You already have your kids paying for the deficit, the collapse of the environment should be okay
1 in 10 bird species faces extinction by 2100
Computer forecast says 15 percent will be on the brink
The Associated Press
Updated: 5:12 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2004
WASHINGTON - About 10 percent of all bird species face extinction by the end of the century and another 15 percent are on the brink, according to researchers who say such extinctions would have a widespread impact on the environment, agriculture and human society.
“Important ecosystem processes, particularly decomposition, pollination and seed dispersal, will likely decline as a result” of the loss of bird species, said Cagan H. Sekercioglu of the Stanford University Center for Conservation Biology.
The forecast of Sekercioglu and colleagues, published online Monday by Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, comes a month after the World Conservation Union reported a continuing loss of species, including an estimate that 12 percent of birds are threatened with extinction.
