This LINK is to a distressing article on the devastating effect climate change has on nature.
The Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens) is listed as imperiled by NatureServe. (Photo: James Marvin Phelps/NatureServe)
“We are currently experiencing and causing the Sixth Extinction–the mass extinction of species across the planet,” said the head of NatureServe, which also found a third of plants nationwide are under threat.
An excerpt:
Underscoring the need for humanity to overhaul its relationship with nature, 34% of plants species and 40% of animal species across the United States are at risk of extinction while 41% of U.S. ecosystems could collapse, according to an analysis published Monday by the nonprofit NatureServe.
“For 50 years, the NatureServe Network has been collecting the information necessary to understand biodiversity imperilment in the United States. This new analysis of that data, a first in 20 years, makes crystal clear the urgency of that work,” said the group’s vice president for data and methods, Regan Smyth.
“Two-fifths of our ecosystems are in trouble. Freshwater invertebrates and many pollinators, the foundation of a healthy, functional planet, are in precipitous decline,” she pointed out. “Understanding and addressing these risks is critical if we are to forestall devastating consequences for the biodiversity that humanity needs to survive.”
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