Saturday, December 1, 2007

Disappearing Species

Arrandale, Tom. "Disappearing Species." CQ Researcher 17.42 (2007): 985-1008.

The polar bear may vanish as global warming melts Arctic ice. India's tigers and Africa's gorillas are also at severe risk, and thousands of other valuable animals, plants and insects are disappearing as tropical rain forests around the world are cut down. Twelve percent of birds, one-fifth of mammals and nearly a third of amphibians that have been assessed so far have been found to be imperiled. Many biologists conclude that humans are setting off a mass extinction that's exterminating 30,000 species a year — possibly as much as 10,000 times faster than natural evolution. Now honeybees have mysteriously gone missing from American farms, while coral reefs are dwindling and deep-sea fisheries are depleted. Many scientists fear that Earth faces an irreversible biological catastrophe even more severe than climate change, and that conservation efforts could be too late to preserve much of the planet's irreplaceable biodiversity.


From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Articles


(Global warming OR Climate change) AND Endangered & extinct species ProQuest search


(Global warming OR Climate change) AND Biodiversity EBSCOhost search



Books

Catastrophes and lesser calamities : the causes of mass extinctions by Anthony Hallam (Oxford, 2004).
Call number: QE721.2 .E97H345 2004
Location: Main Collection


The biodiversity crisis : losing what counts edited by Michael J. Novacek (New Press, 2001).
Call number: QH541.15 .B56B573 2001
Location: Main Collection


Wild solutions : how biodiversity is money in the bank by Andrew Beattie (Yale University Press, 2004).
Call number: QH541.15 .B56B42 2004
Location: Main Collection