In ecology and conservation biology, extinction and extirpation are distinct but related processes describing biodiversity loss at different spatial scales. Extinction denotes the complete and irreversible disappearance of a species, subspecies, or other taxon from the entire planet, eliminating its genetic lineage and ecological functions globally. Extirpation, by contrast, refers to the local or regional disappearance of a taxon from a specific area while it persists elsewhere within its range. These processes are quantified using demographic, distributional, and phylogenetic data, and are central topics in assessing population viability, metapopulation dynamics, habitat fragmentation effects, and the design of conservation and reintroduction strategies.
A new study has revealed a "hidden extinction crisis" in China's flora, showing that habitat decline over the past four decades has sharply increased extinction risks nationwide. The findings, published in One Earth on September ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 3, 2025
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Lessons from extinction could help protect the bears of today. New research reveals that the now-extinct cave bear was much more adaptable than once thought yet was still made extinct when faced with the combined pressures ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 20, 2025
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203
Because their relative isolation encourages speciation, oceanic islands are hotspots of biodiversity. Yet their relatively small size, atypically defenseless animals and plants, and ecological vulnerability to the effects ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 5, 2025
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Animal populations on small islands are often thought to be unlikely to survive in the long term. Continued exploitation of small islands—such as mining in Raja Ampat, West Papua—poses a serious threat to local wildlife.
Plants & Animals
Aug 4, 2025
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31
What happens when a species has not been seen by anyone for decades? Environmentalists think of these as "lost species." We do not know if they've gone extinct, or if it's simply that nobody has looked for them.
Plants & Animals
Jul 23, 2025
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Over the past 100,000 years, Australia and New Guinea's large animal communities have been disrupted by extinctions and invasive species, altering entire ecosystems and threatening the conservation of remaining species.
Plants & Animals
Jul 21, 2025
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In two new studies, researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, have shed light on how interactions between predators and prey influenced the extinction of saber-toothed tigers ...
Evolution
Jul 15, 2025
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305
The announcement that New Zealand's moa nunui (giant moa) is the next "de-extinction" target for Colossal Biosciences, in partnership with Canterbury Museum, the Ngāi Tahu Research Center and filmmaker Peter Jackson, caused ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 10, 2025
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Climate change and habitat loss could cause more than 500 bird species to go extinct in the next 100 years, researchers from the University of Reading have found.
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2025
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103
Neanderthals have long been the subject of intense scientific debate. This is largely because we still lack clear answers to some of the big questions about their existence and supposed disappearance.
Planetary Sciences
Jun 19, 2025
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