600 bird species extinct due to humans, countless ecosystems damaged

Without effective conservation strategies, bird extinction will have catastrophic consequences.

Human impact on nature has not only caused hundreds of bird species to disappear, but also fundamentally altered the important role these animals play in the global environment.

A study conducted by the University of Birmingham, UK, has warned of the biodiversity loss crisis the world is facing.

Specifically, scientists have assessed the consequences of the current rapid decline of bird species for future ecosystems. The information they collect is vital to helping countries set effective targets for global nature conservation, ecosystem restoration and wildlife rewilding.

The extinction of the Dodo bird led to the extinction of other species on the island of Mauritius (Photo: Gunter Hofer).

About 600 bird species are thought to have gone extinct in the past 12,000 years , disrupting the natural order in their native habitats.

Tracking the impact of individual bird species loss is important to provide information about the potential consequences of future mass bird extinctions on the environment as a whole.

"Each species has a task or function in the environment and therefore plays an incredibly important role in the ecosystem," said Dr Tom Matthews, who led the study.

Some birds eat pests and keep them from spreading, scavengers recycle dead matter, others eat fruit and spread seeds, allowing plants to grow more, and some, like hummingbirds, are important pollinators of flowers. When these animals die, their importance is lost.

It is well known that humans are the dominant species and are also the cause of the sudden extinction of other species that have coexisted on this planet for thousands of years.

From 300,000 years ago, when the first humans appeared in Africa and began migrating globally, until now, we have continuously exploited the Earth's natural resources.

As humans abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and began settling in communities and cultivating land around 12,000 years ago, the inevitable rate of extinction of other species accelerated.

Their habitats have been cleared for human agriculture, affecting local biodiversity, and hunting of wild animals for food and protection from predators has reduced the numbers and led to the extinction of entire animal families.

Such cases are called human-caused changes in nature.

Research from the University of Birmingham highlights the devastating impact of bird loss on the natural environment. Scientists have found that the loss of individual bird species has far-reaching effects beyond the immediate damage.

The obvious damage we are seeing includes reduced pollination of flowers, reduced ability to disperse plant seeds, disruption of top-down control of insect populations, including many pests and disease vectors, and increased disease outbreaks due to reduced carrion disposal.

But beyond those direct consequences, scientists have noted that the extinction of a species will stop the natural evolution of that species , or phylogenetic diversity, which will fundamentally change the way the entire environment develops.

For example, reduced pollination capacity of flowers affects the ability of not only an individual but also a group of plant species to adapt to climate change.

Dr Matthews said the research showed that the current extinction crisis is not just about species numbers, but also highlights the urgent need for us to understand and predict the impact of human-caused extinctions on ecosystems.