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-- OriginalOwner_ [tinyurl.com] writes:

from the decreasing-biodiversity dept.

Telesur reports [telesurtv.net]

The Bramble Cay melomys, a small rodent also known as the mosaic-tailed rat, have been completely wiped-out from its only known location. They are also the first instance of a mammal anywhere in the world thought to have gone extinct due primarily to human-caused climate change.

The Center for American Progress notes [thinkprogress.org]

A new report [qld.gov.au],[PDF] co-authored by Natalie Waller and Luke Leung from the University of Queensland, indicates that rising sea levels destroyed 97 percent [theguardian.com] [of the] melomys' habitat and much of their food supply, and likely drowned many of them. The island is only about 10 feet above sea level, making it especially susceptible to inundations. And, since the cay is only about the size of a football field, the creatures were unable to escape the flooding.

[...]The last recorded sighting of the melomys, which is the only mammal species endemic to the Great Barrier Reef, was in 2009. After a brief survey of the island in March 2014 failed to detect any of these animals, an extensive investigation through August and September in 2014 revealed no more melomys were alive on the island.

[...]Climate scientists say that the Bramble Cay melomys is just the beginning of a trend of extinctions due to climate change.

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