Species extinction indicators

Abstract

There are many environmental causes to species extinction. Some foreseeable and some unpredictable; those foreseeable are mainly of human activity origin such as pollution while those unpredictable are Mother Nature vagaries such as earthquakes or volcanic eruption. Species extinction is the process whereby a last member of a species dies and therefore no individuals able to reproduce and continue the genetic entity preserved in their genes remain. The definition includes also the situation where only a few individuals from a certain species persist lacking reproduction capability. It should be mentioned that, while species extinction has been a normal part of evolution measured in thousands of years, under human activities and modifications the evolutionary time scale has dropped to a few centuries. This acceleration was caused by several drivers, among which habitat loss, overharvesting, pollution, and climate change are the principle ones. The first three drivers are frequently caused by human activity, while the fourth is also constantly affected by humans. Among the primary consequences of rapid extinction are disruptions to pollination, seed dispersal, scavenging potential, and vital ecological processes.