Balance of nature: entire Earth ecosystems mapped (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, October 13, 2022, 17:01 (562 days ago) @ David Turell

Another view of the study:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2342176-wildlife-populations-are-declining-on-a-de...

Wildlife populations around the world are facing dramatic declines, according to new figures that have prompted environmental campaigners to call for urgent action to rescue the natural world.

The 2022 Living Planet Index (LPI), produced by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), reveals that studied populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have seen an average decline of 69 per cent since 1970, faster than previous predictions.

The LPI tracked global biodiversity between 1970 and 2018, based on the monitoring of 31,821 populations of 5230 vertebrate species.

Mark Wright of WWF says the scale of decline is “devastating” and continues to worsen. “We are not seeing any really positive signs that we are beginning to bend the curve of nature,” he says.

Freshwater vertebrates have been among the hardest hit populations, with monitored populations showing an average decline of 83 per cent since 1970.

Meanwhile, some of the most biodiverse regions of the world are seeing the steepest falls in wildlife, with the Caribbean and central and south America seeing average wildlife population sizes plummet by 94 per cent since 1970.

"Habitat loss and degradation is the largest driver of wildlife loss in all regions around the world, followed by species overexploitation by hunting, fishing or poaching.

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"some researchers are critical of the LPI’s use of a headline figure of decline, warning it is vulnerable to misinterpretation.

"The findings don’t mean all species or populations worldwide are in decline. In fact, approximately half the populations show a stable or increasing trend, and half show a declining trend.

“'Distilling the state of the world’s biodiversity to a single figure – or even a few figures – is incredibly difficult,” says Hannah Ritchie at Our World in Data. “It definitely fails to give us an accurate understanding of what the problem is and how we move forward.”

“'I think a more appropriate and useful way to look at it is to focus on specific species or populations,” says Ritchie.

"But Wright says the LPI is a useful tool that reflects the findings of other biodiversity metrics, such as the IUCN Red List and the Biodiversity Intactness Index. “All of those indices, they all scream that there is something going really very badly wrong,” says Wright."

Comment: Our food supply depends in part on wild animals, especially fish. As the human population grows, loss of any animals accentuates the problem of food supply. dhw throws all of this problem into his derisive 'human plus food' discussion of God's real approach to create us by an evolutionary process. The intricate balance from the bush of life is not simply 'food'. It forms it own intricate balances.