Humans have driven more than 1,400 bird species to extinction | Hacker News Reader

Humans have driven more than 1,400 bird species to extinction

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39 pointsbotanical22 comments

Referenced: "Undiscovered bird extinctions obscure the true magnitude of human-driven extinction waves" (Nature)[0]

[0]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43445-2

I still don’t understand why species count matters. All organisms share the same basic genetic drive. Species go extinct when environmental niches shift too rapidly. But, as long as the niches stabilize eventually, they will be filled back in through natural processes and we will end up with new species. This does take a long time, but a reduction in species diversity is fundamentally not permanent.

That’s a ridiculous perspective. We’re losing genetic marvels forever.

New ones will appear eventually. Though of course you and I won’t get to see them, because it will take a few hundred thousand years or more.

If people are concerned about species extinction’s impact to humans, that is a defensible position. Most people seem to act like it isn’t about human enjoyment though, as if there is some intrinsic value to species count even if humans were out of the picture. The time it will take to re-diversify is the blink of an eye in geologic terms.

There is inherent value to a large species count. Exaggerate the situation and say the only animals left in the world were dogs, cats and cows. Extrapolate that same sense of massive loss to this situation. If you don’t care then I guess there isn’t anything else to say to you but recognize that the loss of species diversity causes many people to feel an immense sense of loss, comparable to say large scale genocide of a human ethnic population.

Speaking solely for myself, I’m bummed that I miss out on the diverse ecology of our forebears. I also imagine some are worried that — as development continues to cut down on wilderness of every category — perhaps those environments won’t be as conducive to new species forming as past, pre-civilization circumstances.

We literaly took 1000 species and probably a LOT more who evolved over thousands of years and just wipe them out.

And I need to explain to you why this doesn't feel okay?

Do you actually enjoy your life? Colors? Art? Music? Foot?

Sry to be annoyed by your comment but wtf come on...

I do agree that the ecosystem is ever changing, and saying we are making species extinct by itself serves as no argument, because new and maybe even more diverse species could emerge.

The question is, are new species emerging at the same rate as they were before the human industrialization era?

The mental gymnastics one has to do to even ask such a question is astonishing. We are reducing this planet's capacity to support any wildlife at rapid speed. Modern people can afford to be blind to this, because it's not their necks that are at stake (for now).

Look at satellite pictures for a start... Farms are no habitat.

> We are reducing this planet's capacity to support any wildlife at rapid speed

If this is happening then of course it is a problem. Note that I was specifically asking about the species count being a problem. I am not asserting that organism count declining isn’t a problem. The former isn’t exactly a proxy for the latter, since by definition near-extinct species don’t contribute much to the organism count.

“I trashed all by books but it’s fine: I got a dictionary as a backup” :)

When you explore the tree of life, one thing you will notice is that it has many extinct species.

Consider terrestrial vertebrates for example...

http://www.tolweb.org/Terrestrial_Vertebrates/14952

Wonder what percentage is from cats

But remember - Malthusianism was debunked, and the planet can support many more people. As long as you never think about environmentalism and population size at the same time - the only way to hold two conflicting ideas at once. I wonder if there's a succinct term for it..

Yet somehow chickens survive, despite our attempts to eat them all

Forced breeding.

From what I understand about chickens you don't really have to force it. If anything, we do the opposite. Even if left wild they do quite well, see any Caribbean country or many Hawaiian islands.

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