Millions of Species May Go Extinct in Silence

In the next few decades it is estimated that one millions species will become extinct primarily due to human activity (including the impact of climate change).  There are an estimated eight million species on the planet, so we are looking at the loss of a staggering 12.5% of the species currently in existence.  

Species extinction happens out of sight and in silence.

It’s all connected, you see. A soil microbe disappears and maybe that loss contributes to a tree also dying off. That tree produced fruit, so the birds and monkeys that visited its seasonal buffet then suffer. After that the predators that eat the birds and monkeys disappear. Meanwhile we’ve lost the insects that pollinated the tree, the snails that helped break down its decaying leaves and branches, the snakes and lizards that ate the snails and insects, and probably more microbes along the way.

It’s an organic game of Jenga. Remove enough parts of the system and the entire thing threatens to collapse.

Graph - Climate Emergency Institute

If you  assume that one million species will become extinct by 2050, on a linear basis that means that approximately 90 species per day for the next 30.5 years.   Ninety species per day - you would think that would make it into the media.  Of course many of those species will be organisms that most people don't even know exist.  If you assume extinction as a non-linear event, with the number of species lost increasing over time as the Jenga blocks that hold up the whole structure of nature begin to collapse. Perhaps in 10 or 20 years, when the wholesale disappearance of the natural world becomes inescapably obvious, the urgency of the situation will become apparent.  Sadly, by then it will be too late.

Lots more data available here.