The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
February 8, 2023

Over One-Third of U.S. Animals and Plants at Risk of Extinction
---------------------------------------------------------------

A sweeping new study by conservation research group Nature Serve finds
that 40% of animals and 34% of plants in the U.S. are at risk of
extinction, and 41% of ecosystems are facing collapse. Researchers say
passing legislation to protect land and biodiversity is key, and list
some of the greatest threats to wildlife as "habitat degradation and
land conversion, invasive species, damming and polluting of rivers, and
climate change." This is Sean O'Brien, president of Nature Serve.

Sean O'Brien: "Nature is also incredibly complex, and we don't always
know what the sort of the keystone species is, as sometimes people call
them. So, when you have a habitat and species start going extinct or
becoming smaller in number, eventually that can cause the collapse of
that habitat type."



.