Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived?

Barnosky, Anthony D.; Matzke, Nicholas J.; Tomiya, Susumu; Wogan, Guinevere O. U.; Swartz, Β. K.; Quental, Tiago B.; Marshall, Charles R.; McGuire, Jenny L.; Lindsey, Emily; Maguire, Kaitlin C.; Mersey, Ben; Ferrer, Elizabeth Anne

doi:10.1038/nature09678

Cited by 3,315 publications

(2,363 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Humans are causing widespread defaunation of the world as we enter the Anthropocene (Barnosky et al., 2011; Corlett, 2015; Newbold et al., 2014, 2015), a trend expected to continue over the coming years (Pereira et al., 2010). As such, understanding how natural populations respond to environmental modification has never been more pressing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does selective logging stress tropical forest invertebrates? Using fat stores to examine sublethal responses in dung beetles

França

Barlow

Araújo

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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The increased global demand for tropical timber has driven vast expanses of tropical forests to be selectively logged worldwide. While logging impacts on wildlife are predicted to change species distribution and abundance, the underlying physiological responses are poorly understood. Although there is a growing consensus that selective logging impacts on natural populations start with individual stress‐induced sublethal responses, this literature is dominated by investigations conducted with vertebrates from temperate zones. Moreover, the sublethal effects of human‐induced forest disturbance on tropical invertebrates have never been examined. To help address this knowledge gap, we examined the body fat content and relative abundance of three dung beetle species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) with minimum abundance of 40 individuals within each examined treatment level. These were sampled across 34 plots in a before‐after control‐impact design (BACI) in a timber concession area of the Brazilian Amazon. For the first time, we present evidence of logging‐induced physiological stress responses in tropical invertebrates. Selective logging increased the individual levels of fat storage and reduced the relative abundance of two dung beetle species. Given this qualitative similarity, we support the measurement of body fat content as reliable biomarker to assess stress‐induced sublethal effects on dung beetles. Understanding how environmental modification impacts the wildlife has never been more important. Our novel approach provides new insights into the mechanisms through which forest disturbances impose population‐level impacts on tropical invertebrates.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does selective logging stress tropical forest invertebrates? Using fat stores to examine sublethal responses in dung beetles

França

Barlow

Araújo

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Invasive species are also a major threat to biodiversity [2]. In general, threatened species are affected by more than one pressure source [2] and human activities result in the reduction of the range of native species and the isolation of populations, which may lead to local and even global extinction [4][5][6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vintage venoms: Proteomic and pharmacological stability of snake venoms stored for up to eight decades

Jesupret

Baumann

Jackson

et al. 2014

Journal of Proteomics

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For over a century, venom samples from wild snakes have been collected and stored around the world. However, the quality of storage conditions for "vintage" venoms has rarely been assessed. The goal of this study was to determine whether such historical venom samples are still biochemically and pharmacologically viable for research purposes, or if new sample efforts are needed. In total, 52 samples spanning 5 genera and 13 species with regional variants of some species (e.g., 14 different populations of Notechis scutatus) were analysed by a combined proteomic and pharmacological approach to determine protein structural stability and bioactivity. When venoms were not exposed to air during storage, the proteomic results were virtually indistinguishable from that of fresh venom and bioactivity was equivalent or only slightly reduced. By contrast, a sample of Acanthophis antarcticus venom that was exposed to air (due to a loss of integrity of the rubber stopper) suffered significant degradation as evidenced by the proteomics profile. Interestingly, the Keywords:Mass spectrometry Toxinology Stability studies These results demonstrate that with proper storage techniques, venom samples can retain structural and pharmacological stability. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled:Proteomics of non-model organisms. Biological significance• These results show that with proper storage venoms are useful for decades.• These results have direct implications for the use of rare venoms.

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“…Defaunation, i.e., the process of losing animal species, has been accelerated in the last five centuries, a fact by which some authors have contended that earth is experiencing a "sixth extinction wave" (Barnosky et al 2011, Pimm et al 2014, Ceballos et al 2015. Besides extinctions, abundance of vertebrates is sharply declining, leading to functional extinction of several species (Butchart et al 2010, Ceballos et al 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Museum collections indicate bird defaunation in a biodiversity hotspot

et al. 2017

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Ipanema National Forest, southeastern Brazil, once contained 340 bird species. Forest cover suffered for centuries from log exploitation and, as a result, most of the remaining forests are now an impoverished subset of the original vegetation. We show how the bird community changed over time by comparing historical and recent records. Currently, 228 species can be recorded, for a compilation of 410 species, of which 359 are documented. Some 89 forest species with historical records failed to be detected in recent surveys. Of the 72 Atlantic Forest or Cerrado endemic species, no more than 29 (40%) are still found. The bird community changed from one which used to be related to coastline rain forests to another, which relates more to drier semideciduous forests of the interior.Keywords: Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, hierarchical cluster analysis, multivariate analysis, semideciduous forests. Coleções de museus indicam defaunação de aves em um hotspot de biodiversidadeResumo: A Floresta Nacional de Ipanema, sudeste do Brasil, já abrigou 340 espécies de aves. Sua cobertura florestal sofreu por séculos com a exploração de madeira e, desse modo, a maior parte da vegetação remanescente é uma sub-representação daquela original. Neste artigo é demonstrado como a comunidade de aves foi modificada com o passar do tempo por meio da comparação entre registros históricos e recentes. Atualmente, 228 espécies podem ser registradas, para um total de 410 espécies, das quais 359 possuem documentação. Das espécies registradas historicamente, 89 não foram mais detectadas. Das 72 espécies endêmicas da Mata Atlântica ou do Cerrado, apenas 29 (40%) ainda podem ser encontradas. A comunidade de aves, outrora similar à de florestas ombrófilas costeiras, atualmente é mais relaciona à comunidade de matas semideciduais mais secas do interior.

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Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived?

Cited by 3,315 publications

References 81 publications

Does selective logging stress tropical forest invertebrates? Using fat stores to examine sublethal responses in dung beetles

Does selective logging stress tropical forest invertebrates? Using fat stores to examine sublethal responses in dung beetles

Vintage venoms: Proteomic and pharmacological stability of snake venoms stored for up to eight decades

Museum collections indicate bird defaunation in a biodiversity hotspot

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