Graciela Gómez Nicola

Global biodiversity is threatened by human impact, which has already led to the extinction of hundreds of species. However, the known tree of life continues to expand with the discovery of numerous clades (groups of organisms that share a common ancestor and all its descendants), according to a international study pubished in PNAS. According to their estimates, made between 2015 and 2020, more than 700 new genera, more than 20 new families, and more than three new orders are described each year, all based on newly discovered species. According to the authors, many new clades remain undiscovered, and describing them before they become extinct should be a priority for research and conservation.

Restrictions on mobility and activity imposed during the covid-19 pandemic had an impact on the beaks of a species of bird, specifically the dark-eyed junco, which lived in urban areas of Los Angeles (USA). This is shown in a study published in the journal PNAS, which reveals how birds born during these lockdowns had beaks similar to their counterparts in the wild. With the return of human activity, the beak returned to its pre-pandemic shape. The authors argue that this change was mainly due to an adaptation to the food available, as the birds no longer had access to human food waste. 

Light pollution is causing birds to sing more, prolonging their vocalisations by an average of 50 minutes, according to a study published in Science. The study, which analyses more than 580 species of diurnal birds, shows that those most exposed to light, either because they have large eyes or open nests, are the most affected by this phenomenon. The authors analysed more than 60 million vocalisations from the BirdWeather citizen science project. ‘The machine learning algorithm allows us to analyse audio recordings 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which would otherwise take a lifetime to listen to,’ says Breant Pease, one of the authors.

A study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution concludes that the global economic cost of invasive species may be, in the case of some of them, more than 1,600% higher than previously estimated. By region, the highest costs were recorded in Europe, and by species, invasive plants generated the greatest impacts. According to the authors, these results - based on data from 162 species - could help countries to plan cost-effective management. 

The 16th meeting of the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP16) in Rome has concluded with an agreement to adopt the first global plan for financing nature conservation, after three days of meetings. This meeting meant resuming the negotiations that began last October in Cali (Colombia), where the parties failed to reach an agreement on how to finance the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework reached at COP15, which aims to protect a third of the land and oceans by 2030.

An assessment of the extinction risk of freshwater fauna, covering more than 23,000 species, reveals that around 24% of the species studied are at risk of extinction. The analysis, published in Nature, identifies the main threats from pollution, dams, agriculture and invasive species. Decapods - such as freshwater crabs and shrimps - have the highest percentage of threatened species (30 %), followed by freshwater fish (26 %) and odonates - such as dragonflies (16 %).

According to a new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), human activities have introduced over 37,000 exotic species to regions around the world. The document highlights that more than 3,500 of these are harmful invasive exotic species that are often overlooked until it's too late.