Human-caused bird extinctions reduced diversity in functions, unique history, study finds – Times of India

Humans have caused the extinction of at least 600 bird species over the past 1,30,000 years, leading to a significant loss of functional diversity among birds. This has resulted in a loss of three billion years of unique evolutionary history. The impact is especially severe on islands. The loss of functional diversity has far-reaching implications for ecosystems, affecting flower pollination, seed dispersal, and insect population control. Each bird species plays a crucial role in its ecosystem, and when they become extinct, the important functions they perform are lost. Additionally, each species carries a part of evolutionary history, so their extinction leads to a loss of diversity in the evolutionary tree of life. The study highlights the importance of global conservation efforts to protect biodiversity.