One out of six species faces extinction as a result of climate change and urgent action must be taken to save large numbers of animals from being wiped out, an analysis said on Thursday.
The study, published in the US journal Science, found that a global temperature rise of 4oC could spell disaster for a huge number of species around the world.
“We urgently need to adopt strategies that limit further climate change if we are to avoid an acceleration of global extinction,” said study author Mark Urban, an ecology and evolutionary biology researcher at the University of Connecticut.
The analysis evaluated 131 previous studies about the impact of climate change on flora and fauna around the world.
It concluded that with each rising degree in global temperatures, more species were at risk.
A 2oC increase could threaten 5.2 percent of species, while a 3oC boost would put 8.5 percent of all species at risk, the study said.
“If we follow our current, business-as-usual trajectory (leading to a 4.3oC rise) ... climate change threatens one in six species (16 percent),” the study said.
Different regions of the world had varied extinction threats.
“Extinction risks were highest in South America, Australia and New Zealand, and risks did not vary by taxonomic group,” Urban said.
In South America, the most vulnerable region, 23 percent of species may face extinction.
Fourteen percent could be threatened in New Zealand and Australia.
Five percent of species in Europe could face extinction, compared with 6 percent in North America, the study found.
Urban said governments must act urgently to prevent widespread extinction.
Meanwhile, a related study in Science on Thursday found that marine fossils can help identify which animals and ocean ecosystems face the greatest risk of extinction.
“Whales, dolphins and seals show higher risk of extinction than sharks or invertebrates such as corals. Clams and mussels — so-called bivalves — had about one-10th the extinction risk of mammals,” the study found.
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