Shocking study says THIS mass extinction event never happened

A mass extinction event that was said to have occurred as recently as 40 years ago never actually happened, according to a new study. As per records, a large-scale plant extinction event occurred in Ecuador, South America, in a tropical cloud forest. But did it really happen?

An international team of botanists doubts it did and shares their concerns in a study published in Nature Plants. Led by Dawson M. White of Harvard University, the study challenges the concept of "Centinelan extinction".

This idea states that plant species known only from a single location can immediately go extinct because of deforestation.

Botanists Calaway Dodson and Alwyn Gentry reported in the 1980s that around 90 plant species resided in the Centinela ridge in western Ecuador and were found nowhere else on Earth, further claiming they had all gone extinct due to widespread deforestation.

The "Centinelan extinction" acted as a warning sign highlighting the potential for rapid biodiversity loss in tropical regions.

However, White and his teamdebunk the claim that the plant species were only found in this particular area.

They found that 99 per cent of plants thought to have gone extinct had been discovered elsewhere. Only one species, a tiny orchid called Bifrenaria integrilabia, was solely from Centinela.

We can still save these plants, researchers say

Calling it a "miracle", White said in a press release, "Many of Centinela’s plants are still on the brink of extinction, but fortunately the reports of their demise were exaggerated. There’s still time to save them and turn this story around."

However, this does not mean that deforestation isn't a danger. Researchers say that most of these plants are rare and endangered and over 150 species are globally threatened.

The team of botanists also quashed previous reports of complete deforestation, saying they found hints of the original forest. They discovered small patches in pastures and ravines filled with small remnants and thousands of mature trees. The regions still harbour many of the rare plant species once thought extinct.

They also discovered at least eight new plant species during their recent surveys.

Researchers found "a totally new species of canopy tree in the Cotton family", and study co-author Andrea Fernández of Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden says, "It’s one of the tallest trees we have encountered, but it’s extremely rare" with only 15 of them alive in Centinela.