00:00Experts warn that we could be on the precipice of another mass extinction event, and the U.S. may be
00:05an epicenter of such a die-off.
00:07According to a recent report from non-profit observation data group NatureServe, 40% of all animals and 34%
00:13of all plant life in the U.S. is at risk of extinction.
00:16What's more, the extinction of those species has put entire habitats at risk, with a report outlining how 41%
00:22of all ecosystems in the U.S. are facing collapse.
00:25The report outlines that the states with the worst land protection regulations would be the most affected, with everything from
00:31freshwater mussels to cacti and beyond, all at risk of disappearing forever.
00:36Researchers warn that keystone species, or creatures that have a disproportionately large impact on their territories, are an important factor
00:42in what's going on.
00:43But the issue is, we don't always know what those species might be until they're gone, and we see what
00:47happens after, meaning protecting them is difficult.
00:50This is Wesley Knapp, lead botanist at NatureServe, to explain.
00:54The real trouble comes when you lose, like, those keystone species.
00:58Like, think about eastern North America.
01:00We've already lost our eastern woodland bison hundreds of years ago, and that drove grassland habitats.
01:07We've seen a collapse of grassland habitats in the east, and you can kind of connect the fact that we've
01:12already lost our eastern bison, which was a driver of the ecosystem function.
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