Are we on track to cause mass extinction of other species?

Yes

Huge numbers of species to be lost if we don& #39;t act now to change course

This includes improving conservation efforts and stopping global heating

Short threadhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⤵️" title="Nach rechts zeigender Pfeil mit Krümmung nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Nach rechts zeigender Pfeil mit Krümmung nach unten"> prompted by this new study https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54034134#">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scie...

Here& #39;s this week& #39;s paper by Andermann et al on human impacts on mammal extinctions

"Based on current trends, we predict for the near future a rate escalation of unprecedented magnitude"

"still a window of opportunity to prevent many species extinctions" https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/36/eabb2313">https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6...

They focus on the need for improved conservation efforts, which is right, especially for mammals

Habitat loss and degradation due to direct human impact are a huge driver of extinction, currently more than climate change

But climate change adds a further massive risk in future

From my chapter in IPCC AR5:

"A large fraction of terrestrial and freshwater species face increased extinction risk under projected climate change during and beyond the 21st century, especially as climate change interacts with other pressures"

https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap4_FINAL.pdf">https://www.ipcc.ch/site/asse...

It& #39;s not just the amount of climate change that matters - it& #39;s also how fast it happens

If it happens too fast, species can& #39;t track shifting climates by dispersing (many can& #39;t even if change is slow)

Habitat loss makes dispersal harder, so that& #39;s a double whammy for extinctions

So yes we are on track to cause a mass extinction both through climate change and direct impacts, but can reduce this by:

Rapidly improving conservation efforts

Halting the human-caused rise in global temperatures by rapidly bringing down greenhouse gas emissions to net zero