Biology's Beloved Amphibian - the Axolotl - Is Racing toward Extinction
https://daily.jstor.org/the-race-to-save-the-axolotl/
The Race to Save the Axolotl
When an axolotl loses a limb, it regrows, and nary a scar remains. But this incredible creature is on the brink of extinction.
The axolotl is the world’s the oldest self-sustaining laboratory animal population.
But it is unknown how long researchers will still be able to work with the axolotl: Like many lab animals, they are highly inbred, which could threaten their survival. To measure how small a gene pool is, scientists use an “inbreeding coefficient:” identical twins have an inbreeding coefficient of 100, completely unrelated individuals a coefficient of zero. For healthy growth, a captive population should have a coefficient of 12.5 at maximum. The notoriously inbred Spanish Habsburgs had a coefficient of 20; the coefficient for axolotls is 35.
https://i.cbc.ca/1.4204289.1499983814!/fileImage/httpImage/e...
Countries should work towards stabilising their populations first otherwise it's all for naught.
The population growth is already starting to decline; for example, Europe is already experiencing a decline, the population growth in the US has recently flatlined.
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/12/us-population...
U.S. Population Grew 0.1% in 2021, Slowest Rate Since Founding of the Nation
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8393076/
Major Trends in Population Growth Around the World
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/17/worlds-po...
World’s population is projected to nearly stop growing by the end of the century
> overpopulation is the root cause of all this yet an incredibly taboo issue to discuss
The root cause is overshoot. Climate change, resource depletion, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, overpopulation, soil erosion, and overfishing are all but symptoms of ecological overshoot.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/917471
Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 within planetary limits may be achievable on plant-based diets.
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/14449
How Compatible Are Western European Dietary Patterns to Climate Targets? Accounting for Uncertainty of Life Cycle Assessments by Applying a Probabilistic Approach
“Without concerted action, we found that the environmental impacts of the food system could increase by 50-90% by 2050 as a result of population growth and the rise of diets high in fats, sugars and meat,” he continued. “In that case, all planetary boundaries related to food production would be surpassed, some of them by more than twofold.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/
The consumption of animal-sourced food products by humans is one of the most powerful negative forces affecting the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems and biological diversity.
A little math might help.
environmental_impact = number_of_individuals * mean_individual_consumption
We can either lower mean_individual_consumption, or nature will reduce number_of_individuals forcibly. One way is better than the other.
Not an expert by any means, but, as I understand it, Lake Texcoco National Park[1] is a fairly radical project (given the tendencies of urban politics) to move towards answering those questions.
> The main objective of this project is to reclaim the site to a green infrastructure in the valley of Mexico City. Rather than returning the area of an intact ecosystem from before the Spanish colonization, the key is to create a complete balance between infrastructure and nature.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Texcoco_Ecological_Park
Veganism would help solve climate change (15-25% co2, also methane and n20), deforestation, pollution, soil erosion and overfishing (5 things out of 7 causing overshoot of the carrying capacity of our environment).
> because the tiny extent of their natural habitat is underneath what is now Mexico City
I'm aware.
I was responding to the question why I'm interested in these topics, and I never suggested that axolots' problem could be solved by veganism.
You're right that veganism would not (probably) help in this specific case, but that was not the point of the comment you were reacting to.