New study raises alarm over rapid global wildlife loss

A new study is sounding the alarm over global wildlife loss, painting what the authors call "a consid‐ erably more alarming pic‐ ture" of worldwide species population declines than previously thought.

Of the over 70,000 animal species analyzed by the re‐ searchers in the recent study published in Biological Re‐ views, 48 per cent were found to have declining populations.

"What we are experiencing right now is the beginning of what we call a mass extinc‐ tion," said Daniel PincheiraDonoso, evolutionary and cli‐ mate change biologist at Queen's University Belfast and lead author of the study.

Many conservation esti‐ mates only measure whether a species is currently at risk of extinction, but this study helps understand which direc‐ tion species are heading in — only three per cent of the ex‐ amined species were found to have increasing populations.

The report adds further evidence to a growing con‐ cern over human-caused mass extinction, including a 2019 report from the United Nations found that over half a million species were at risk of extinction over the next sev‐ eral decades.

Experts warn that swift ac‐ tion is necessary to reverse the trend, and suggest a strat‐ egy to make that as effective as possible.

A new way to measure Wildlife extinction risk is typically measured through "conservation categories" that indicate whether a partic‐ ular species is currently threatened by extinction, says Pincheira-Donoso.

Instead of using the tradi‐ tional categories, PincheiraDonoso and his team opted to look at broader population trends to determine whether the population of a certain species was increasing, de‐ creasing, stable or unknown.

"Instead of providing a snapshot of how species are doing right now, it provides a perspective through time," he said.

While Pincheira-Donoso's research found that nearly half of the species examined were in decline, the Interna‐ tional Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List only clas‐ sifies 28 per cent of biodiversi‐ ty as currently under threat.

WATCH | What's behind the species decline? Hear from the study co-au‐ thor and experts working to help conservation ef‐ forts:

The Queen's biologist says they also found that 33 per cent of species classified as non-threatened on the Red List, are in fact experiencing population decline.

"We can have species to‐ day that are tagged as being safe, not threatened. But if they are undergoing declines, we can expect that in the fu‐ ture they will be approaching levels of extinction risk," he said.

Of the six categories of ani‐ mals examined — 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 most severe de‐ crease.

Only three per cent of to‐ tal species examined were found to have increasing pop‐ ulations.

Christina Davy, an assis‐ tant professor at Carleton University whose research lab studies species at risk in Cana‐ da, says the research fills a "really important gap," by showing that species may be declining despite their conser‐ vation category.

"Species have to be col‐ lapsing pretty quickly to trig‐ ger a listing of threatened, en‐ dangered or vulnerable" she said.

"It's possible for species to be declining slowly and not trigger those criteria and not meet those thresholds."

Greater bang for our buck

Observing broader trends can perhaps lead to more ef‐ fective biodiversity manage‐ ment, Davy says.

"We often end up chasing the most dire situations — the species that are on the brink of extinction," she said, adding that in Canada, other species that are declining but not considered threatened may not be receiving the at‐ tention they need.

For instance, Davy says fo‐ cusing on restoring the at-risk wetland plant scarlet amman‐ nia might only help a small fraction of wetlands in Cana‐ da.

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

"If we were to preserve wetlands across Ontario, for example, to really protect the Canadian population of the snapping turtle, that would al‐ so benefit the more endan‐ gered wetland species like scarlet ammannia," she said.

As Davy puts it, protecting common species may yield a greater "bang for our buck." Reversing the trend While climate change is a growing threat for biodiversi‐ ty, Pincheira-Donoso notes the main driver is a loss of habitat due to the conversion of natural landscapes into land for human activities — like city building, agriculture and roads.

"In the case of the modern biodiversity crisis, the major threat to biodiversity is habi‐ tat destruction," PincheiraDonoso said.

David Cooper, the acting executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Di‐ versity, agrees that land use is a major concern when it comes to biodiversity.

"The total abundance of species — particularly animal species on the planet at the moment, and particularly larger animal species like mammals — has been mas‐ sively reduced simply because humans, agricultural systems and livestock are taking so much more of the space," he said.

Cooper notes the

Kun‐ ming-Montreal Global Biodi‐ versity Framework — an in‐ ternational agreement set at 2022's COP-15 biodiversity conference in Montreal and aimed at tackling the biodi‐ versity crisis — established ac‐ tions to address these landuse issues.

"So we need more protect‐ ed areas, but we need better protected areas and we need this in the context of the plan‐ ning of the total landscape and the total seascape," he said.

Cooper notes that the Kunming-Montreal Frame‐ work sets targets to restore ecosystems, mitigate climate change, and combat over-ex‐ ploitation, pollution, and inva‐ sive species.

Lea Randall, interim senior manager of conservation translocations at the Calgarybased conservation organiza‐ tion the Wilder Institute, says her organization is increasing‐ ly taking an eco-systems fo‐ cused approach to conserva‐ tion.

"Trying to restore that habitat or make sure that the places you're releasing them into are intact enough that it can support those popula‐ tions is really key," she said.

She notes that up to 70 per cent of wetlands have been lost in some parts of Canada and restoring the nat‐ ural habitat for the benefit of one species can have knockon benefits for other species that also make use of the area, she explains.

Humans rely on biodiversi‐ ty which is why it's of the ut‐ most importance to prioritize conservation efforts, explains Cooper.

"A large proportion of our crops — and particularly the most nutritious ones — are dependent on animal pollina‐ tion. The decline in abun‐ dance and the decline in di‐ versity of those species is re‐ ducing production of many agricultural crops," he said.

"We depend on nature, we depend on the diversity of species, but we're also depen‐ dent on the abundance of many of these species."