Vertebrate and Insect Extinctions in the 21st Century

Running insect traps in a German nature reserve today captures only a fraction of the insects caught in 1989. Entomologists in the Krefeld region repeated this season after season and, after totaling 27 years of catches, found flying insect biomass dropped by more than 75% inside protected areas. Since the turn of the century, vertebrate life has steadily declined, including mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles, alongside a quieter but larger loss of insects. Much of the underlying biodiversity data reaches back to 1970, while precise measurement from long-term studies matured after 2000. The World Wildlife Foundation and Zoological Society of London’s 2024 Living Planet Report reports that monitored vertebrate populations averaged a 73% shrink between 1970 and 2020, with freshwater losses down 85% and Latin America and the Caribbean down 95%.

"Run an insect trap through a German nature reserve today and it will catch a fraction of the insects it would have trapped in 1989. Entomologists in the Krefeld region did exactly that, season after season, and when they totaled 27 years of catch they found flying insect biomass had fallen more than 75 percent inside protected areas, where nature is supposed to be safe."

"Since the turn of the century, two crashes have run in parallel: a steady draining of vertebrate life we know, including the mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles we notice, and a quieter, vaster loss of insects, the wildlife almost no one counts but nearly everything depends on. Much of the underlying data describing the loss of biodiversity reaches back to 1970. What belongs to this century is precise measurement built on long-term studies that matured after 2000 and turned scattered alarm into a documented trend."

"According to the World Wildlife Foundation and Zoological Society of London's 2024 Living Planet Report, between 1970 and 2020, the average monitored population of 5,495 vertebrate species shrank by 73 percent. That figure is widely misread, so state it precisely: it does not mean three-quarters of all animals are gone. It means that across the populations scientists track, the average decline was 73 percent, with roughly half falling while half held steady or grew."

"The losses are not evenly spread. In North America, a 2019 study in Science tallied a net loss of nearly 3 billion breeding birds since 1970-about one in four-across 529 species, including common backyard birds nobody thought were at risk. Amphibians are in the worst shape of any vertebrate group."

Read at Earth911