Extinction

The rapidly increasing human pressure on the biosphere is pushing biodiversity into the sixth mass extinction event in the history of life on Earth. The organisms being exterminated are integral working parts of our planet’s life support system, and their loss is permanent. Like climate change, this irreversible loss has potentially devastating consequences for humanity. As we come to recognise the many ways in which we depend on nature, this can pave the way for a new ethic that acknowledges the importance of co-existence between humans and other species.

L'espèce humaine disparaîtra dans 255 heures. Les pires prédictions climatiques se sont réalisées, le Grand Effondrement a eu lieu et presque toutes les espèces animales se sont éteintes. Les Derniers Humains se sont réfugiés dans les Dernières Terres : un archipel rocailleux surgi des glaces, où ils survivent dans des cités-royaumes éparses. Accaparés par la lutte pour les maigres ressources, ils ignorent que l'ultime cataclysme est sur le point de balayer ce qu'il reste de l'espèce Homo sapiens. La dernière histoire d'amour s'écrira en lettres de feu.

The European Red List is a review of the status of European species according to IUCN regional Red Listing guidelines. It identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level – in order that appropriate conservation action can be taken to improve their status. This publication is a summary of the conservation status of the European species of mosses, liverworts and hornworts, collectively known as bryophytes.

The European Red List is a review of the status of European species according to IUCN regional Red Listing guidelines. It identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level – in order that appropriate conservation action can be taken to improve their status. This publication summarises results for all Europe’s native species of tree (454 species), of which 265 species (over 58%) are endemic to continental Europe, with 56% (252 species) endemic to the 28 EU Member States.

The potential for numerous amphibian species to go extinct in Oaxaca and Chiapas is high and worthy of being considered a major environmental problem. This report summarizes the findings of a project aimed at gathering information at 16 sites in southern Mexico which had been identified in 2005 as being essential to the continued existence of 22 highly threatened amphibian species, the hope being that it could help initiate conservation action. Site and species information are presented as a series of profiles. 

As the need increases for sound estimates of impending rates of animal and plant species extinction, scientists must have a firm grounding in the qualitative and quantitative methods required to make the best possible predictions. Extinction Rates offers the most wide-ranging and practical introduction to those methods available. With contributions from an international cast of leading experts, the book combines cutting-edge information on recent and past extinction rates with treatments of underlying ecological and evolutionary causes.

How much do we really know about the species that make up the natural world? In this fascinating book Ken Thompson explains what we do and don t understand about biodiversity. We know that most species remain undiscovered, and that biodiversity is gravely threatened by overfishing, habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Life on Earth has previously experienced five episodes of mass extinction, and we are now in the middle of a sixth. Do We Need Pandas? surveys the Earth s biodiversity, its origins and some of the threats it currently faces.