extinction tagged posts

Java Stingarees are the first marine fish to be declared extinct as a result of human activity. This troubling news was released with the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) latest update of its Red List of Threatened Species last week, along with reports of escalating climate impacts on freshwater fishes presented at COP28. A shocking quarter of all known freshwater fish species are currently at risk of extinction, with 20 percent impacted directly by climate change.

“Freshwater fishes make up more than half of the world’s known fish species, an incomprehensible diversity given that freshwater ecosystems comprise only 1 percent of aquatic habitat,” says Kathy Hughes, Co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Freshwater Fish Specialist Group.

“These diverse species are integral ...

The effects of human activity from climate change to pollution are “devastating” marine life, with nearly a tenth of underwater plants and animals assessed so far threatened with extinction, the latest Red List of Threatened Species showed on Friday, December 9. The report’s release coincided with a UN summit on nature in Montreal where the UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged countries to end an “orgy of destruction” and pass a deal to halt and reverse habitat loss.

More than 1,550 of some 17,903 marine plants and animals assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are at risk of extinction, according to the latest list, which acts as a barometer of biodiversity and is published several times a year.

“It shows that we are having qu...

The ocean’s mammals are at a crucial crossroads – with some at risk of extinction and others showing signs of recovery, researchers led by scientists at the University of Exeter have warned. Scientists have found that accidental capture by fisheries (bycatch), climate change and pollution are among the key drivers of decline following a detailed review of the status of the world’s 126 marine mammal species – which include whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, manatees, dugongs, sea otters and polar bears.

A quarter of these species are now classified as being at risk of extinction – vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered on the IUCN Red List – with the near-extinct vaquita porpoise and the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale among those in greatest danger.

Corals may have teamed up with the microscopic algae which live inside them as much as 160 million years ago, according to new research. The two organisms have a symbiotic relationship, meaning they need each other to survive. But this partnership was previously thought to have developed about 60 million years ago.

The new findings suggest that reef algae may have weathered significant environmental changes over time. This includes the mass extinction that wiped out most of the dinosaurs.

Algae’s resilience to temperature changes has been of concern to scientists recently, as warming events on the Great Barrier Reef have seen the coral “bleached” of its algae.

The study, conducted by an international team of scientists, aimed to explore the diversity of algae species co-habiting with co...