The ongoing global biodiversity crisis not only involves biological extinctions, but also the loss of experience and the gradual fading of cultural knowledge and collective memory of species. We refer to this phenomenon as 'societal extinction of species' and apply it to both extinct and extant taxa. We describe the underlying concepts as well as the mechanisms and factors that affect this process, discuss its main implications, and identify mitigation measures. Societal extinction is cognitively intractable, but it is tied to biological extinction and thus has important consequences for conservation policy and management. It affects societal perceptions of the severity of anthropogenic impacts and of true extinction rates, erodes societal support for conservation efforts, and causes the loss of cultural heritage.

Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research Berlin Germany; Institute of Biology Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany

Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Hydrobiology České Budějovice Czech Republic; Department of Ecosystem Biology Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czech Republic

CIBIO InBio Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos Laboratório Associado Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal; Institute of Biological and Health Sciences Federal University of Alagoas Maceió Alagoas Brazil

CIRPA Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerca in Psicologia Ambientale Dipartimento di Psicologia dei Processi di Sviluppo e Socializzazione Sapienza Università di Roma Rome Italy

Department of Zoology University of Oxford Oxford UK

Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology School of Anthropology and Conservation University of Kent Canterbury Kent UK

Environment and Sustainability Institute University of Exeter Penryn Cornwall UK

Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences The University of Tokyo Tokyo Japan

Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland

Institute of Biological and Health Sciences Federal University of Alagoas Maceió Alagoas Brazil; Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland; CESAM Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies University of Aveiro Aveiro Portugal

Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research Ben Gurion University of the Negev Midreshet Ben Gurion Israel

School for Resource and Environmental Studies Dalhousie University Halifax Canada

School of Natural Sciences University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania Australia

Technical University of Munich Restoration Ecology Freising Germany; Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research Berlin Germany; Institute of Biology Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany

Université Paris Dauphine PSL Research University CNRS Paris France

Université Paris Saclay CNRS AgroParisTech Ecologie Systématique Evolution Orsay France

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org

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