Species Coextinctions and the Biodiversity Crisis

@article{Koh2004SpeciesCA,
  title={Species Coextinctions and the Biodiversity Crisis},
  author={Lian Pin Koh and Robert R. Dunn and Navjot S. Sodhi and Robert K. Colwell and Heather C. Proctor and Vincent S Smith},
  journal={Science},
  year={2004},
  volume={305},
  pages={1632 - 1634}
}
To assess the coextinction of species (the loss of a species upon the loss of another), we present a probabilistic model, scaled with empirical data. The model examines the relationship between coextinction levels (proportion of species extinct) of affiliates and their hosts across a wide range of coevolved interspecific systems: pollinating Ficus wasps and Ficus, parasites and their hosts, butterflies and their larval host plants, and ant butterflies and their host ants. Applying a nomographic… 
View on AAAS
lamarck.unl.edu
505 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
18
Background Citations
222
Methods Citations
8
Results Citations
4

505 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Coextinction and persistence of dependent species in a changing world
TLDR
Based on primary extinctions and interactions among species, network models explore extinction cascades and predict and historical evidence reveals that the threat of coextinction is influenced by both host a...
Estimates of coextinction risk: how anuran parasites respond to the extinction of their hosts.
The sixth mass coextinction: are most endangered species parasites and mutualists?
TLDR
This work discusses the interactions and synergies between coextinction and other drivers of species loss, particularly climate change, and suggests the way forward for understanding the phenomenon of co Extinction, which may well be the most insidious threat to global biodiversity.
Fish parasites resolve the paradox of missing coextinctions.
TLDR
It is found that highly specific parasites are not the most endangered, because they tend to use hosts with low vulnerability to extinction, which may explain why the number of documented host-parasite coextinctions is much lower than predicted by theoretical studies.
among island populations of an endangered species
TLDR
It is found that ectoparasite attributes including diversity and intensity varied among host populations, and it is shown that knowing the parasite composition of the host can identify its population of origin, due to unique host–parasite interactions.
Biodiversity loss decreases parasite diversity: theory and patterns
  • K. Lafferty
  • Environmental Science
    Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
  • 2012
TLDR
In empirical food webs with random removals of free- Living species, the relationship between free-living species richness and parasite richness was, on average, quasi-linear, suggesting biodiversity loss reduces parasite diversity more than previously thought.
Managing coextinction of insects in a changing climate
TLDR
The primary reason for the development of the framework was to provide adaptation actions in the face of climate change, and the framework can be used when insects require conservation action to ameliorate impacts of other threatening processes.
Local host-tick coextinction in neotropical forest fragments.
Current Constraints and Future Directions in Estimating Coextinction
TLDR
Without synergistic development of better empirical data and more realistic models to estimate the number of cothreatened species and coextinction rates, the contribution of co Extinction to global declines in biodiversity will remain unknown and unmanaged.
Aphids and scale insects on threatened trees: co-extinction is a minor threat
TLDR
The magnitude of the global co-extinction threat to two herbivorous insect taxa (aphids and scale insects) was estimated by compiling a list of species in these groups that are dependent on globally threatened trees.
...
1
2
3
4
5
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 18 REFERENCES
Co‐Extinctions of Tropical Butterflies and their Hostplants
TLDR
This simulation shows that the number of extinct butterfly species is expected to increase exponentially with that of extinct hostplants, and suggests that the preservation of whole habitats is urgently needed if the possible cascading effects of species (co-)extinctions are to be avoided.
Environmental Changes, Coextinction, and Patterns in the Fossil Record
TLDR
A new model for large scale evolution and extinction in which species are organized into food webs, which is able to reproduce the empirical observations without defining a fitness function or invoking competition between species.
Comparative Losses of British Butterflies, Birds, and Plants and the Global Extinction Crisis
TLDR
A comparison at the national scale of population and regional extinctions of birds, butterflies, and vascular plants from Britain in recent decades is presented, strengthening the hypothesis that the natural world is experiencing the sixth major extinction event in its history.
Habitat fragmentation, percolation theory and the conservation of a keystone species
Many species survive in specialized habitats. When these habitats are destroyed or fragmented the threat of extinction looms. In this paper, we use percolation theory to consider how an environment…
Catastrophic extinctions follow deforestation in Singapore
TLDR
Extrapolations of the observed and inferred local extinction data imply that the current unprecedented rate of habitat destruction in Southeast Asia will result in the loss of 13–42% of regional populations over the next century, at least half of which will represent global species extinctions.
Nonrandom extinction and the loss of evolutionary history.
TLDR
It is estimated that the prospective extra loss of mammalian evolutionary history alone would be equivalent to losing a monotypic phylum, and the potentially severe implications of the clumped nature of threat for the loss of biodiversity are shown.
Extinction and the loss of evolutionary history.
TLDR
It is shown that approximately 80 percent of the underlying tree of life can survive even when approximately 95 percent of species are lost, and that algorithms that maximize the amount of evolutionary history preserved are not much better than choosing the survivors at random.
Biodiversity: Extinction by numbers
TLDR
New work documents the uneven, highly clumped distribution of vulnerable species on the Earth, and pinpoints 25 so-called ‘biodiversity hotspots’, which should enable resources for conservation to be better focused.
Variation in Local-Scale Edge Effects: Mechanisms and landscape Context
TLDR
The first approximation to predicting the impact of agricultural or permanently managed edges on forest songbird reproductive success is to assess habitat characteristics at the landscape scale.
Heavy Extinctions of Forest Avifauna in Singapore: Lessons for Biodiversity Conservation in Southeast Asia
Abstract: The consequences of rapid rainforest clearance on native avifauna are poorly understood. In Southeast Asia, Singapore, a newly developing country, has had 95% of its native lowland…
...
1
2
...