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Scientists talk about the threat of a sudden ecosystem collapse
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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A prestigious group of scientists from around the world are concerned that population growth, the collapse of natural ecosystems around the world, and climate change will create irreversible changes in the Earth's biosphere - a planet-wide tipping point that will have devastating consequences if not prepared for and corrected.
“It’s really going to be a new world, biologically speaking,” warns Anthony Barnosky, a professor of biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and first author of a review article published in Nature. “The data show that there will be a decline in biodiversity and a major impact on many of the things we depend on to maintain our quality of life, including fisheries, agriculture, forestry, for example. This could all happen within generations.”
A paper by 22 world-renowned scientists shows the urgent need for predictive models based on a detailed understanding of how the biosphere has responded in the past to rapidly changing conditions, including climate and human population growth. To that end, pioneering research to create robust, detailed biological predictions, as described in the paper, is underway at Berkeley.
How close are we to the tipping point?
The authors of the review, published in the journal Nature – biologists, ecologists, complex systems theorists, geologists and paleontologists from the US, Canada, South America and Europe – argued that while many warning signs are emerging, no one knows how close Earth is to the tipping point or whether it is truly imminent. The scientists are calling for targeted research to identify early signs of a global transition and increased efforts to address the root causes.
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