Swath of animals, plants at risk in US

More than a third of animals and plants in the United States are at risk of extinction, according to a report released on Monday.

The conservation group Nature-Serve put the at-risk amount at around 40 percent of animals and 34 percent of plants, Reuters reported.

The assessment was based on data collected from the natural world over five decades of research and work, produced by more than 60 programs and over 1,000 scientists across the US and Canada, NatureServe said.

The highest percentages of plants, animals and ecosystems at risk are in California, Texas and the southeastern US, areas of the richest biodiversity in the country and where population growth has boomed in recent decades, Wesley Knapp, the chief botanist at Nature-Serve, told Reuters.

Species associated with fresh water, including amphibians, snails, mussels, crayfish and many aquatic insects, are facing the highest percentage of risks, according to the report.

One of the species at greatest risk of disappearing is the Venus flytrap, which is found only in the wild in the Carolinas.

Nearly half of all cactus species are at risk of extinction, making them the most jeopardized plant group. About 200 species of trees are also at risk of disappearing. In total, nearly 1,250 plants are categorized by NatureServe as "critically imperiled", the final stage before extinction.

In 'precipitous' danger

"Two-fifths of our ecosystems are in trouble," said Regan Smyth, vice-president for data and methods at NatureServe. "Freshwater invertebrates and many pollinators, the foundation of a healthy, functional planet, are in precipitous decline.

"Understanding and addressing these risks is critical if we are to forestall devastating consequences for the biodiversity that humanity needs to survive," she said.

The report also found that at-risk species face different types and levels of threats in different regions.

The authors examined risks to ecosystems, identifying ecosystem types at greatest risk. The report found that 51 percent of grasslands and 40 percent of forests and wetlands are at risk of range-wide collapse.

Sean O'Brien, president and CEO of NatureServe, said the world is "currently experiencing and causing the Sixth Extinction — the mass extinction of species across the planet".