Facing extinction

Imagine an alpine meadow without flowers or a mountain lake without fish, but that is the dire prediction being made.
Some environmentalists are warning that half the species may be extinct by 2050 due to mankind’s industrialisation, urbanisation and pollution. More than 220 species have vanished in Switzerland alone over the past 150 years.
A mountain lake without fish? Just under a half of animal life is on the list of endangered species and over one third of ferns, flowering plants, moss and lichens, are thought to be "at risk".The introduction of invasive alien species, that then spread at the expense of indigenous ones, has apparently made it worse."These organisms adapt easily and manage to undermine indigenous species without too much difficulty. Moreover, they can cause diseases unknown at our latitudes, as well as considerable damage to agriculture," Nicolas Wüthrich, a spokesman for the environmental non-governmental organisation Pro Natura, has told swissinfo.com.
"The rainbow trout, for example, is a fish of American origin whose presence in our rivers endangers the survival of our local trout."
Moss is under threatHere on PlanetSKI we recently reported on the dangers bees are facing.
Species becoming extinct is of course a natural phenomena and has been going on for millions of years. Now though it appears to be speeding up and blame is being laid on mankind.