Throughout Earth's history, many species have gone extinct. Extinction is a part of the evolutionary process that has shaped life on the planet, but often proceeds slowly over thousands to millions of years. Unfortunately, through intense human activities such as land-use change, overexploitation, climate change, pollution and introduction of invasive species, we have put our foot on the extinction accelerator. The current rate of species extinction is at least tens to hundreds of times higher than usual due to human influence, with drastic consequences for all life on our planet.
Accelerating extinctions
Accelerating extinctions
Introduction
Ecosystems are built on intricate networks of connections between different species. As such, the real risk of extinction may be much greater than we realize, especially as many species are highly interconnected and form strong, unique bonds with other species. The disappearance of such an organism has ripple effects throughout the ecosystem and could trigger a “co-extinction” — the extinction of dependent species — setting off a chain reaction of extinctions that could end in the ecosystem’s collapse. In short, extinction breeds extinction.
Key Numbers
Key Numbers
400+
vertebrate species extinct in the last 100 years
32 million
hectares of primary or recovering forest lost between 2010 and 2015
1 million
plant and animal species threatened with extinction, many of them within decades
Thus, with almost 1 million plant and animal species currently threatened with extinction, it is not “just” about the loss of a single species but of countless others. For example, the gopher tortoise, which is threatened with extinction, digs burrows that are used by more than 350 other species for breeding, feeding, protection from predators and avoiding extreme temperatures. The critically endangered dusky gopher frog, which helps control insect populations and prevent pest outbreaks in longleaf pine forest ponds, relies extensively on these burrows for survival. If the gopher tortoise goes extinct, the dusky gopher frog will likely follow, affecting the entire forest ecosystem. Similarly, predators like sea otters, a locally endangered species due to overhunting, help balance Pacific kelp forests by feeding on sea urchins. Without otters, the urchins overgraze the kelp, creating "urchin barrens" or patches where the kelp forest is invaded and essentially wiped out. The shelter, food and protection provided by kelp would be lost for over 1,000 species , including sharks, turtles, seals, whales, birds, fish and more, with a cascade of extinctions likely to follow.
In the vast web of life, the extinction of one species cuts multiple threads that hold the world together. As these links become fewer and thinner, the reduced resilience of ecosystems can lead to a state of instability, in which even minor changes can cause a catastrophic collapse. Our current approach to conservation is often single-species focused, ignoring the intricate interrelationships among species and the fragility of dependent species and ecosystems. As a result, the true impact of extinction on our critical life-support systems is vastly underestimated. We must intensify efforts to conserve not only target species, but also dependent species. We must act quickly and decisively to protect and conserve ecosystems and the biodiversity they support. Nature should also be reintegrated into our culture, to understand that its value goes beyond our desire for money and development. This approach will maintain the resilience of ecosystems and ensure the survival of our planet's living webs.
Tipping point: The extinction of a strongly connected species in a given ecosystem can trigger cascading extinctions of dependent species, which can eventually lead to ecosystem collapse.
Tipping Point
Shared Root Causes
Shared Impacts
Key Interconnections
Shared Root Cause
Colonialism
Shared with Space debrisExpanding over an area for economic or strategic exploitation that leads to degradation of Earth’s environment and orbits
Shared Driver
Risk-intensifying land use
Shared with Groundwater depletionAgricultural intensification and expansion increases risk to groundwater resources and vulnerable species
Shared Impact
Ecosystem damage & biodiversity loss
Shared with Unbearable heat, Groundwater depletion, Mountain glacier meltingHabitat fragmentation, environmental degradation and other physical disturbances compromise ecosystem health, triggering both species decline and landscape transformations
Direct Influence
Uninsurable future
As cascading extinctions lead to degraded ecosystems, we lose services that can be valuable for disaster protection, raising risk and exacerbating uninsurability
Solutions
Solutions
Explore solutions to change the course of the tipping point and even forge a new path towards a bright, sustainable and equitable future.
