Species extinction rate in Singapore is 37% over the last 200 years

A multi-institutional team of biologists and life and environmental specialists found that the extinction rate of plants and animals in Singapore over the past 200 years was about 37%. This discovery is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Previous research has shown that before humans arrived, the island nation of Singapore was almost entirely covered in rainforests, with the rest being mostly swamp or mangrove forests. Since that time, much of the island has been deforested. Along with the loss of trees and habitats, there have been significant losses of other types of plants and animals that once inhabited the island.

In this new study, the researchers noted that little effort has been made to determine the rate of decline of biodiversity on the island over the years. To this end, they conducted research to learn more about what happened over the past two centuries.

The researchers analyzed historical documents detailing the island’s plants and animals as far back as 1796. In total, they found records of more than 50,000 plants or animals, including 3,000 unique species. As part of their analysis, they also used mathematical models to estimate what they describe as “dark extinctions”, where a creature is thought to be extinct but no work has been done to prove it .

They were able to calculate an extinction rate of 37% for the entire island over the past 200 years. That count included about half of the island’s native butterflies, 90 percent of its bird species, and about two-fifths of its bee species. In addition, around 60% of its large mammals have disappeared, including tigers and leopards.

Based on the results, the researchers then made estimates for other regions of Southeast Asia. They found that if the rate of deforestation continues at its current rate, about 18% of all species alive in the region today will become extinct by 2100.

© 2023 Science X Network