Departamento de Ecologia de la Biodiversidad, Instituto de Ecologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Tercer Circuito Exterior SN, C.U., 04510 Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico.
Department of Biology, Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Sep 26;120(39):e2306987120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2306987120. Epub 2023 Sep 18.
Mass extinctions during the past 500 million y rapidly removed branches from the phylogenetic tree of life and required millions of years for evolution to generate functional replacements for the extinct (EX) organisms. Here we show, by examining 5,400 vertebrate genera (excluding fishes) comprising 34,600 species, that 73 genera became EX since 1500 AD. Beyond any doubt, the human-driven sixth mass extinction is more severe than previously assessed and is rapidly accelerating. The current generic extinction rates are 35 times higher than expected background rates prevailing in the last million years under the absence of human impacts. The genera lost in the last five centuries would have taken some 18,000 y to vanish in the absence of human beings. Current generic extinction rates will likely greatly accelerate in the next few decades due to drivers accompanying the growth and consumption of the human enterprise such as habitat destruction, illegal trade, and climate disruption. If all now-endangered genera were to vanish by 2,100, extinction rates would be 354 (average) or 511 (for mammals) times higher than background rates, meaning that genera lost in three centuries would have taken 106,000 and 153,000 y to become EX in the absence of humans. Such mutilation of the tree of life and the resulting loss of ecosystem services provided by biodiversity to humanity is a serious threat to the stability of civilization. Immediate political, economic, and social efforts of an unprecedented scale are essential if we are to prevent these extinctions and their societal impacts.
在过去的 5 亿年中，大规模灭绝迅速从生命系统树上消除了分支，并且需要数百万年的时间让进化产生灭绝（EX）生物的功能替代品。在这里，我们通过检查 1500 年以来的 5400 个包含 34600 个物种的脊椎动物属（不包括鱼类），证明了自 1500 年以来有 73 个属已经灭绝。毫无疑问，人类驱动的第六次大灭绝比以前评估的更为严重，而且正在迅速加速。目前的属灭绝率比过去 100 万年中人类没有影响时的预期背景率高出 35 倍。在没有人类的情况下，过去五个世纪中失去的属可能需要 18000 年才能消失。由于伴随人类企业的增长和消费而来的驱动因素，如栖息地破坏、非法贸易和气候破坏，目前的属灭绝率可能会在未来几十年内大大加快。如果所有现在濒危的属在 2100 年消失，那么灭绝率将是背景率的 354（平均值）或 511（哺乳动物）倍，这意味着在没有人类的情况下，三个世纪内失去的属将需要 106000 年和 153000 年才能灭绝。这种对生命之树的破坏以及生物多样性为人类提供的生态系统服务的损失，对文明的稳定构成了严重威胁。如果我们要防止这些灭绝及其对社会的影响，就必须立即做出前所未有的政治、经济和社会努力。
