Endangered species list more bleak than originally thought

eurekalert.org ^ | 11/9/04 | Phoebe Dey

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

Of the 12,200 species of plants and animals currently listed as threatened or endangered, a further 6,300 affiliate species should be classified as “co-endangered”. This is the bleak assessment offered by a new study attempting to quantify the phenomenon of co-extinction – the loss of an “affiliate” species when its host goes extinct.

Many plants and animals have a diverse selection of insects, fungi, and other organisms associated with them that are uniquely adapted to their host. This specialization makes these affiliate species vulnerable to host extinction. Using estimates of host specificity, Lian Pin Koh, Robert R. Dunn and colleagues calculated the expected levels of co-extinction across a diverse selection of host and associate systems. For the groups examined, the authors show that at least 200 affiliate species have historically been lost through co-extinction, and a further 6,300 are co-endangered with their hosts. These processes have been widely overlooked, perhaps because some of the most susceptible organisms are uncharismatic parasites. For example, many herald the success of conservation efforts to save the Californian condor from extinction, but who mourns the condor louse that went extinct as a result of efforts by well-meaning conservation biologists to rid the birds of their parasites? The authors suggest that co-extinction is a largely unexamined and potentially substantial contributor to the present global extinction crisis and that estimates of species extinction should be re-calibrated, taking estimates of co-extinction into account.

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

These findings challenge the evolutionary 'model'. How do evolutionists explain the speciation events that inevitably followed extinctions previous to the advent of humanity, when extinction events are both more devastating and more frequent than what researchers had previously presumed?

[Sertorius]

Nuke the whales!

[EagleUSA]

*** HOW CAN WE GET FAR-LEFT LIBERALS ON THE LIST??? ***

[madvlad]

One day, hopefully soon, liberals will be on
this list!

MV

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

There are a few others I'd like to see added. :)

[lsee]

Conservative white males are not on this list?

[Mister Baredog]

If it wasn't for those lousy cavemen the dinosaurs probably would have survived.

WACKO ALERT

[Naspino]

Newest Entry: Blue Statis Socialis

[Viet-Boat-Rider]

These findings challenge the evolutionary 'model'. How do evolutionists explain the speciation events that inevitably followed extinctions previous to the advent of humanity, when extinction events are both more devastating and more frequent than what researchers had previously presumed?

This is the question that remains largely un-asked, and wholly un-answered.

Memorize it so you can pose it to your environmentalist friends.

[Dataman]

How do evolutionists explain the speciation events that inevitably followed extinctions previous to the advent of humanity, when extinction events are both more devastating and more frequent than what researchers had previously presumed?

Like this: Evolution is true. Therefore any objections are false. End of discussion.

[thackney]

make sure you keep voting

[TBarnett34]

*** HOW CAN WE GET FAR-LEFT LIBERALS ON THE LIST??? ***

Parade Michael Moore around for a while, and wait until the 2008 election.

[headsonpikes]

"uncharismatic parasites"

aka the Democratic Leadersip.

[sitkaspruce]

I'd rather nuke the gay unborn Killer Whales (Orca's) before they ruin the entire eco-system.

[mlbford2]

Is the left still ranting "Bush's Fault"?

[Entrepreneur]

Conservative white males are not on this list?

No, but liberal presidential candidates from Massachusetts certainly are.

[mlbford2]

``Nuke the whales!``

Flogging the manatee

[Chewbacca]

Raise the endangered animals as a new food source and they will no longer be endangered.

[hellinahandcart]

ping!

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

Catastrophe is the mother of complexity, dontcha know! I mean, look at all that complex life on the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Europa, Io, Ganymede, Callisto, Saturn, Titan, etc.