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 considerably more alarming picture" of worldwide species population declines than previously thought. 

Of the over 70,000 animal species analyzed by the researchers in the recent study published in Biological Reviews, 48 per cent were found to have declining populations. 

"What we are experiencing right now is the beginning of what we call a mass extinction," said Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, evolutionary and climate change biologist at Queen's University Belfast and lead author of the study.

Many conservation estimates only measure whether a species is currently at risk of extinction, but this study helps understand which direction species are heading in — only three per cent of the examined species were found to have increasing populations. 

The report adds further evidence to a growing concern 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 several decades. 

Experts warn that swift action is necessary to reverse the trend, and suggest a strategy to make that as effective as possible.

Wildlife extinction risk is typically measured through "conservation categories" that indicate whether a particular species is currently threatened by extinction, says Pincheira-Donoso. 

Instead of using the traditional categories, Pincheira-Donoso and his team opted to look at broader population trends to determine whether the population of a certain species was increasing, decreasing, 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 International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List only classifies 28 per cent of biodiversity as currently under threat. 

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 today that are tagged as being safe, not threatened. But if they are undergoing declines, we can expect that in the future they will be approaching levels of extinction risk," he said.

Of the six categories of animals examined