Insects and other invertebrates thought to go extinct at a rate of one to three species every week in Australia

It’s a crazy number to be losing each year.

roughbarked said:

Insects and other invertebrates thought to go extinct at a rate of one to three species every week in Australia

The further we live from the natural environment, the less we care about it.

Bubblecar said:

It’s a crazy number to be losing each year.

and it has been happening ever since we arrived.

PermeateFree said:

roughbarked said:

Insects and other invertebrates thought to go extinct at a rate of one to three species every week in Australia

The further we live from the natural environment, the less we care about it.

Sad but true.

I’m not tryna downplay this but that’s an extinction rate of about 1% per century.

better hurry up then

dv said:

I’m not tryna downplay this but that’s an extinction rate of about 1% per century.

You are not necessarily losing the odd creepy crawly, but many that form symbiotic relationships with other unrelated species, or in reverse other species that rely on certain invertebrates almost exclusively for food, pollination or other important functions. You cannot simply calculate something like 1% per century as you don’t know which invertebrates would be affected or just as importantly, what other organisms might also go extinct.

For instance, if honeybees went extinct (which is quite possible with varroa mite, insecticides, climate change and other harmful events), this loss of a single insect species would create considerable economic problems for us. There could also be a cascading effect of numerous associated species. Like nature generally, there are far too many variables (mostly unknown) to reduce it to simple statical analysis. We simply do not know how important a 1% extinction might represent.

PermeateFree said:

dv said:

I’m not tryna downplay this but that’s an extinction rate of about 1% per century.

You are not necessarily losing the odd creepy crawly, but many that form symbiotic relationships with other unrelated species, or in reverse other species that rely on certain invertebrates almost exclusively for food, pollination or other important functions. You cannot simply calculate something like 1% per century as you don’t know which invertebrates would be affected or just as importantly, what other organisms might also go extinct.

For instance, if honeybees went extinct (which is quite possible with varroa mite, insecticides, climate change and other harmful events), this loss of a single insect species would create considerable economic problems for us. There could also be a cascading effect of numerous associated species. Like nature generally, there are far too many variables (mostly unknown) to reduce it to simple statical analysis. We simply do not know how important a 1% extinction might represent.

1% of this and 1% of that, acretes until it is a steam roller effect.