WASHINGTON : The Dodo, the famous flightless bird that inhabited the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, is a case study in extinction caused by humans. The Dodo, finely adapted to its isolated ecosystem but unprepared for the arrival of people, was first encountered by Dutch sailors in 1598.
FILE PHOTO: A flock of Common Teal fly across a wetland on a winter day on the outskirts of Srinagar January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Ismail/File Photo Hunting, habitat destruction and the introduction of non-native species doomed it in under 80 years.
"Birds undertake a number of really important ecosystem functions, many of which we depend on, such as the dispersal of seeds, the consumption of insects, the recycling of dead material - for example, vultures - and pollination. If we lose species, then we lose these functions," said ecologist Tom Matthews of the University of Birmingham in England, lead author of the study published this week in the journal Science.
Most of the documented extinctions occurred on islands. Habitat loss can have huge effects given the isolation and reduced area involved, while the introduction of animals such as rats, cats and mice can have substantial impacts given the evolution of flightlessness among many island-endemic birds that left them unable to escape new predators, Matthews said.
The number 610 is"likely a large underestimate" of avian extinctions, Matthews said, because of a paucity of data from some locales and the fact some lost species may not have left behind skeletal remains to be found. Regardless of the true number, Matthews said,"the vast majority of extinctions over the last 50,000 years are attributable to human actions."
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