Sustainable Agriculture Literature Review - Boulder County

! !!
"#$%&!'())!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!C+!D.-E.;1$4.2F!
!
Figure 31: Environmental Effects of Agroecosystem Management on the
Biodiversity of Pests 656
Species Loss
The extinction of species is a natural phenomenon that has been accelerated in the last
century from one to ten species per year, to 1000 species per year. Scientists believe
that the last time this sort of mass extinction happened was 65 million years ago, when
dinosaurs disappeared. According to the World Conservation Union, “one out of every
eight plants surveyed is potentially at risk of extinction.” 657
There are an estimated ten million species on earth, which contain a total of 2.2 billion
populations. Extinction of a population is an extinction of a species in a given region,
while the extinction of species is the total world disappearance of that species. The
extinction of populations is happening at a significantly fast rate of hundreds per day. 658
The U.S., Australia, and South Africa have the most species at risk of extinction, but
those figures could be deceiving since those countries may track dwindling species more
closely. 659
"'&#"
!,342#.5#6/1!78$.%3/23$1!
9.21$#23$1!:1;.1