Almost a quarter (24%) of freshwater fauna species, including crustaceans, fish and insects, face a “high risk of extinction” due to habitat destruction from pollution, dams and intensive agriculture, a study published today concludes. .
The study, published in the scientific journal Nature, analyzed 23,496 species and concluded that the threats are especially serious in the case of crustaceans, with 30% at risk of extinction, but they are also significant in the case of fish, with 26% of species at risk; amphibian reptiles (such as frogs and salamanders) mammals and birds, with 23% at risk; and insects of the order “Odonata” (dragonflies and damselflies), with 16% of species at risk of extinction.
Freshwater habitats – rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands – despite covering less than one percent of the Earth’s surface, are home to more than 10% of all known species.
According to the study, carried out by an international team of dozens of scientists coordinated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 89 species of freshwater fauna have already been confirmed as extinct since the year 1500 and 178 species are considered as possibly extinct.
According to the article about the study published this Wednesday in Nature, these numbers may be underestimated since there is insufficient information for 23% of the species analyzed. The study analyzed data from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The researchers consider in the article that “it is urgent to act quickly to contain the accelerated decline of species” and that “the management of freshwater areas must undergo changes so that “priority is given to protecting biodiversity”.
The study concludes that 54% of threatened species are affected by pollution, 39% by dams and water abstractions, 37% by the impact of agriculture and 28% by invasive species and diseases. The majority (84%) of threatened freshwater species face more than one threat at the same time and a fifth are also impacted by climate change and the increasingly frequent violent weather events associated with them.
Researchers estimate that between 1970 and 2015 around 35% of wetlands until then disappeared.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
