“Even the most resistant animal on the planet necessarily depends on other species, which provide it with food, a habitat.

If we do not take these interactions into account, we cannot assess the risks of extinction at all,” explains Giovanni Strona, researcher in ecology at the European Commission.

According to his research, the species depend on each other so much that if one of them disappeared, the balance would be broken.

Other species could follow and disappear.

This is a phenomenon called co-extinctions, or “extinction cascades”.

All ecosystems interact

If pollinators, such as bees, disappear, plants will be reduced.

Then the herbivores, which feed on these plants, will find themselves diminished by lack of resources.

Finally, the carnivores will have no more prey.

“This is a problem that concerns all ecosystems, because in all ecosystems there are ecological interactions,” explains the researcher.

OUR “BIODIVERSITY” FILE

Around one million species are threatened.

To estimate the impact of 'extinction cascades', Giovanni Strona and Professor Corey Bradshaw modeled virtual Earths including numerous interactions between species.

In their worst-case scenario, by 2100, more than one in four species could disappear by 2100. At the current rate of CO² emissions, that would be one in ten species.

Planet

Biodiversity: Threatened, six animal species should – fortunately – escape extinction

Planet

The hirola, critically endangered antelope

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