Insects, Plants Vanishing From Britain
Posted on: Saturday, 24 June 2006, 15:00 CDT
Hundreds of species of British insects and plants have been quietly disappearing while public attention as been focused on birds and mammals.
While three species of breeding birds are known to have vanished in the past 100 years, more than 200 insect species have disappeared in 50 years while 88 species of plants and wildflowers have become extinct in a century, The Independent reported. The newspaper announced that part of the purchase price of every copy sold Saturday will be donated to two environmental groups focused on the less glamorous species.
Environmentalists sometimes refer to large mammals and spectacular birds as charismatic megafauna, the red squirrels and sea eagles that capture public attention. But invertebrates and plants are a much larger part of the country's natural heritage.
Roger Key of English Nature told The Independent that 88 beetles, 56 butterflies and moths, 20 bees, 17 fly species, 14 bugs and hoppers and 12 wasps have become extinct and many others have greatly reduced numbers.
The true figure is almost certainly higher, Key said. There may well be things that have gone extinct that we do not know about.
Source: United Press International
Related Articles
- Three Exotic Birds Face Extinction
- Drought Puts Mussels at Risk: As Streams Dry Up, Some Species Might Go Extinct in the Wild
- Plant Extinctions Might Impact Humans
- Study: Birds Going Extinct at Faster Rate
- NJ Biologists Fight to Save Rare Bird from Extinction
- Fish Species May Face Extinction
- Birds, plants thrive on UK organic farms -study
- Nearly 16,000 Species Threatened With Extinction
- Conservation of Endangered Species Through Plant Tissue Culture in Mexican Botanical Gardens
- Thousands of Species Race Toward Extinction
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds