plants for food, shelter, and survival. Island reptile species have been dealt the hardest blow, with at least 28 island reptiles having died out since The main threats to reptiles are habitat destruction and the invasion of nonnative species, which prey on reptiles and compete with them for habitat and food.

Get the latest on our work for biodiversity and learn how to help in our free weekly e-newsletter. Saving Life on Earth Read our report on how we can tackle the extinction crisis before it's too late.

Contact: Tierra Curry. Need to cite this webpage? The Center for Biological Diversity is a c 3 registered charitable organization. Tax ID: Restores the full power of the Endangered Species Act and quickly moves to protect all species that are endangered but not yet on the endangered species list.

Makes dramatic cuts in pollution and plastics , increases efforts to stem wildlife exploitation and invasive species, and restores the U. Join us in our fight against extinction. Join now. Join our fight against extinction. Search our newsroom. Just in the past decade, two mammal species have gone extinct: a bat known as the Christmas Island pipistrelle and a rat, the Bramble Cay melomys.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists more than mammal species and subspecies as critically endangered. In some cases, like the Sumatran rhino or the vaquita —a porpoise native to the Gulf of California—there are fewer than a hundred individuals left. In others, like the baiji also known as the Yangtze River dolphin , the species, though not yet officially declared extinct, has probably died out.

And unfortunately, what goes for mammals goes for just about every other animal group: reptiles, amphibians , fish, even insects.

Extinction rates today are hundreds—perhaps thousands—of times higher than the background rate. The last mass extinction, which did in the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago , followed an asteroid impact.

Today the cause of extinction seems more diffuse. But trace all these back and you find yourself face-to-face with the same culprit. The great naturalist E. This time around, in other words, the asteroid is us.

One way to think of a species, be it of ape or of ant, is as an answer to a puzzle: how to live on planet Earth. We are, in this sense, plundering a library—the library of life. Instead of the Anthropocene, Wilson has dubbed the era we are entering the Eremozoic—the age of loneliness. Joel Sartore has been photographing animals for his Photo Ark project for 13 years. In an ever growing number of cases, animals housed in zoos or special breeding facilities are among the last remaining members of their species.

In some instances, they are the only members. He became the last known of his kind when a fungal disease swept through his native habitat and a captive-breeding program failed.

Romeo, a Sehuencas water frog that lives at the natural history museum in Cochabamba, Bolivia, was likewise believed to be a sole survivor.

Scientists created an online dating profile for him. Amazingly, the search has revealed five more Sehuencas water frogs, two males and three females. All were taken to Cochabamba; the one female mature enough to breed with Romeo was named Juliet. Whether she will prove a worthy mate and perpetuate the species, no one knows.

But with its expressive brown eyes and gangly limbs, it had its own kind of charm. Sartore treats all creatures—great and small, handsome and homely—with reverence.

There used to be dozens of Partula species in the South Pacific, occupying different islands and different ecological niches. The introduction of carnivorous snails from Florida drove nearly a third of the Partula species extinct; several survive solely thanks to captive-breeding programs.

We live in an extraordinary time. Perhaps by recognizing this, we can begin to imagine creating a different one—one that preserves, as much as is still possible, the wonderful diversity of life. Since the s, a fungal disease called chytridiomycosis, likely spread through direct contact and by infected water, has ravaged global amphibian populations.

More than species have been affected; 90 of these may be extinct. The fungus disrupts transmission of electrolytes through the skin of a frog or toad, ultimately stopping its heart. Org Americas Jan 25th 2 mins. You Might Also Like. Biodiversity Climate Change Oceans. Biodiversity Climate Change Conservation.

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