Jul 25, 2014 - ate fauna, and we continue to lose animal species to extinction rapidly. ... due both to direct impacts,
SPECIA L SECTION
T H E S C I E N C E O F I N E Q UA L I T Y
PHOTO: CHRISTIAN ZIEGLER
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Animals are rapidly disappearing from forests in Borneo and across the world.
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SPECIAL SECTION
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By Sacha Vignieri
D
uring the Pleistocene epoch, only tens of thousands of years ago, our planet supported large, spectacular animals. Mammoths, terror birds, giant tortoises, and sabertoothed cats, as well as many less familiar species such as giant ground sloths (some of which reached 7 meters in height) and glyptodonts (which resembled car-sized armadillos), roamed freely. Since then, however, the number and diversity of animal species on Earth have consistently and steadily declined. Today we are left with a relatively depauperate fauna, and we continue to lose animal species to extinction rapidly. Although some debate persists, most of the evidence suggests that humans were responsible for extinction of this Pleistocene fauna, and we continue to drive animal extinctions today
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INSIDE NEWS
The empty forest p. 396 OPINION
An animal-rich future p. 400 REVIEWS
Defaunation in the Anthropocene p. 401 Reversing defaunation: Restoring species in a changing world p. 406 SEE ALSO ▶ PERSPECTIVE p. 376 ▶ BOOK REVIEW p. 388
SPECIA L SECTION
VA N I S H I N G FAU N A
through the destruction of wild lands, consumption of animals as a resource or a luxury, and persecution of species we see as threats or competitors. Such global loss of animal species, or defaunation, is increasingly recognized as a problem akin to deforestation in terms of scale and impact. Though for emotional or aesthetic reasons we may lament the loss of large charismatic species, such as tigers,
rhinos, and pandas, we now know that loss of animals, from the largest elephant to the smallest beetle, will also fundamentally alter the form and function of the ecosystems upon which we all depend (see Dirzo et al., p. 401). Identifying the drivers of these extinctions is straightforward, but stemming the loss is a daunting challenge. Animal species continue to decline in, and disappear from, even large, long-protected reserves,
due both to direct impacts, such as poaching, and indirect ecological feedbacks, such as habitat fragmentation. Though hunting and poaching might seem obvious candidates for targeted policy and management interventions, there are complex social issues underlying these activities that will require coordinated and cooperative actions by nations (see Brashares et al., p. 376). While stemming this loss remains a chal-
Twilight for animals
MAP: FÉLIX PHARAND-DESCHÊNES (VISUALIZATION), CLINTON JENKINS (DATA PROCESSING), IUCN/BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL (DATA)
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Large numbers of animal species face extinction in Southeast Asia, the Amazon, and the Andes, as shown in this map of mammals, amphibians, and birds. Animals also face high rates of extinction in Europe and North America, where fewer species are found overall.
Species threatened
0
394
>100
www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE
25 JULY 2014 • VOL 345 ISSUE 6195
Published by AAAS
lenging goal, attempts to reverse ONLINE challenging as preventing extincthe extinction trend are increastions in the first place, but a few View slideshow at ing. Such “refaunation” efforts sciencemag.org/ success stories provide some hope. involve a variety of approaches, in- special/vanishing Many note and mourn the loss cluding breeding animals in capof animals but have not recogtivity, with the hope of reintroducing them nized that the impacts of this loss go beto the wild, and assisting recolonization of yond an aesthetic and emotional need to areas where species have become locally exmaintain animals as a part of nature. Curtinct (see Seddon et al., p. 406). Active reverrent research reveals startling rates of anisal of animal extinctions is proving just as mal declines and extinctions and confirms
the importance of these species to ecosystems (see Stokstad, p. 396). Further, and more broadly, it suggests that if we are unable to end or reverse the rate of their loss, it will mean more for our own future than a broken heart or an empty forest. ■ This special issue has been edited by Sacha Vignieri, Andrew M. Sugden, and Elizabeth Pennisi.
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SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org
25 JULY 2014 • VOL 345 ISSUE 6195
Published by AAAS
395
Vanishing fauna Sacha Vignieri
Science 345 (6195), 392-395. DOI: 10.1126/science.345.6195.392
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/392
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