Here are some numbers I came across while researching a paper last year.

Dr. Donald Levin, Botanist with the University of Texas asserts that every
20 minutes a bird or mammal species becomes extinct and that half of all
bird and mammal species will be extinct in 200 to 300 years.

Ahmed Djoghlaf, head of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity gave this
statement in 2007, "Extinction rates are rising by a factor of up to 1,000
above natural rates. Every hour, three species disappear. Every day, up to
150 species are lost. Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000 species become
extinct?. the cause: human activities." Other scientists are in agreement,
according to University of Minnesota ecology professor David Tillman the
earth is loosing species between ?100 and 1,000 faster? than natural rates,
and every year up to 50,000 species go extinct, most unidentified by
science.

Eric Cannizzaro
Evergreen State College

------------------------------

[1] <#_ftnref1> ?Earth loosing 3 species an hour, UN says,? *The Vancouver
Sun*, May 23, 2007

[2] <#_ftnref2> Olson, Dan. ?Species Extinction Rate Speeding Up,? *Minnesota
Public Radio*, February 1, 2005.

On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 7:37 PM, Wayne Weber <contopus at telus.net> wrote:

> Larry and Tweeters,
>
>
>
> As pointed out by Lonnie Somer, Hal Michael, and others, there are
> apparently hundreds of bird species which were driven to extinction by
> humans within the last 10,000 years (i.e., since the last Ice Age), but
> before 1500. Most of these extinctions took place on remote oceanic islands
> before European contact, and are therefore ?prehistoric?. These birds are
> known from subfossil remains in caves and sediments, many of which were
> discovered fairly recently.
>
>
>
> An example is the 11 species of moas in New Zealand, which are believed to
> have become extinct by about 1400 AD (or only about 100 or so years after
> the first human settlers, the Maoris, reached New Zealand), and the 7
> species of elephant birds which inhabited Madagascar.
>
>
>
> For a summary of bird species believed to have become extinct in the last
> 10,000 years or so, but prior to 1500, see the Wikipedia article on ?Late
> Quaternary prehistoric birds?, which attempts to summarize scientific
> studies on the subject. By my count, this lists about 320 species which
> became extinct prior to 1500, almost all as a probable result of
> interactions with non-European humans. It is becoming evident that
> ?primitive societies? such as the Polynesians, even though their numbers
> were low, had massive impacts on native birds (many of which were
> flightless).
>
>
>
> The history of the human race has been a history of continuing extinctions
> of birds, mammals, amphibians, plants, and other living things, which began
> many thousands of years ago and is continuing at an ever-accelerating pace.
>
>
>
> Wayne C. Weber
>
> Delta, BC
>
> contopus at telus.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
> [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] *On Behalf Of *Larry
> Schwitters
> *Sent:* December-09-10 3:07 PM
> *To:* Robert Cleland
> *Cc:* Tweeters
>
> *Subject:* Re: [Tweeters] Re: bird extinctions
>
>
>
> Don't know if this from BirdLife International is any help. I would be
> surprised if we had wiped many species out before 1500.
>
>
>
>
> http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/species/global_species_programme/red_list.html
> How many birds have gone extinct?
>
> A total of 132 species are documented as having gone extinct since 1500. A
> further four species are now extinct in the wild and survive only in captive
> populations. Although extinctions have been better documented in birds than
> any other group of organisms, these totals are likely to be underestimates
> because extinction is difficult to document. A number of other species
> currently categorised as Critically Endangered have probably gone extinct
> too, but cannot be designated as such until we are certain. Fifteen such
> species are categorised as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct<http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2006/06/pe.html>)
> or Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild). Thus, a total of
> 151 species may have been lost in the last 500 years.
>
> Larry Schwitters
>
> Issaquah
>
>
>
>
>
> On Dec 9, 2010, at 2:45 PM, Robert Cleland wrote:
>
>
>
> A biology colleague of mine said he had been told that since 1000 AD there
> have been nearly 1000 birds that have gone extinct. He didn't know the
> source of this figure. Does anyone out there have a reference to such a
> figure, or have strong feelings about whether it is correct? 1000 seems
> high to me.
>
> ************************
> Robert Cleland
>
> Professor (Emeritus), Biology Dept. Box 355325
> Univ. of Washington
> Seattle, WA 98195-5325
> Phone (206) 543-6105; FAX (206) 685-1728
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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