What are the major threats to biodiversity

Climate change will be the fastest-growing cause of species loss in the Americas by midcentury, according to a new set of reports from the leading global organization on ecosystems and biodiversity. Climate change, alongside factors like land degradation and habitat loss, is emerging as a top threat to wildlife around the globe, the reports suggest. In Africa, it could cause some animals to decline by as much as 50 percent by the end of the century, and up to 90 percent of coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean may bleach or degrade by the year 2050. The reports, released last week by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), included a sweeping set of biodiversity assessments for four major regions around the world, with contributions from more than 500 experts. A separate report on global land degradation, which was launched yesterday, included more than 100 authors. Both were approved by IPBES’s 129 member states at an ongoing plenary session in Medellín, Colombia. Numerous other threats still challenge the world’s biodiversity, from pollution and overexploitation to land-use change and habitat loss, and in many places these are still greater immediate dangers to the world’s wildlife than climate change. But the new series of reports emphasize that action on global warming is also action in favor of wild plants and animals. And in turn, protecting the world’s remaining natural places is also a step toward safeguarding the cl...

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The Asian hornet, also known as the yellow-legged hornet or Asian predatory wasp, is a species of hornet indigenous to Southeast Asia. It is of concern as an invasive species in some other countries. • Opinion by Helen Roy - Peter Stoett - Anibal Pauchard ( bonn, germany) • Monday, June 12, 2023 • Inter Press Service BONN, Germany, Jun 12 (IPS) - Prof. Helen Roy, Prof. Peter Stoett, and Prof. Anibal Pauchard – Co-Chairs of the IPBES Invasive Alien Species AssessmentNature is declining rapidly, and the rate of species extinction is accelerating. Biological invasions defined Species have been introduced through human activities around the world for centuries. These species, introduced intentionally and unintentionally into regions within which they would not naturally occur, are termed alien species. Following their introduction, some of these alien species establish and spread causing adverse, and in some cases irreversible impacts. This subset of alien species is termed invasive alien species. Across Europe alone there are more than 14 000 alien species, including many different plants and animals, and a proportion of these are invasive. There are many ways in which invasive alien species cause problems for other species - for example through predation, competition, transmission of disease or hybridisation. Invasive alien species are implicated in many extinctions worldwide, especially on islands which are particularly vulnerable to biological invasions. Prevention underpi...

Biodiversity allows the earth to sustain many different ecosystems. For example, worms aerate the soil to help flowers grow, bees use flower pollen to feed their young and humans use honey for food. Every living creature is dependent on the others to survive. What Is a Biodiversity Hotspot? Photo Courtesy: yuelan/iStock A There are two sets of criteria that There are a total of For example, the Amazon Rainforest has incredible biodiversity, and people often refer to it as “the lungs of the earth.” The Amazon is also a biodiversity hotspot, as the region continuously faces serious threats from deforestation and ongoing forest fires. The Amazon Rainforest is solely responsible for producing What Are the Main Causes of Biodiversity Loss? Photo Courtesy: Andrii Chagovets/iStock Biodiversity loss happens when one or multiple species within a specific area or ecosystem experience a population decrease. This process will often become evident over a long period of time. It may take several years for a single tree species to be wiped out from a forest, and it may take several years more for the animals dependent on that tree for shelter and food to slowly decline in population size. Biodiversity loss can occur quickly, whereby a species becomes extinct over a short period of time. Biodiversity loss turns an area that was once a haven of natural life into an at-risk biodiversity hotspot. Why does biodiversity loss happen? Scientists have identified the main, largely preventable, rea...