Survey: Many Species at Risk of Extinction

[villager]

"humans are pushing the natural world into the Earth's sixth big extinction event." Yeah. Buy that crazed naked ape species at the end of the bar a beer...


Survey: Many Species at Risk of Extinction

By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON - A steep decline in birds, butterflies and native plants in Britain supports the theory that humans are pushing the natural world into the Earth's sixth big extinction event and the future may see more and more animal species disappearing.

Will the government's anti-terror tactics invade your privacy? Plus, protecting yourself from identity theft and is Wal-Mart watching?

In an effort that sent more than 20,000 volunteers into every corner of England, Scotland and Wales to survey wildlife and plants, researchers found that many native populations are in big trouble and some are gone altogether.

"This is the first time, for instance, that we can answer the question, 'Have butterflies declined as badly as birds?'" said Jeremy A. Thomas, an ecologist with the National Environment Research Council in Dorchester, England, and the first author of a study appearing in the journal Science.

A survey of 58 butterfly species found that some had experienced a 71 percent population swoon since similar surveys taken from 1970 through 1982.

<more, alas, at:>
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=7&u=/ap/20040318/ap_on_sc/wildlife_gone

[revree]

1. Including humans.

This is sad. We are utterly destroying our planet...

[Emboldened Chimp]

2. Richard Leakey wrote a book about this

called the Sixth Extinction. Came out eight years ago. Amazing read.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385468091/qid=1079652176/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5537621-9676156?v=glance&s=books

[ironflange]

9. Another good book:

"The End of Evolution" by Peter Ward. You can probably find it in most any library.

[Rex]

3. Hey screw dem udder species! I just want cheap gas, plastic EVERYTHING,

and 900 cable channels to fill my brain full of mush! :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[villager]

4. right! because, you know, the extinction wave...

...won't affect me

[Dogmudgeon]

5. INTO extinction?

We're already there.

And it's not just the butterflies and birds. A lot of species of edible fish are dying out, too.

Wild honeybees are nearly extinct everywhere except rain forests ... which are also being wiped out at a brisk pace.

Megafauna, like elephants, lions, hippos, are also dying out.

The Sixth Extinction is happening now.

--bkl

[villager]

6. yeah... maybe when the plankton goes...

...people will notice...

[Dogmudgeon]

7. WHEN the plankton goes?

Same story.

It's going fast.

--bkl

[villager]

10. guess I meant...

...when the whole food chain collapses....

[PartyPooper]

8. Recently, I heard that the Southern California wildfires of 2003 destroyed

an entire species of butterflies native to the area. Gone! Kaput!
Never to grace this planet ever again!

*sigh*

:-(

[DeepModem Mom]

11. Dems must make the environment an issue this time --

I don't know why Al Gore failed to make the central issue of his political life an issue in his Presidential campaign. People laugh at the extinction of little-known creatures, but I don't think many would laugh at the prospect of no birds or butterflies. And the larger issue of the environment resonates with people when they are informed, as with the Bush administration's early overstepping re. mercury levels in water. People care about things that endanger their, and their childrens', lives, if they are made aware.