Vertebrate populations have declined sharply since 1970 while insect numbers have fallen dramatically in protected areas.
The World Wildlife Foundation and Zoological Society of London’s 2024 Living Planet Report recorded a 73 percent average drop in monitored populations of 5,495 vertebrate species between 1970 and 2020. Freshwater species declined 85 percent and populations in Latin America and the Caribbean fell 95 percent. A 2019 Science study found nearly 3 billion breeding birds lost in North America since 1970. Amphibians face the greatest risk, with 41 percent of species threatened according to the 2023 Global Amphibian Assessment. A 2020 Science meta-analysis showed terrestrial insects declining about 9 percent per decade. The Krefeld study documented a more than 75 percent drop in flying insect biomass in German nature reserves between 1989 and 2017. Seventy-five percent of leading food crops depend partly on animal pollination. The article notes that half of tracked vertebrate populations remain stable or are increasing.