CHANGES THAT BIODIVERSITY HAS UNDERGONE IN THE LAST 50 YEARS - ENVIRONMENT - 2024

Biodiversity has undergone great changes in the last 50 years, mainly as a consequence of the pressure that human activity has exerted on the environment. There are many factors involved in changes in biodiversity.

Historically, factors such as oxygen levels, weather, prey-predator interactions, and tectonic changes have been known to have caused many of these changes. In more recent times, human activity has brought about significant changes in the life of the planet.

Mexican Grizzly Bear, extinct species

Many of these changes are related to forest clearing and climate change, phenomena that have intensified for 50 years. Due to this intensification, different changes have been observed in the biodiversity of plants, microorganisms and animals.

Changes of region and expansion of habitats

After the industrial revolution, the increasing content of carbon dioxide on the planet has led to processes of climate change at a global level.

Climate change has led to species that inhabited a specific region due to climate effects, may or have to move to other places. This phenomenon occurs in all living organisms.

The most worrisome of these changes in biodiversity are the inevitable disappearance of species due to habitat loss and the extension of the areas of action of organisms such as mosquitoes that act as vectors of diseases.

Species disappearance

Large numbers of species have been declared missing in the last 50 years. The most recent studies indicate that current extinction rates far exceed natural extinction rates.

This phenomenon has affected a large number of reptiles, amphibians, mammals, fish and plants.

Species extinct in the last 50 years include animals such as the Javanese tiger and the Grizzly Bear.

Plants such as Terminalia Acuminata have also been declared extinct due to the low population of individuals that currently remain of them.

The disappearance of species in recent years has been so accelerated that many authors speak of a sixth mass extinction caused by human activity.

Artificial selection and genetic manipulation

Although artificial selection is a practice that man has carried out for thousands of years, this practice is still in force and causes changes in global biodiversity.

Examples of artificial selection include the domestication of dogs and changes in their different breeds, as well as the selection of grains and agricultural products.

On the other hand, genetic manipulation techniques have made it possible to transform the landscape of biodiversity in the last 50 years.

In some cases, the entry into the market of genetically modified organisms has partially replaced natural crops of products such as corn and potatoes.

Non-quantifiable changes

Many changes in biodiversity have been identified. However, it is estimated that many more currently go unnoticed since there are no adequate means for this type of analysis.

New developments in macroecology, metagenomics and ecoinformatics are beginning to account for changes in biodiversity with greater accuracy, especially in the field of microbial biodiversity.

References

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