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endangered species

 
Dictionary: en·dan·gered species   (ĕn-dān'jərd)
 
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n.

A species present in such small numbers that it is at risk of extinction.


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Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Endangered species
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A species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. “Threatened species” is a related term, referring to a species likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. The main factors that cause species to become endangered are habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, and overexploitation.

Habitat destruction is the single greatest threat to species around the globe. Natural habitat includes the breeding sites, nutrients, physical features, and processes such as periodic flooding or periodic fires that species need to survive. Humans have altered, degraded, and destroyed habitat in many different ways. Logging around the world has destroyed forests that are habitat to many species. This has a great impact in tropical areas, where species diversity is highest. Although cut forests often regrow, many species depend upon old-growth forests that are over 200 years old; these forests are destroyed much faster than they can regenerate. Agriculture has also resulted in habitat destruction. In the United States, tallgrass prairies that once were home to a variety of unique species have been almost entirely converted to agriculture. Housing development and human settlement have cleared large areas of natural habitat. Mining has destroyed habitat because the landscape often must be altered in order to access the minerals. Finally, water development, especially in arid regions, has fundamentally altered habitat for many species. Dams change the flow and temperature of rivers and block the movements of species up and down the river. Also, the depletion of water for human use (usually agriculture) has dried up vegetation along rivers and left many aquatic species with insufficient water.

The invasion of nonnative species is another major threat to species worldwide. Invasive species establish themselves and take over space and nutrients from native species; they are especially problematic for island species, which often do not have defensive mechanisms for the new predators or competitors. Habitat destruction and invasion of nonnative species can be connected in a positive feedback loop: when habitat is degraded or changed, the altered conditions which are no longer suitable for native species can be advantageous for invasive species. In the United States, approximately half of all endangered species are adversely affected by invasive species.

Pollution directly and indirectly causes species to become endangered. In some cases, pesticides and other harmful chemicals are ingested by animals low on the food chain. When these animals are eaten by others, the pollutants become more and more concentrated, until the concentration reaches dangerous levels in predators and omnivores. These high levels cause reproductive problems and sometimes death. In addition, direct harm often occurs when pollutants make water uninhabitable. Agriculture and industrial production cause chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides to reach waterways. Lakes have become too acidic from acid rain. Other human activities such as logging, grazing, agriculture, and housing development cause siltation in waterways. Largely because of this water pollution, two out of three fresh-water mussel species in the United States are at risk of extinction. See also Acid rain; Water pollution.

Many species have become endangered or extinct from killing by humans throughout their ranges. For example, the passenger pigeon, formerly one of the most abundant birds in the United States, became extinct largely because of overexploitation. This overexploitation is especially a threat for species that reproduce slowly, such as large mammals and some bird species. Overfishing by large commercial fisheries is a threat to numerous marine and fresh-water species.

Efforts to save species focus on ending exploitation, halting habitat destruction, restoring habitats, and breeding populations in captivity. In the United States, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects endangered species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. Internationally, endangered species are protected from trade which depletes populations in the wild, through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Over 140 member countries act by banning commercial international trade of endangered species and by regulating and monitoring trade of other species that might become endangered. For example, the international ivory trade was halted in order to protect elephant populations from further depletion.

Typically, the first step is identifying which species are in danger of extinction throughout all or part of their range and adding them to an endangered species list. In the United States, species are placed on the endangered species list if one or more factors puts it at risk, including habitat destruction or degradation, overutilization, disease, and predation. Florida and California contain the most endangered species of all the contiguous 48 states. Hawaii has more endangered species than any other state. Hawaii, like other islands, has a diversity of unique species that occur nowhere else in the world. These species are also highly susceptible to endangerment because they tend to have small population sizes, and because they are particularly vulnerable to introduced competitors, predators, and disease.

For many endangered species, a significant captive population exists in zoos and other facilities around the world. By breeding individuals in captivity, genetic variation of a species can be more easily sustained, even when the species' natural habitat is being destroyed. Some species exist only in captivity because the wild population became extinct. For a few species, captive individuals have been reintroduced into natural habitat in order to establish a population where it is missing or to augment a small population. Depending on the species, reintroduction can be very difficult and costly, because individual animals may not forage well or protect themselves from predators. See also Ecology; Extinction (biology).

 
Idioms: endangered species
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A group threatened with extinction or destruction. For example, Workers willing to put in overtime without extra pay are an endangered species, or With the new budget cuts, public television has become an endangered species. This expression, originally referring to species of plants or animals in danger of dying out, began in the 1980s to be extended to anything or anyone becoming rare.

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: endangered species
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Any species of plant, animal, or other organism threatened with extinction. International and national agencies work to maintain lists of endangered species, to protect and preserve natural habitats, and to promote programs for recovery and reestablishment of these species. The Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) publishes information online about approximately 41,500 endangered species worldwide as the Red List of Threatened Species. Separate books for animal and plant species are also published. In the United States, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are responsible for the conservation and management of fish and wildlife, including endangered species, and their habitats. Its list now consists of about 1,890 domestic species of endangered or threatened animals and plants.

For more information on endangered species, visit Britannica.com.

 
US History Encyclopedia: Endangered Species
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The environmental movement reached its peak with the enactment of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. As public concern over environmental degradation heightened, Congress passed the most sweeping piece of environmental legislation in American history. When President Richard M. Nixon signed the law on 28 December 1973, he enthusiastically proclaimed that nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the wildlife with which the country had been blessed. Intent on fulfilling Nixon's mandate, the authors of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) made an unmistakably strong statement on national species protection policy. The ESA provided for the protection of ecosystems, the conservation of endangered and threatened species, and the enforcement of all treaties related to wildlife preservation.

Pre-Esa Protection Efforts

Endangered species existed long before 1973, of course. The protection of individual species was an incremental process. Rooted in the tradition of colonial law, U.S. Supreme Court decisions through the nineteenth century ensured state jurisdictional control over that of landowners. By the 1870s, the federal government made it clear that it had an interest in wildlife issues. The establishment of the U.S. Fish Commission in 1871 and Yellowstone National Park in 1872 increased the role of the federal government substantially. The tension between federal and state authority resulted in the Yellowstone Game Protection Act of 1894, which established Yellowstone as a de facto national wildlife refuge in order to protect bison.

In the first half of the twentieth century, the federal government increased its direct, national jurisdiction with such legislation as the Lacey Act (1900), the creation of the first official national wildlife refuge at Pelican Island (1903), the ratification of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act with Canada (1918), and the passage of the Bald Eagle Protection Act (1940). Yet, a comprehensive national policy on species preservation was not enacted until the 1960s. The professionalization of ecology and the dawning of the American environmental movement created the needed atmosphere for reform. Building on the political response to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962), the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife established the Committee on Rare and Endangered Wildlife Species in 1964. The committee of nine biologists published a prototypical list of wildlife in danger of extinction, entitled the "Redbook," listing sixty-three endangered species. Congress passed a more comprehensive Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1966, requiring all federal agencies to prohibit the taking of endangered species on national wildlife refuges and authorizing additional refuges for conservation. The follow-up Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 extended protection to invertebrates. It also expanded prohibitions on interstate commerce provided by the Lacey Act and called for the development of a list of globally endangered species by the secretary of the Interior. The directive to facilitate an international conservation effort resulted in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in early 1973. This set the stage for the Endangered Species Act later that year.

Passage of Esa and Early Challenges

Despite a surge of environmental regulatory lawmaking in the early 1970s, including the Clean Air Act, Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments (Clean Water Act), Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act, and Coastal Zone Management Act, debate continued regarding federal and state regulatory authority and the types of species warranting protection. Representative John Dingell, who introduced the bill that became the Endangered Species Act, insisted that all flora and fauna be included. Section 29a of the ESA makes this clear by stating that all "species of fish, wildlife, and plants are of aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to the Nation and its people." The issue of regulation resulted in greater compromise. Section 6, which directs the secretary of the Interior to foster cooperative agreements with states while allowing them substantial involvement in species management, also provides funds for state programs. In an effort to address these issues and others, including the geographical extent of prohibitions and the location of governmental responsibility, the House worked on fourteen different versions while the Senate worked on three. The bill ultimately passed both houses of Congress almost unanimously, setting a clear mandate (with only twelve dissenting votes in the House and one in the Senate). The subsequent history of ESA was much more highly contested.

One of the first major challenges to the ESA came with the TVA v. Hill battle over the Tellico Dam. From its inception, the Tellico Dam project of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) faced major challenges. In the early 1970s, a lawsuit charging the violation of the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and an inadequate environmental impact statement delayed construction. Resuming construction in 1973, the project halted again in 1977 when a lawsuit charged Tellico with violating the Endangered Species Act. The discovery of a small fish, the snail darter, in the portion of the Little Tennessee River yet to be swallowed up by the dam, created what later became a textbook case in environmental ethics. U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell, who argued the TVA case himself, compared the three-inch fish to the social and economic welfare of countless people. The Supreme Court response was unequivocal. With the law upheld, the project stopped in its tracks. When the ESA subsequently came up for reauthorization in 1978, a plan to provide a mechanism for dispute resolution, in cases like Tellico, resulted in the creation of the first major change in ESA. The Endangered Species Committee, dubbed the "God Squad," was given the power to decide when economic and societal interests outweighed the biological consequences. Ironically, after the committee rejected the exemption for Tellico, populations of snail darters were found in neighboring Tennessee creeks. This discovery came after the authorization for Tellico's completion squeaked through in an amendment to the 1979 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act.

While the "God Squad" had refused the exemption for Tellico, the committee opened the door for mitigation plans by considering "alternative habitats" for endangered species. An exemption granted in 1979 to the Grayrocks Dam and Reservoir in Wyoming, which threatened whooping crane habitat downstream, became the precursor to the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). A 1982 amendment to ESA created HCPs as an effort to resolve alleged unequal treatment in federal and private sectors. HCPs allowed for the incidental taking of endangered species by private property owners in exchange for the creation of a plan to offset losses through separate conservation efforts. By 1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had formally approved seven HCPs, with twenty more under way.

Struggles Between Competing Interests in the 1990s

The final extended reauthorization of ESA in 1988 allotted appropriations for five years. Amendments provided funding for state cooperative programs, encouraged the use of emergency powers to list backlogged species candidates, and strengthened the protection of endangered plants. Since 1993, however, Congress has authorized funds only in one-year increments, while bills to weaken ESA have been regularly introduced. The apparent ambivalence with respect to reauthorization reflected divisions between protagonists and antagonists for a strengthened ESA. Conservation organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy, along with activist oriented organizations such as the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife Federation, grew in strength and numbers during the 1990s, while demanding an expanded ESA. Meanwhile, private property advocates represented by the loose-knit but widespread "wise use" movement led efforts to stop ESA intrusion into the lives of private landowners. The National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition was particularly effective at getting legislation introduced to modify ESA.

The widely publicized controversy over the northern spotted owl epitomized the struggle of competing interests. The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management advocated protection of this Pacific Northwest subspecies as early as 1977. Yet, the FWS listed the owl as threatened thirteen years later, in 1990, after years of recommendations for habitat preservation by scientific and environmental coalitions. The "God Squad" met for the third time in fourteen years, in 1993, to discuss the northern spotted owl. Amidst emotional media coverage of the plight of loggers and their families, thirteen out of forty-four tracts of land were opened up, as environmental regulations like ESA took the blame for contributing to economic hardship. While environmentalists used the spotted owl as a surrogate for old growth forests, the timber industry criticized the use of the owl to protect old growth trees. A resolution ultimately took the intervention of President Bill Clinton. The president organized a "Forest Summit" in 1993 to develop the Pacific Northwest Plan, which included a substantial reduction in timber harvesting, an ecosystem-based management plan for 25 million acres of federal land, and an economic plan for displaced loggers and their families.

The Pacific Northwest Plan signaled a shift in federal endangered species policy. In 1995 the National Research Council report on the ESA argued that an ecosystem-based approach to managing natural resources must maintain biological diversity before individual species are in dire trouble. The Clinton administration's Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force echoed this proactive approach in their 1995 report, which called for a collaboratively developed vision of desired future conditions that integrated ecological, economic, and social factors.

The shift toward an ecosystem approach follows historical changes in the primary cause of species endangerment from overharvesting to habitat destruction to ecosystem-wide degradation. The history of ESA demonstrates that competing economic goals, political priorities, and ethical arguments have also made solutions more elusive.

Bibliography

Burgess, Bonnie B. Fate of the Wild: The Endangered Species Act and the Future of Biodiversity. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001.

Clark, Tim W. Averting Extinction: Reconstructing Endangered Species Recovery. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997.

Czech, Brian, and Paul R. Krausman. The Endangered Species Act: History, Conservation Biology, and Public Policy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Kohm, Kathryn A., ed. Balancing on the Brink: The Endangered Species Act and Lessons for the Future. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1991.

—Eric William Boyle

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: endangered species
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endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. Endangered Species Act (1973), classified 935 native species as endangered or threatened, including animals such as the Florida panther, the Key deer, the San Joaquin kit fox, the northern spotted owl, the chinook salmon, the Karner blue butterfly, the snail darter, and the cave crayfish and plants such as the Hawaiian nehe and the clover lupine. Over 500 more species were so classified worldwide. The official list of endangered wildlife and plants in the United States is kept by the Fish and Wildlife Service; the National Marine Fisheries Service oversees marine species. In addition, many states keep their own lists. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources maintains an international list, published as the Red Data Book.

Causes of Endangerment

Hunting, trapping, and poisoning to protect livestock have taken a great toll among predatory mammals and birds. Overharvesting is currently threatening species worldwide, especially food fish species such as the cod. A large number of species are threatened by introduced species, or “exotics,” plants or animals that are introduced into a habitat and bring with them diseases or the ability to compete more effectively than native species. The now ubiquitous European starling, for example, purposely introduced into the United States in the 1890s, is displacing the native American bluebird and other species, and the brown tree snake, native to Australia and introduced to Guam during World War II, has preyed on native species of that island to the extent that nine bird species are now extinct. Another danger is hybridization with other species and subspecies.

Another important threat is destruction of habitat by chemical pollutants. For example, bird populations have suffered great losses because of insecticides. The chemicals they contain, such as DDT, accumulate in birds' bodies and interfere with calcium metabolism. As a result, the females lay eggs with extremely thin shells or no shells at all, so the embryos do not survive to hatching. Acid rain has destroyed the habitats of many North American fish and amphibians by lowering the pH of surface waters. It is also changing the soil chemistry and harming many tree species.

Most serious of all, the destruction of physical habitat—by the drainage and filling of swamps and marshes, by the damming of rivers, by the leveling of forests for residential and industrial development, by strip mining, and by oil spills and water pollution—has left many creatures with literally no room in which to live and breed. For example, only 5% of the original forests in the 48 coterminous states, i.e., those forests that were present at the time of the first European settlement, are still standing.

Efforts to Protect Species

Many local, national, and international organizations, such as Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and the National Audubon Society, work to preserve habitats and heighten public awareness. Conservationists have pressed for habitat preservation through the establishment of new wildlife refuges and wilderness areas and for public and private land-use planning that would provide for development without habitat destruction. Some wildlife conservation organizations try to keep seriously endangered species viable with captive breeding programs, releasing new offspring into the species' native habitat when breeding is successful.

U.S. legislation affecting endangered species includes the various federal antipollution laws, the banning of DDT, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, and the Endangered Species Acts of 1966, 1969, 1973, 1978, 1982, and 1988. The landmark 1973 Endangered Species Act prohibits any trade in endangered species or their products and requires that federal agencies assess the impact on wildlife habitat of proposed projects—much as NEPA requires an environmental impact statement. These laws are often the only tool that conservationists have to prevent the development or other exploitation (e.g., logging or mining) of important habitats, but enforcement is also hampered by litigation and a lack of funds. Despite these problems, in the years since 1973 the status of a number of species, including the bald eagle, American alligator, and black-footed ferret, became stable or improved.

The protection of species in the United States has, however, become highly politicized. Asserting that the enforcement of environmental rules unfairly burdens business, the Republican 104th Congress prevented any further species from being added to the U.S. list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants for 13 months from 1995 to 1996. Despite the perception that enforcement of the laws affects the economy and impedes progress, only 1% of the 50,000 projects that raised endangered-species questions between 1976 and 1986 required further investigation because of possible serious impact on a species; most of those moved forward after some modification.

On the international scene, efforts have been made to halt the trade in spotted cats and crocodiles and to curtail whaling and the taking of porpoises in tuna seines. A conference in Washington, D.C., in 1973, attended by 80 nations, drew up the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which protects more than 600 species of animals and plants. By the early 1990s some success had been achieved in banning the trade in rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory, South American parrots, bird eggs, and rare orchids, but poaching—for the high profits that can sometimes be gained from these items—continues to be a serious threat. In addition to CITES, the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the “Earth Summit”) produced an agreement to stem the depletion of the world's diverse species (see biological diversity). See also conservation of natural resources.

Bibliography

See T. B. Allen, Vanishing Wildlife of North America (1974); L. Regenstein, The Politics of Extinction (1979); S. Boyd, Endangered Species (1989); E. O. Wilson, The Diversity of Life (1992); D. Ackerman, The Rarest of the Rare (1996); D. Quammen, The Song of the Dodo (1996); and the Red Data Books published by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

 
Veterinary Dictionary: endangered species
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Species of animals (and plants) whose existence on earth is threatened, principally by the activities of humans.

 
Blogs: Related blogs on: endangered species
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Wikipedia: Endangered species
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For other uses, see Endangered species (disambiguation).
The Siberian Tiger is a subspecies of tiger that is critically endangered; three subspecies of tiger are already extinct.[1]
Conservation status
Risk of extinction
Extinction

Extinct
Extinct in the Wild
Threatened

Critically Endangered
Endangered
Vulnerable
Threatened
Lower risk

Conservation Dependent
Near Threatened
Least Concern
See also

World Conservation Union
IUCN Red List

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters. An endangered species is usually a taxonomic species, but may be another evolutionary significant unit. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has calculated the percentage of endangered species as 40 percent of all organisms based on the sample of species that have been evaluated through 2006.[2] (Note: the IUCN groups all threatened species for their summary purposes.) Many nations have laws offering protection to conservation reliant species: for example, forbidding hunting, restricting land development or creating preserves. Only a few of the many species at risk of extinction actually make it to the lists and obtain legal protection. Many more species become extinct, or potentially will become extinct, without gaining public notice.

Contents

Conservation status

Main article: Conservation status

The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that endangered species not living. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species; not simply the number remaining, but the overall increase or decrease in the population over time, breeding success rates, known threats, and so on. The IUCN Red List is the best known conservation status listing.

Internationally, 194 countries have signed an accord agreeing to create Biodiversity Action Plans to protect endangered and other threatened species. In the United States this plan is usually called a species Recovery Plan.

IUCN Red List Endangered species

Endangered species under the IUCN Red List refers to a specific category of threatened species, and may include critically endangered species.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species uses the term endangered species as a specific category of imperilment, rather than as a general term. Under the IUCN Categories and Criteria, endangered species is between critically endangered and vulnerable. Also critically endangered species may also be counted as endangered species and fill all the criteria

The more general term used by the IUCN for species at risk of extinction is threatened species, which also includes the less-at-risk category of vulnerable species together with endangered and c an animal can help the environment in a spactaullar way IUCN categories include:

United States

"Endangered" in relation to "threatened" under the ESA.

Under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, "endangered" is the more protected of the two categories. The Salt Creek tiger beetle (Cicindela nevadica lincolniana) is an example of an endangered subspecies protected under the ESA.

In the United States alone, the “number of known species threatened with extinction is ten times higher than the number protected under the Endangered Species Act” (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 414). The US Fish and Wildlife Service as well as the National Marine Fisheries Service are held responsible for classifying and protecting endangered species, yet, adding a particular species to the list is a long, controversial process and in reality it represents only a fraction of imperiled plant and animal life (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 414).

Some endangered species laws are controversial. Typical areas of controversy include: criteria for placing a species on the endangered species list, and criteria for removing a species from the list once its population has recovered; whether restrictions on land development constitute a "taking" of land by the government; the related question of whether private landowners should be compensated for the loss of uses of their lands; and obtaining reasonable exceptions to protection laws.

Being listed as an endangered species can have negative effect since it could make a species more desirable for collectors and poachers.[3] This effect is potentially reducible, such as in China where commercially farmed turtles may be reducing some of the pressure to poach endangered species.[4]

Another problem with listing species is its effect of inciting the use of the "shoot, shovel, and shut-up" method of clearing endangered species from an area of land. Some landowners currently may perceive a diminution in value for their land after finding an endangered animal on it. They have allegedly opted to silently kill and bury the animals or destroy habitat, thus removing the problem from their land, but at the same time further reducing the population of an endangered species.[5] The effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act, which coined the term "endangered species", has been questioned by business advocacy groups and their publications, but is nevertheless widely recognized as an effective recovery tool by wildlife scientists who work with the species. Nineteen species have been delisted and recovered[6] and 93% of listed species in the northeastern United States have a recovering or stable population.[7]

Currently, 1,556 known species in the world have been identified as endangered, or near extinction, and are under protection by government law (Glenn, 2006, Webpage). This approximation, however, does not take into consideration the number of species threatened with endangerment that are not included under the protection of such laws as the Endangered Species Act. According to NatureServe’s global conservation status, approximately thirteen percent of vertebrates (excluding marine fish), seventeen percent of vascular plants, and six to eighteen percent of fungi are considered imperiled (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 415-416). Thus, in total, between seven and eighteen percent of the United States’ known animals, fungi, and plants are near extinction (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 416). This total is substantially more than the number of species protected under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, which means numerous species are inching closer and closer toward extinction.

Question of ethics

 This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (June 2009)

Even in the search to learn more about these species, many ecologists do not take into consideration the impact they leave on the environment and its inhabitants. It is apparent that the “quest for ecological knowledge, which is so critical for informing efforts to understand and conserve Earth’s biodiversity along with valued ecosystem goods and services, frequently raises complex ethical questions”,[8] and there is no clear way to identify and resolve these issues. Environmentalists tend to focus on the whole ecological sphere instead of the welfare of individual animals. Focusing on such a broad view tends to diminish the value of each individual creature. "Biodiversity conservation is currently a principle goal for resource management of 11.5% of the world’s surface area."[9] Large portions of life occur outside these protected areas and must be taken into consideration if the conservation of endangered species is going to be effective.[citation needed]

Impact on biodiversity and endangered species

In order to conserve the biodiversity of the planet, one must take into consideration the reasons why so many species are becoming endangered. “Habitat loss is the most widespread cause of species endangerment in the U.S., affecting 85% of imperiled species” (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 416). When an animal’s ecosystem is not maintained, they lose their home and are either forced to adapt to new surroundings or perish. Pollution is another factor that causes many species to become endangered, especially a large proportion of aquatic life. Also, overexploitation, disease (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 416), and climate change (Kotiaho et al., 2005, p. 1963) have led to the endangerment of several species.

However, the most important factor leading to the endangerment of the majority of wildlife in the world is the human impact on the species and their environment. “As human use of resources, energy, and space intensified over the past few centuries, the diversity of life has been substantially diminished in most parts of the world” (Ishwaran & Erdelen, 2006, p.179). Basically, as the human impact on the environment increases, the diversity of life decreases. Humans are constantly using the resources and space of other species for themselves, negatively impacting the survival rate of many creatures.

Humans have also set standards for which species they think should be saved and which species they find unimportant. For example, the coqui frog in Hawaii is so common that its “nocturnal singing” reduces the value of homes and prevents hotels from using rooms near forests. Hawaiians have proposed eliminating the frog, and several wildlife managers want to release a pathogen to kill the frogs (Minteer & Collins, 2005, p. 333). The frog decreased the value of homes and lost business for several hotels, so the Hawaiians figured it was acceptable to get rid of the group of coqui frog living near them, without taking into consideration the environmental impact of destroying the species.

Another example where the human impact affected the welfare of a species was in the instance of non-native mute swans establishing themselves at Arrowhead Lake in Vermont. When the population of swans grew to eight birds, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department decided to take action. Two swans were eventually killed, angering animal welfare organizations and people living near the lake (Minteer & Collins, 2005, p. 333). The case of the Arrowhead Lake swans demonstrates what one considers the natural environment based on human assumptions. Simply because the swans were not normally living there does not mean it is not part of their natural habitat, and there is certainly no reason for them to be destroyed because of human dissatisfaction.

Yet another example of the human impact in the lives of endangered species is that of the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse. Research has shown that the mouse is not taxonomically different from the Bear Lodge meadow jumping mouse and the US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing the Preble’s mouse from the endangered species list based on this information (Minteer & Collins, 2005, p. 333). This example brings into consideration the role of science in determining the maintenance of a species. It brings into questions whether scientific evidence should be the only resource used to support conservation of biodiversity.

A final example of the human impact on existing species is the issue of toe clipping in ecological research. While ecologists are doing research on different species to advance their knowledge of methods of conservation, they must take into consideration the impact they have on the wildlife they are studying. Toe clipping “has been reported to result in a number of adverse effects on the animals, including inflammation and infection of the feet and limbs” (Minteer & Collins, 2005, p. 334). This example demonstrates how humans must take into consideration the wellbeing of the animal even before they perform research to help conserve the species. The human impact on species and their environments has many negative effects. It is important for humans to help maintain all species in the world and not deter their development.

Species maintaining importance

“Diversity of life and living systems are a necessary condition for human development” (Ishwaran & Erdelen, 2006, p.179). Many question the importance of maintaining biodiversity in today’s world, where conservation efforts prove costly and time consuming. The fact is that the preservation of all species is necessary for human survival. Species should be saved for “aesthetic and moral justifications; the importance of wild species as providers of products and services essential to human welfare; the value of particular species as indicators of environmental health or as keystone species crucial to the functioning of ecosystems; and the scientific breakthroughs that have come from the study of wild organisms” (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 418). In other words, species serve as a source of art and entertainment, provide products such as medicine for human wellbeing, indicate the welfare of the overall environment and ecosystem, and provided research that resulted in scientific discoveries. An example of an “aesthetic justification” in conserving endangered species is that of the introduction of the gray wolf into Yellowstone National Park. The gray wolf has brought numerous amounts of tourists to the park and added to the biodiversity in the protected region (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 418).

Another example, supporting the conservation of endangered species as providers of products for human wellbeing, is the scrub mint. It has been found that the scrub mint contains an antifungal agent and a natural insecticide (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 418). Also, the deterioration of the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon “alerted people to the potential health hazards associated with the widespread spraying of DDT and other persistent pesticides” (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 418).

This serves as an example of how certain fish can serve as identifiers of environmental health and protect human life as well as other species. Finally, an example of species providing for scientific discoveries is the instance of the Pacific yew which “became the source of taxol, one of the most potent anticancer compounds ever discovered” (Wilcove & Master, 2008, p. 418-419). Endangered species could prove useful to human development, maintenance of biodiversity and preservation of ecosystems.

Helping preserve endangered species

It is the goal of conservationists to create and expand upon ways to preserve endangered species and maintain biodiversity. There are several ways in which one can aid in preserving the world’s species who are nearing extinction. One such way is obtaining more information on different groups of species, especially invertebrates, fungi, and marine organisms, where sufficient data is lacking.

For example, to understand the causes of population declines and extinction an experiment was conducted on the butterfly population in Finland. In this analysis, the butterflies’ endangered list classification, distribution, density, larval specificity, dispersal ability, adult habitat breadth, flight period and body size were all recorded and examined to determine the threatened state of each species. It was found that the butterflies’ distribution has declined by fifty-one and a half percent, and they have a severely restricted habitat. One example of specific butterflies who have a declining distribution rate are the Frigga’s Fritillary and Grizzled Skipper, who have been affected by habitat loss due to extensive draining of the bogs where they live (Kotiaho et al., 2005, p. 1963-1967). This experiment proves that when we know the causes of endangerment, we can successfully create solutions for the management of biodiversity.

Another way to help preserve endangered species is to create a new professional society dedicated to ecological ethics. This could help ecologists make ethical decisions in their research and management of biodiversity. Also, creating more awareness on environmental ethics can help encourage species preservation. “Courses in ethics for students, and training programs for ecologists and biodiversity managers” all could create environmental awareness and prevent violations of ethics in research and management (Minteer & Collins, 2005, p. 336). One final way in which one can conserve endangered species is through federal agency investments and protection enacted by the federal government. “Ecologists have proposed biological corridors, biosphere reserves, ecosystem management, and ecoregional planning as approaches to integrate biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development at increasingly larger spatial scales” (Ishwaran & Erdelen, 2006, p.179).

One example of a federal mandated conservation zone is the Northwest Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, the largest marine protected area in the world. The monument is essential to the preservation of underwater communities and overfished regions. Only researchers working in the area are permitted to fish, no corals may be removed, and the Department of Homeland Security will enforce restrictions on vessels passing through the waters via satellite imaging. The monument will serve as a home to an estimated seven thousand species, most of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world (Raloff, 2006, p. 92). This environmental monument demonstrates the fact that it is possible to create a safe environment for endangered species, as well as maintaining some of the world’s largest ecosystems.

Captive breeding programs

Main article: Captive breeding

Captive breeding is the process of breeding rare or endangered species in human controlled environments with restricted settings, such as wildlife preserves, zoos and other conservation facilities.

This technique has been used with great success for many species for some time, with probably the oldest known such instances of captive mating being attributed to menageries of European and Asian rulers, a case in point being the Pere David's Deer. However, captive breeding techniques are usually difficult to implement for highly mobile species like some migratory birds (eg. cranes) and fishes (eg. Hilsa). Additionally, if the captive breeding population is too small, inbreeding may occur due to a reduced gene pool; this may lead to the population lacking immunity to diseases.

Legal private farming for profit

Whereas poaching causes substantial reductions in endangered animal populations, legal private farming for profit has the opposite effect. Legal private farming has caused substantial increases in the populations of both the southern black rhinoceros and the southern white rhinoceros. Dr Richard Emslie, a scientific officer at the IUCN, said of such programs, "Effective law enforcement has become much easier now that the animals are largely privately owned... We have been able to bring local communities into the conservation programmes. There are increasingly strong economic incentives attached to looking after rhinos rather than simply poaching: from eco-tourism or selling them on for a profit. So many owners are keeping them secure. The private sector has been key to helping our work. " [10]

Gallery

The endangered Island Fox

The endangered Sea Otter

American Bison skull heap. There were as few as 750 bison in 1890 from economic-driven overhunting.

Immature California Condor

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander (photo courtesy of Don Roberson)

An asian arowana

Iberian Lynx, Europe's most endangered mammal

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Sundarbans tiger project. Tiger extinction information is found in the website's section on tigers.
  2. ^ IUCN Red-list statistics (2006)
  3. ^ Courchamp, Franck; Elena Angulo, Philippe Rivalan, Richard J. Hall, Laetitia Signoret, Leigh Bull, Yves Meinard. "Rarity Value and Species Extinction: The Anthropogenic Allee Effect". PLoS Biology. http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0040415. Retrieved on 2006-12-19. 
  4. ^ Dharmananda, Subhuti. "Endangered Species issues affecting turtles and tortoises used in Chinese medicine.". Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon. http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0040415. Retrieved on 2006-12-19. 
  5. ^ [|Bailey, Ronald] (2003-12-31). "Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up" (html). Reasononline. Reason Magazine. http://www.reason.com/news/show/34933.html. Retrieved on 2006-12-23. 
  6. ^ "USFWS Threatened and Endangered Species System (TESS)". U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service. http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/DelistingReport.do. Retrieved on 2007-08-06. 
  7. ^ Success Stories for Endangered Species Act
  8. ^ Minteer & Collins, 2005, p. 332
  9. ^ Ishwaran & Erdelen, 2006, p. 179
  10. ^ He's black, and he's back! Private enterprise saves southern Africa's rhino from extinction, The Independent, June 17, 2008

Glenn, C. R. 2006. "Earth's Endangered Creatures" (Online). Accessed 9/30/2008 at http://earthsendangered.com.

Ishwaran, N., & Erdelen, W. (2005, May). Biodiversity Futures. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 3(4), 179. Retrieved September 23, 2008, from http://jstor.org/stable/3868449

Kotiaho, J. S., Kaitala, V., Komonen, A., Päivinen, J. P., & Ehrlich, P. R. (2005, February 8). Predicting the Risk of Extinction from Shared Ecological Characteristics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(6), 1963-1967. Retrieved September 24, 2008 from JSTOR database: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3374545

Minteer, B. A., & Collins, J. P. (2005, August). Why we need an “Ecological Ethics”. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 3(6), 332-337. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from JSTOR database: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3868567

Raloff, J. (2006, August 5). Preserving Paradise. Science News, 170(6), 92. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from JSTOR database: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4017054

Wilcove, D. S., & Master L. L. (2008, October). How Many Endangered Species are there in the United States? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 3(8), 414-420. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from JSTOR database: http://www.jstor.org/stable/ 3868674 There are more then 60,000 animals in the world

External links


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