New study raises alarm over rapid global wildlife loss

A new study is sounding the alarm about global wildlife loss, painting what the authors call a “more alarming picture” of species populations worldwide declining than previously thought.

Of the more than 70,000 animal species analyzed by researchers at new study published in Biological Reviews, 48 ​​​​per cent was found to reduce the population.

“What we are experiencing now is the beginning of what we call a mass extinction,” said Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, an evolutionary and climate change biologist at Queen’s University Belfast and lead author of the study.

Many conservation estimates only measure whether a species is currently at risk of extinction, but this study helps understand the direction a species is headed – only three percent of the species studied were found to be increasing in population.

The report adds further evidence to a grow up concern through human-causes mass extinctionincluding 2019 report from the United Nations found that more than half a million species are at risk of extinction within the next few decades.

Experts warn that quick action is needed to reverse the trend, and suggest strategies to be effective.

A new way to measure

Wildlife extinction risk is usually measured through “conservation categories” that indicate whether a particular species is currently threatened with extinction, Pincheira-Donoso said.

Instead of using traditional categories, Pincheira-Donoso and his team chose to look at broader population trends to determine whether the population of a particular species is increasing, decreasing, stable or unknown.

“Instead of providing a snapshot of how the species is doing today, it provides a perspective over time,” he said.

When Pincheira-Donoso’s research found that almost half of the species studied were in decline, the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List it classifies only 28 percent of biodiversity as currently under threat.

Queen’s biologists said they also found that 33 per cent of species classified as not threatened on the Red List were actually experiencing population declines.

“We can have species today that are marked as safe, not threatened. But if they are in decline, we can expect that in the future they will approach the level of risk of extinction,” he said.

Of the six animal categories studied – mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and insects – reptiles and fish were found to have the most stable populations while amphibians were found to have the heaviest decline.

Only three percent of the total species studied were found to have an increasing population.

Christina Davy, an assistant professor at Carleton University whose research lab studies species at risk in Canada, said the research fills “a very important gap,” by showing that species can decline even in conservation categories.

“A species must decline rapidly to trigger a threatened, endangered or vulnerable list,” he said.

“It is possible that the species will decline slowly and not trigger the criteria and not meet the threshold.”

Greater bang for our buck

Observing broader trends may lead to more effective biodiversity management, Davy said.

“We often go after the most dire situations — species that are on the brink of extinction,” he said, adding that in Canada, other species that are declining but not considered threatened may not get the attention they need.

For example, Davy says that focusing on restoring the at-risk wetland plant red ammannia can only help a small portion of Canada’s wetlands.

But restoring the habitat of more common species like the snapping turtle — which is declining but not yet considered endangered — could help many more wetlands.

“If we conserve wetlands in Ontario, for example, to protect the Canadian loggerhead turtle population, it will also benefit more endangered wetland species like the red ammannia,” he said.

As Davy puts it, protecting common species can yield “bang for our buck.”

Reverse the trend

While climate change is a growing threat to biodiversity, Pincheira-Donoso notes that the main cause is the loss of habitat due to the conversion of natural landscapes into land for human activities – such as urban buildings, agriculture and roads.

“In the case of the modern biodiversity crisis, the main threat to biodiversity is habitat destruction,” said Pincheira-Donoso.

David Cooper, acting executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, agreed that land use is a major issue when it comes to biodiversity.

“The abundance of species – especially animal species on the planet today, and larger animal species like mammals – has been greatly reduced as humans, agricultural systems and livestock take up more space,” he said.

Cooper notes on Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework — an international agreement set at the COP-15 biodiversity conference in 2022 in Montreal and aimed at addressing the biodiversity crisis — takes action to address the land use problem.

“So we need protected areas, but we need better protected areas and we need this in the context of total landscape and total ocean planning,” he said.

Cooper notes that the Kunming-Montreal Framework sets goals for restoring ecosystems, mitigating climate change, and combating overexploitation, pollution, and invasive species.

Lea Randall, interim conservation translocation senior manager at the Calgary-based conservation organization Wilder Institute, said the organization is increasingly taking an ecosystem-focused approach to conservation.

“Trying to restore that habitat or make sure that the places you put in are intact enough to support that population is really important,” he said.

He notes that until 70 percent of the wetlands have disappeared in some parts of Canada and restoring natural habitats for the benefit of one species can have a knock-on benefit for other species that also make use of the area, he explained.

Humans depend on biodiversity, which is why it’s so important to implement conservation efforts, Cooper said.

“A large proportion of our plants – and especially the most nutritious ones – depend on animal pollination. The decrease in abundance and the decrease in the diversity of these species reduce the production of many crops,” he said.

“We depend on nature, we depend on the diversity of species, but we also depend on the abundance of these species.”