Canaries in the Coalmine

Nigel Williams in Current Biology:

Amongst all the groups of organisms, the numbers of birds are probably better monitored than most. But a new report finds that numbers are falling across many species worldwide, including common species that now appear in decline.

BirdLife International, a global alliance of conservation organisations, working in more than 100 countries, reported last month on the state of the world’s birds. From albatrosses in the Southern Ocean, vultures in India, bobwhite quails in the US, corn buntings in Europe and yellow cardinals in Argentina, once familiar birds are declining worldwide. The new report reveals the regional pictures and finds species declining everywhere, presenting an alarming picture of many members of a whole class of species decreasing in numbers.

A total of 153 bird species is believed to have become extinct since 1500. Avian extinctions are continuing, with 18 species lost in the last quarter of the twentieth century and three more known or suspected to have gone extinct since 2000. The rate of
extinctions on continents appears to be increasing, principally as a result of extensive and expanding habitat destruction.

In this new assessment, 1,226 species — one in eight of the total — were considered threatened with extinction...