Species Endangerment

  

By: Kyle Shultz, Cecilia Moog, Kevin Sakagami, Justin Yu, Yeiro De La Cruz

What's the problem?

• Species endangerment or rather endangered species are organisms that face imminent extinction (extinction is the complete annhilation of all members of that particular species or taxons/subspecies). That is a huge disruption in an ecosystem's energy flow and these organisms have essential roles  in recycling energy that keeps all living things alive.  

• The problem is that in the last 100 years, the number of endangered species has grown by more than double of what it was. This is from the causes of species endangerment, and the causes have done more damage recently (last 40 years)

• Not only have the amount of species edangered have increased in the last 100 years, so have the amount of extinct species (about 50 have gone extinct over past 100 years). Some speculate that those numbers will increase dramatically if the destruction of animal habitats are not stopped.

              

Terms Regarding Endangered Species

• Vulnerable Species: These are species that are capable of being endangered. This could be based upon location or human impact

• Threatened Species: These are species that are being threatened by something, whether it be human impact or natural impact, that could possibly endanger the population

• Endangered Species: These are species that are fighting for survival, because the population of these species are low and if it continues to stay this way, they could become extinct

• Extinct Species: These species are species that are no longer believed to be on earth. This could be due to humans destroying their habitat or a natural disaster.

 Mental Note: Extinct in the Wild comes before extinct and mans that the only living individuals of that species are in captivity and could hopefully move back down on the species endangerment scale. 

Causes of the problem

 There are many factors that lead to the endangerment of species such as: •  (*emphasis on*) Habitat destruction ~ Human Expansion• Introduction of exotic species into environments they aren't

indigenous to causing competition and extreme predation• Overexploitation of resources• Disease (ex. fungal disease that is putting 1/3 of the world's

amphibian species on the endangered species list)• Pollution• Poaching/Whaling of endangered species

The Extent of This Problem

 Polar Bears Captured between 1960-1998                                                                                                                                                  As of currently, the polar bear population is around       As shown in the graph, the number of       20,000-25,000 but when humans hunt around 4% of    Indiana bats are severely decreasing in the polar bear bear population combined with other      many caves and are basically at almost 0 factors such as global warming, polar bears will           in many of the caves as of 2007. eventually become extinct 

Left: Red Wolf Cub (though not pure bred red wolf because pure red wolves are extinct) Right: Minke Whale (targeted for whaling quota)

How it affects our environment, human health, and economy• Species endangerment is a result of harmful actions towards

the environment.  In addition, if species become extinct, gaps in the food chain are created, causing more species to become endangered. 

• Human health is greatly effected by species endangerment.  For example if all the snakes in the world were to die out there would be an increase in bugs and pests that carry diseases such as malaria.  

• Another effect on our economy is that the natural beauty in our world would diminish and would be lost forever if not restored. Our world shapes us and we shape our world. Shouldn't we restore our world for so that our future generations will be able to live good lives.

 As children, small creatures endlessly fascinate us; as adults, we can protect them so as to inspire future children.

- Les E. Watling

Data on Impact of Species Endangerment

• Here we see how bad species endangerment has gotten over the past 30-40 years alone

What we can do to prevent species endangerment• Stop the useage of pesticides ~ use biological methods such

as natural predation and use of crop rotation.•  Stop deforestation•  Reduce the destruction of natural habitats.• Donate money to charities such as the World Wildlife Fund• Cut down on overexploitation• Stop putting exotic organisms in ecosystems/environments

that are not native to them.• Recycle our resources (if possible)

         We're not saying you have to be hardcore environmentalists like the people in Whale Wars (Animal Planet) who beat the **** out of the Japanese Whaling fleet but do what you can to save the very planet you live on.  

Questions (sorry!) 1. About how many species have gone extinct over the past 100 years?2.  The amount of endangered species (decreased, stayed the same, doubled, tripled) over the past 100 years.3. Briefly describe the terms related to species endangerment (Vulnerable - Extinct Species).4. Of  all the reasons/factors for species endangerment, which do we (our group) think is more critical? Which do you think is the most critical and why?5. The picture shown on slide 7 of the wolf cub was a pure-bred red wolf, right? (No, we will not go back to the slide for you to see the answer) 6. The graph on the data section says that ____% of mammals were endangered in 2002.7. What effect does putting exotic/foreign species in another ecosystem have on the ecosystem's species?8. What effect extinction and loss of a certain species might have on the organisms it preys on? And the organisms that prey on it?     Modern technologyOwes ecologyAn apology.~Alan M. Eddison1. How as technology affected our environment (in your opinion)?

Bibliography• The official website for the Polar Bear Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival

Commission. IUCN, Red List, Norwegien Polar Institute, 11 May 2010. google Search. Web. 24 Oct. 2010.  http://pbsg.npolar.no/en/issues/threats/over-harvest.html

• National Park Service Inventory & Monitoring . Ed. Brenda Wells. National Park Service U.S. Department of the Int, 25 Aug. 2008. google Search. Web. 24 Oct. 2010. <http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/cupn/monitor/cavebats/cavebats.cfm>.

• "World Wildlife Fund | WWF Gift Center." World Wildlife Fund - Wildlife Conservation, Endangered Species Conservation. Web. 24 Oct. 2010. http://www.worldwildlife.org/ogc/?sc=AWY1100WCGP6&searchen=google&gclid=CMXj4cT966QCFeFM5QodvBbU2A.  

•  Protect your waters. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Coas, n.d. google Search. Web. 24 Oct. 2010. <http://www.protectyourwaters.net/impacts.php>.

• Kurpis, Lauren. EndangeredSpecie.com. Ed. Lauren Kurpis. N.p., 2002, Google Search. Web. 24 Oct. 2010. <http://www.endangeredspecie.com/

• Enviornmental Quotes: http://www.quotegarden.com/environment.html