Some two million living beings among plants and animals are threatened with extinction. This was announced in a study published in Plos One.
This development is mainly due to uncertainty in the scientific community about insects.
In particular, the question arises in relation to invertebrates, to whose classification a large number of animal classes belong. As the accuracy of estimates for this species increases, so do the numbers on the risk of extinction.
It all starts with an analysis of endangered species in Europe. Researchers delved into 14,669 European species on the list of threatened species compiled by the IUCN (the world’s leading conservation organisation).
The list includes 10% of European biodiversity. The new analysis establishes that 19% of these species are considered to be threatened with extinction, which increases as knowledge about invertebrates increases.
In particular, 27% of plants, 24% of invertebrates and 18% of vertebrates are threatened.
Moreover, these estimates are uncertain, as for a quarter of invertebrate species the available evidence is insufficient to determine conservation status. As is the case for 57% of European bees, for example. In fact, half of the species have no data on population trends, which is a key requirement for assessing the species’ risk of extinction.