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A new report has painted a grim picture of the future for wildlife in the U.S.: Up to 40% of animal species and 34% of plant species are at risk of going extinct in the country, and up to 41% of U.S. ecosystems are at risk of range-wide collapse, meaning they could be lost forever.
NatureServe, a conservation group focused on biodiversity in North America, released the report Feb. 6. The report ranks all U.S. species on their risk of being wiped out. The categories include secure, apparently secure, vulnerable, imperiled, critically imperiled and possibly extinct; any species in the last four groups are considered to be “at risk of extinction.” The rankings are based on more than 50 years of data collected by NatureServe, using a network of more than 1,000 scientists.
“The data reported by NatureServe is grim,” U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., told Reuters. It is “a harrowing sign of the very real problems our wildlife and ecosystems are facing.”
NatureServe President Sean O’Brien said the report’s conclusions were “terrifying,” but he hopes it will help lawmakers understand the urgency of passing new protections, Reuters reported.