Tag: Pflanzen

Threatened by invasive species: Partula radiolata
The endangered tree snail Partula radiolata from the island of Guam. A recent study shows that snails are particularly often victims of invasive species: since the 1970s, the introduction of the rosy wolfsnail has led to the extinction of more than 50 Partula species on Pacific islands. (© USFWS - Pacific Region, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Invasive species & extinction: What role do non-native animals and plants play?

Whether rats on tropical islands, introduced snails in the Pacific, or feral cats in remote bird colonies – invasive alien species (IAS) can throw entire ecosystems off balance and push animal and plant species to the brink of extinction. In 2023, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

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Slender-billed curlew: Now declared extinct with the update of the IUCN Red List 2025
Slender-billed Curlew: The migratory bird once bred in western Siberia and wintered around the Mediterranean. Missing since 1995, its extinction has now been officially confirmed by the IUCN – the first human-caused bird extinction on mainland Europe in modern times. (© Internet Archive Book Images, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

IUCN Red List 2025: Eight more animal species officially extinct

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) presented a new update of the Red List of Threatened Species on 10 October 2025 – this time at the World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi. The updated list now includes 172,620 species worldwide, among them 48,646 classified as threatened and 935

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Key Largo tree cactus (Pilosocereus millspaughii)
The Key Largo tree cactus is now considered extinct in the United States. Small populations of this very rare plant species still exist in the Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. (© Luke Padon, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Loss in the USA: Key Largo tree cactus wiped out by climate change

Scientists have documented the first local extinction of a species caused by climate change and the associated rise in sea level. The Key Largo tree cactus (Pilosocereus millspaughii), which can grow up to seven meters tall and occurred in the U.S. only on the Florida Keys, has disappeared. This rare,

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IUCN Red List 2024: Borneo pygmy elephant threatened with extinction
Over the past 75 years, the number of Borneo pygmy elephants has declined dramatically. The lowland forests they live in are being cleared on a large scale, so the elephants are now considered endangered. (© Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons))

IUCN Red List 2024: A thousand additional animal and plant species threatened with extinction

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has published its latest Red List of threatened species. In its 60th year, the list—covering more than 163,040 species—warns of a worrying rise in animals and plants threatened with extinction. More than 45,000 species are now at risk—1,000 more than the previous

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