Thousands of land animals could be at risk of extinction from earthquakes, volcanos, tsunamis and hurricanes, a recent study has found.
In 2017, for example, when Hurricane Maria struck the island of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean Sea, it likely wiped out most of the 250 known individuals of a critically endangered parrot, the imperial amazon (Amazona imperialis).
Previous studies have investigated individual cases like these, but basic information on where such animals live and how many species are at risk hadn’t been studied in detail, the authors of the new study write.
So they looked at nearly 9,000 species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. These species either have small populations (fewer than 1,100 mature individuals) or limited distribution (range size smaller than 2,500 square kilometers, or 965 square miles). The researchers also collated publicly available data on four types of natural hazards — earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes — that occurred between 1970 and 2016. Finally, the team overlaid the two bits of information.
Their analysis found that more than 2,000 species lived in risky areas prone to the four natural hazards. Reptiles were most at danger, followed by amphibians, birds and mammals. Most of these species live in the tropics — on islands in particular.
The study also found that specific conservation plans only exist for 15% of the species.
As for the natural hazards, hurricanes are the most catastrophic for species, the study found, followed by earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
“The paper is novel in examining how species’ distributions overlap with areas of high frequency and magnitude of natural hazards,” Stuart Butchart, chief scientist at the U.K.-based BirdLife international, who was not involved in the study, told Mongabay.
However, he noted a problem in treating hurricanes as “natural.”
“While there may not be much that we can do once a hurricane has developed, we are increasingly responsible for the conditions that lead to the development of the most destructive hurricanes,” he said.
Moreover, the San Benedicto rock wren (Salpinctes obsoletus exsul) is the only known bird to have become extinct due to an eruption, earthquake or tsunami since 1500, Butchart added.
“So while the results are interesting, we shouldn’t be distracted from the fact that human impacts are the main driver of extinction risk, and the driver of virtually all extinctions in recent decades,” he said.
The authors of the study acknowledge that high-risk species, especially those endemic to tropical islands have evolved in environments exposed to natural hazards. However, the species’ adaptations might not be enough to survive the modern combined impacts of natural hazards, climate-driven natural disasters, and human activities.
“We hope that our global map of species at risk of extinction due to natural hazards will spur more research into the joint role of natural hazards and anthropogenic threats to biodiversity,” the researchers write.
Banner image of ʻakiapōlāʻau by jordanroderick via Flickr (public domain)
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