What percentage of all animal and plant species are under threat of becoming extinct due to human activity?

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We start by identifying the question: what percentage of all animal and plant species are under threat of becoming extinct due to human activity? The options present three percentages and one that matches the commonly cited figure in biodiversity assessments.
Option a: '75 %.' This overstates the share of species at risk. While biodiversity loss is severe in many groups and regions, leading assessments do not document three-quarters of all species as threatened; this figure would imply an extinction crisis on nearly a global scale across virtually all taxa, which is not supported by major synthesis reports.
Option b: '50 %.' This is also an overestimate relative to authoritative assessments. Although many studies highlight that a substantial portion of species face threats, 50% would imply a majority of all species are at risk, which is inconsistent with the consensus figures reported by bodies such as IPBES and the IUCN Red List across broad taxonomic groups.
Option c: '25 %. 'This option aligns with widely cited findings from major biodiversity assessments, which indicate that roughly a quarter of described species are threatened with extinction due to human activities. This figure represents a sizable minority of species that are at elevated risk, reflecting the impact of habitat loss, climate change, overexploitation, and invasive species while not overstating the prevalence across all taxa.
In terms of the underlying reasoning, estimates of threatened species are based on IUCN Red List assessments and related syntheses that categorize species by extinction risk, and aggregate patterns show a minority to a substantial minority, commonly reported near the 25% mark for many broad groups, though the exact percentage varies by taxon and region. The other options mischaracterize the scope of threat by either inflating the share substantially or implying that half or more of all species are at risk, which would contradict the standard summaries from major conservation assessments.
Overall, option c correctly reflects the commonly cited share of species under threat due to human activity, while options a and b overstate the proportion, and option a, in particular, exaggerates the magnitude beyond what the consensus reports indicate.

What percentage of all animal and plant species are under threat of becoming extinct due to human activity?

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