Biodiversity
World forests are home to a large number of the world's plant and animal species, including many endangered species. They are the habitat for about two-thirds of terrestrial species. As forests are cut down, many species are doomed to extinction. Some rainforest species can only survive in their natural habitat.
Tropical rainforests support the greatest diversity of living organisms on Earth. Although they cover less than 2% of Earth's surface, rainforests house more than 50% of plants and animals on Earth. Here are some examples of the richness of rainforests:
- rainforests have 170,000 of the world's 250,000 known plant species
- the United States has 81 species of frogs, while Madagascar which is smaller than Texas, may have 300 species.
- Europe has 321 butterfly species, while a park in the rainforest of Peru, Manu National Park, has 1300 species.
According to the IUCN there are now almost 45,000 species considered at risk of extinction. Our closest relatives in the animal world: chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, are destined to become extinct within the next few decades if we continue to destroy the forests that host them. Every day, 50 to 130 species become extinct. We are facing the most dramatic wave of extinctions since the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.  An ecological disaster is happening at an unprecendented rate; previous crisis played out over millions of years, and in the presence of natural disasters.
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A five-year study by the Wildlife Conservation Society gives new hope to some of the world's most endangered primates by establishing a roadmap to protect all 27 species in Tanzania -- the most primate-diverse country in mainland Africa. The study combines Tanzania's first-ever inventory of all primate species and their habitats with IUCN Red List criteria and other factors such as threats and rarity, ranking all 27 species from most vulnerable to least vulnerable. The authors then identify a network of "Priority Primate Areas" for conservation.
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For the first time after 400 years the European bison is roaming free in Germany. The opening of the fence released a small herd, consisting of one adult bull, five cows and two calves, into a 10,000 hectare forest. Two of the animals are fitted with radio transmitters to allow scientists to track and follow them. The animals will roam entirely free in the large forests of the Rothaar Mountains around Bad Berleburg in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is hoped that the herd will grow to about 25 animals. The herd has been kept in an 88 hectare enclosure for the last three years and has been intensively studied by scientists and universities.
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A study published in the online journal PLoS Oneshows that across their range in central Africa, a staggering 62 percent of all forest elephants have been killed for their ivory over the past decade. "The analysis confirms what conservationists have feared: the rapid trend towards extinction -- potentially within the next decade -- of the forest elephant," says Dr. Samantha Strindberg of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), one of the lead authors of the study.
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Nineteen percent of the world’s reptiles are estimated to be threatened with extinction, states a paper published today by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in conjunction with experts from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC). The study, printed in the journal of Biological Conservation, is the first of its kind summarising the global conservation status of reptiles. More than 200 world renowned experts assessed the extinction risk of 1,500 randomly selected reptiles from across the globe.
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According to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), 11,100 forest elephant were killed in Gabon's Minkebe Park. The slaughtering was probably done in the last five years by poachers involved in the ivory trade. Gabon's rain forests are home of over half of Africa's forest elephants, with a population estimated at over 40,000. The surveys were conducted by WCS, WWF, and Gabon's National Parks Agency (Agence Nationale des parcs Nationaux - ANPN). "This sad news from Gabon confirms that without a global commitment, great elephant populations will soon become a thing of the past," said Cristián Samper, of WCS. "We believe that elephants can still be saved, but only if nations greatly increase their efforts to stop poaching while eliminating the illegal ivory trade through better enforcement and reduced demand."