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Threats to Biodiversity

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There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...

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What is Biodiversity?

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Biodiversity describes the variety of living things at multiple organizational levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. Species diversity includes all branches of the evolutionary tree from single-celled prokaryotic organisms, bacteria, and archaea, to the eukaryotic kingdoms: plants; animals; fungi; and protists. To date, there have been about 1.75 million species identified, and new species are discovered every week.

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Conservation of Small Populations

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Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less likely to...

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Related Experiment Video

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A Concoction Pipeline for Generating Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) Among Riparian and Aquatic Beetles

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Published on: July 11, 2025

Global biodiversity: indicators of recent declines.

Stuart H M Butchart¹, Matt Walpole, Ben Collen

¹United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. stuart.butchart@birdlife.org

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|May 1, 2010

Summary

World leaders aimed to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010. However, despite some conservation efforts, species populations, habitats, and ecosystems continue to decline, indicating no slowdown in the rate of biodiversity loss.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Environmental Science
Conservation Biology

Background:

Global leaders committed to reducing biodiversity loss by 2010 under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Biodiversity is crucial for ecosystem stability and human well-being.
Monitoring biodiversity trends is essential for effective conservation strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

To assess progress towards the 2010 biodiversity target using a comprehensive set of indicators.
To evaluate trends in both the state of biodiversity and the pressures acting upon it.
To determine if the rate of biodiversity loss has significantly decreased.

Main Methods:

Compilation and analysis of 31 indicators covering biodiversity state, pressures, and societal responses.
Assessment of population trends, extinction risk, habitat extent and condition, and community composition.
Evaluation of pressures such as resource consumption, invasive species, pollution, overexploitation, and climate change.

Main Results:

Most indicators of biodiversity state (species populations, extinction risk, habitat) showed continued declines.
Indicators of pressures on biodiversity (resource use, invasive species, pollution) generally increased.
Despite some local successes in conservation responses, the overall rate of biodiversity loss has not slowed.

Conclusions:

The 2010 target for reducing biodiversity loss was not met.
Continued and potentially intensifying pressures are driving biodiversity decline globally.
Enhanced and more effective conservation actions are urgently needed to reverse negative trends.