At least a quarter of the world’s biodiversity will be destroyed by 2100 as a result of climate change and land exploitation, according to an international study whose findings were published on Saturday, Xinhua news agency quoted Agerpres as saying.

In this study, scientists from Flinders University in South Australia and the European Commission used a new tool to model the loss of interconnected species in a new way.

Thus, it was found that cascading extinctions are inevitable and will lead to the loss of 10 percent of the Earth’s flora and fauna by 2050 and 27 percent by 2100, and the researchers concluded that the world is on the verge of a sixth mass extinction.

Using one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, ecologists Corey Bradshaw of Flinders University and Giovanni Strona of the European Commission and the University of Helsinki created a virtual Earth to estimate extinction trajectories.

“Children born today and reaching the age of 70 can expect to witness the extinction of thousands of plant and animal species, from tiny orchids and the smallest insects to iconic animals such as the elephant and koala,” he said. statement.

This is the first time that such a model includes cases of co-extinction – species that die out because other species on which they depend disappear.

“Think of a predator species losing its prey due to climate change. The loss of a prey species is a “primary extinction” because it has been directly disturbed. But if there is nothing left to eat, its predator will disappear in its turn, – explained Bradshaw.

“Or imagine a parasite that loses its host due to deforestation, or a flowering plant that loses its pollinators because it gets too hot. Each species depends on others in one way or another,” he added.