Researchers say urgent conservation efforts will be needed to mitigate the ‘shocking statistic’ that threatens to unravel ecosystems
More than 500 bird species could vanish within the next century, researchers have found, calling for urgent “special recovery programmes” such as captive breeding and habitat restoration to rescue unique species.
Birds such as the puffin, European turtle dove and great bustard will be among those to disappear from our skies if trends continue, according to the paper. Their loss threatens to unravel ecosystems across the globe.
“We face a bird extinction crisis unprecedented in modern times,” said Kerry Stewart, lead author of the research from the University of Reading, who described the headline finding of the paper as a “shocking statistic”. It is triple the number of birds that went extinct in the previous 500 years.
The paper, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, examined data from nearly 10,000 birds (almost all of those known to exist) and used IUCN data to predict extinction risk. Habitat loss – driven mainly by the expansion and intensification of agriculture – emerged as the most significant driver of species extinction.
