New Delhi: One in six species on earth face extinction if carbon emissions and temperatures continue to rise at present rates, according to a study published in the Science journal on Thursday.
If temperatures rise by 4.3 degrees Celsius by 2100 as per projections by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 16% of the species on Earth faces extinction, the study predicted.
“If we follow our current, business-as-usual trajectory, climate change threatens one in six species,” Mark Urban of the University of Connecticut said in the study which analysed 131 published predictions to estimate a global mean extinction rate.
Endemic species with smaller ranges and certain groups such as amphibians and reptiles are estimated to face greater extinction threats. “We urgently need to adopt strategies that limit further climate change if we are to avoid an acceleration of global extinctions,” Urban said.
In another study published in the same issue of the peer-reviewed journal said rapid rates of warming projected for the planet will lead to the extinction of many species.
This could be a result of climatically suitable habitat disappearing or if it is made inaccessible by geographical barriers or species’ inability to disperse, Janneke Hille Ris Lambers, department of biology, University of Washington, said in the second study.
