Book contents
- The Living Planet
- The Living Planet
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- One Introduction and the Evolution of Life on Earth
- Two Flowering Plants
- Three Bryophytes and Pteridophytes: Spore-Bearing Land Plants
- Four Terrestrial Mammals
- Five Marine Mammals: Exploited for Millennia, But Still Holding On
- Six How Birds Reveal the Scale of the Biodiversity Crisis
- Seven Reptiles
- Eight Amphibians
- Nine Freshwater Fishes: Threatened Species and Threatened Waters on a Global Scale
- Ten The Amazing Yet Threatened World of Marine Fishes
- Eleven Insects
- Twelve Marine Invertebrates
- Thirteen Non-Insect Terrestrial Arthropods
- Fourteen Terrestrial Invertebrates Other Than Arthropods and Molluscs
- Fifteen Non-Marine Molluscs
- Sixteen An Account of the Diversity and Conservation of Fungi and Their Close Relatives
- Seventeen Simple Life Forms
- Eighteen Assessing Species Conservation Status: The IUCN Red List and Green Status of Species
- Nineteen Problems with the World’s Ecosystems: The Future and Attempts to Mitigate Decline
- Twenty Conservation Methods and Successes
- Twenty One What Does the Future Hold for Our Planet and its Wildlife?
- Species Index
- Subject Index
- References
Six - How Birds Reveal the Scale of the Biodiversity Crisis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 April 2023
Edited by
Book contents
- The Living Planet
- The Living Planet
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- One Introduction and the Evolution of Life on Earth
- Two Flowering Plants
- Three Bryophytes and Pteridophytes: Spore-Bearing Land Plants
- Four Terrestrial Mammals
- Five Marine Mammals: Exploited for Millennia, But Still Holding On
- Six How Birds Reveal the Scale of the Biodiversity Crisis
- Seven Reptiles
- Eight Amphibians
- Nine Freshwater Fishes: Threatened Species and Threatened Waters on a Global Scale
- Ten The Amazing Yet Threatened World of Marine Fishes
- Eleven Insects
- Twelve Marine Invertebrates
- Thirteen Non-Insect Terrestrial Arthropods
- Fourteen Terrestrial Invertebrates Other Than Arthropods and Molluscs
- Fifteen Non-Marine Molluscs
- Sixteen An Account of the Diversity and Conservation of Fungi and Their Close Relatives
- Seventeen Simple Life Forms
- Eighteen Assessing Species Conservation Status: The IUCN Red List and Green Status of Species
- Nineteen Problems with the World’s Ecosystems: The Future and Attempts to Mitigate Decline
- Twenty Conservation Methods and Successes
- Twenty One What Does the Future Hold for Our Planet and its Wildlife?
- Species Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
Over the millennia, and across all cultures, people have developed an intimate bond with birds and, for many, birds are their principal connection to the natural world. With so many eyes trained on the planet’s avifauna, birds provide us with a unique insight into the unfolding extinction crisis; the sixth such episode in our planet’s 4.5-billion-year history and the first to be driven by the actions of a single species – our own. Avian extinction risk is comprehensively assessed by BirdLife International using the criteria of the IUCN Red List. The situation is alarming – around the world, birds are in steady decline, with approximately one in eight species now at risk of extinction. Each year, more species slip closer to extinction, whilst even once common birds are now disappearing fast. Yet the universal appeal of birds provides cause for hope. Their plight has been a rallying point around which a large and growing conservation movement has coalesced. A century of global bird conservation has demonstrated that when sufficient effort, resources and political will are brought to bear, bird populations can rebound and their habitats can be restored. Although imminent, mass avian extinction is not (yet) inevitable, and may still be averted if we so choose.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Living PlanetThe State of the World's Wildlife, pp. 106 - 131Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
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