The Missing Pieces in the 6th Mass Extinction

Recent biodiversity reports point to a drastic drop in species across the world, but on the local scale the results are more mixed. We're also missing data from some of the key ecosystems on our planet. In order to fight off the 6th mass extinction, we need more data to get a complete picture of the state of life on Earth. » Subscribe to Seeker! http://bit.ly/subscribeseeker » Watch more Elements! http://bit.ly/ElementsPlaylist » Visit our shop at http://shop.seeker.com » Sign Up for Seeker's Newsletter! https://www.seeker.com/newsletters In recent years, reports on extinction and biodiversity loss have pointed toward a global drop in species. Back in 2019, hundreds of researchers from a UN-backed international organization found that one million species of fauna and flora are at risk of extinction. Experts estimate that today’s extinction rate is between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the ‘background’ rate. Measuring biodiversity losses is incredibly complicated, especially because there’s no standard way to do it. The most common way to track biodiversity is to measure species richness, or count the number of species in a particular place and time. And they also only capture certain facets of biodiversity. Depending on what metric you use, you could get completely different results. When it comes to conservation efforts or biodiversity offsets—when developers measure biodiversity loss for a project—how we measure biodiversity can really make a difference. On top of that, global averages don’t always reflect biodiversity variation on a local scale. It's important to look locally since biodiversity affects how ecosystems impact water supply, fuel, pollination, food, and more for their surrounding regions. And what researchers are finding is pretty surprising. Turns out, local biodiversity measures are incredibly mixed and some ecosystems are doing even better than we might expect. #seeker #science #climatechange #massextinction #biodiversity Read More: