Bird extinctions have \u2018major implications\u2019 for the biodiversity crisis Thanks to the well-preserved remains of all birds<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in the country, it is the only place in the world where the pre-human bird fauna is believed to be completely known.<\/p>\n \u201cWe show that many species became\u00a0extinct<\/strong><\/a> before written records and left no trace, lost from history,\u201d says Cooke.<\/p>\n This has \u201cmajor implications for the current\u00a0biodiversity crisis<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d adds study co-author Dr S\u00f8ren Faurby of the University of Gothenburg.<\/p>\n \u201cThe world may not only have lost many fascinating birds but also their varied ecological roles, which are likely to have included key functions such as seed dispersal and pollination,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will have had cascading harmful effects on ecosystems so, in addition to bird\u00a0extinctions<\/strong><\/a>, we will have lost a lot of plants and animals that depended on these species for survival.\u201d<\/p>\n Which birds have gone extinct? About 640 known bird species have been driven to extinction since the Late Pleistocene age, 90 per cent of which lived on islands<\/strong><\/a> inhabited by people, according to the study published in Nature Communications.<\/p>\n A further 790 unknown species are estimated to have joined them. Only around 50 of these would have died out naturally, according to Cooke.<\/p>\n During the 14th century, the study estimates that 570\u00a0bird species<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0were lost after people arrived on Eastern Pacific islands like Hawaii and the Cook Islands. This is nearly 100 times the natural extinction rate and potentially the largest human-driven vertebrate extinction event in history<\/a>, according to the researchers.<\/p>\n Just 11,000 bird species are left today, an additional 700 of which could face extinction in the next few hundred years.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Researchers used statistical modelling based on known bird extinctions to estimate the undiscovered extinctions, using New Zealand as a case study.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Among the bird species that have gone extinct are the iconic Dodo of Mauritius, the Great Auk of the North Atlantic, and the lesser-known Saint Helena Giant Hoopoe.<\/p>\n