Endangered Species Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Dependi ng on the status of their populations in the wild, animals and plants may be designated as rare, threatened, and under extreme conditions, endangered. The 1800s in the United States were a period when a number of large, highly visible mammals, such as the plains bison Bison bison and the eastern subspecies of the elk Cervus elaphus canadensis were being hunted. The disappearance of such important prey increased the threat to the wolf and mountain lion, both predators dependant on ungulates (hoofed mammals) for food. In 1966, the United States Congress passed the Endangered Species Preservation Act, which provided limited means of protection to native animals. The Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 took a wider view and provided protection to species facing extinction globally.

Finally, The Endangered Species Act (ESA) signed by President Richard Nixon into law in 1973, defined the term endangered species “as any species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range other than a species of the Class Insecta determined by the Secretary (of the Interior) to constitute a pest whose protection under the provisions of this Act would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to man.” Section 4 of the ESA lists the various factors that help determine endangered status for a particular plant or animal. It requires the development and implementation of species recovery plans, as well as the designation of critical habitat for listed species. The ESA went even further, bringing together the provisions of Acts passed in the 1960s, resulting in the application of the same laws to U.S. and non-U.S. species. All classes of invertebrates became eligible for protection and all federal agencies were required to start conservation programs for endangered species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) share responsibility for administering the ESA. The USFWS generally manages land and freshwater species while the NMFS manages marine and anadromous species (fish born in fresh water that migrate to the ocean and return to spawn in fresh water). Of the 1,869 species currently listed under the ESA, 1,300 are found partly or completely within United States territory. At present, NMFS has management responsibility for 62 species, including the endangered blue whale Balaenoptera musculus and the marine leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea. The NMFS protects marine species from accidental capture in fisheries, habitat destruction, pollution, overharvest, and harmful contact with vessels by implementing time and area closures, modifications to fishing equipment, safe sea turtle handling practices, minimizing the effects of intense underwater sound, and minimizing strikes from ships by providing information on whale locations to ships at sea.

Endangerment by Development

In historical terms, as nations developed, increasing numbers of species have become endangered. Only the nature of the threat has changed, from excessive harvest of species to habitat change and destruction largely due to expanding agriculture and urbanization. The ESA is one of the most comprehensive wildlife statues implemented anywhere; its provisions spark direct conflict with industrial and commercial interests. Its impact is such that in the United States, the National Mining Association, an organization of the mining industry that employed over 250,000 workers in 2004, accused the USFWS of using the ESA to delay or stop mining projects altogether and called on the U.S. Congress to step in and “reform” the ESA.

The loss of biodiversity is a global concern. There are indications that current species extinction rates are 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural or “background” rate, higher than at any time for the past 65 million years. Populations of many species have collapsed to very low levels. Captive breeding programs are being run for endangered species such as the Himalayan musk deer Moschus chrysogaster spp. in China and India, and the USFWS’s breeding program for the Black-footed ferret Mustela nigripes in Colorado and Utah. Other endangered animals are strictly protected in wildlife reserves, such as elephants, tigers, and the wild buffalo Bubalus bubalis.

The Red List

In 1963, international concern at the loss of species and habitats led to the idea of a global list of threatened species. This compilation of species of special interest has come to be known as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, or the Red List for short. Also known as the World Conservation Union, the IUCN was founded in 1948. IUCN’s Species Survival Commission (SSC) made up of about 7,000 volunteer scientists and species experts, is one of the six commissions that guide the work of the IUCN. The SSC’s members are constituted into Specialist Groups, such as the African Elephant Specialist Group, that provide the scientific information necessary to assess the status of an animal or plant species. This evaluation determines whether a species is listed in the Red List, and if so, at what level of threat.

The Red List is the world’s comprehensive and authoritative inventory of the best-known conservation status of plants and animals. It provides an index of the threat status of two groups that have been completely assessed-birds and amphibians. The Red List is also considered an indicator of the results of wildlife conservation programs. It assists in monitoring global trends of biodiversity and helps focus public attention on species that require immediate protection.

Species in the Red List of 2004 are assigned to one of nine categories of conservation status-Extinct; Extinct in the Wild (such as the Hawaiian Crow Corvus hawaiiensis, last seen in the wild in 2002); Critically Endangered (882 species); Endangered (1,779 species); Vulnerable (2,337 species); Near Threatened; Least Concern; Data Deficient; and Not Evaluated. The categories Critically Endangered, Endangered, and Vulnerable are for species at risk of extinction. The updated 2006 Red List contains 16,119 animals and plants facing the risk of extinction. Between 1996 and 2004, the number of species at risk of extinction in most groups of animals and plants has increased, indicating that manmade causes of environmental change continue to outpace conservation efforts. Particularly, the dramatic jump in threatened amphibians points both to better knowledge of their conservation status, and an increase in threats to wetlands. The degree of threat and risk of extinction is calculated in an intensive data-driven process depending on five biological criteria: rate of species decline, population size, area of geographic distribution, extent to which population and distribution are fragmented. The small size of many islands makes their animals and plants particularly prone to extinction, as in Hawaii where half of the approximately 100 land bird species were lost as a result of the activities of the native Polynesian islanders.

The causes of species endangerment are numerous. Human populations in species-rich developing countries continue to increase, with about 40 percent of the people living in abject poverty and depending on forests for firewood, timber, bamboo, and for cattle fodder. Dry and moist forests are being logged, then overgrazed, and finally completely denuded contributing to the loss of precious topsoil. The draining of wetlands, water diversion and pollution, the introduction of exotics, hunting, and unsustainable use of resources are other common factors. More recently, human migration and displacement, armed conflict, and global warming have emerged as direct and indirect factors contributing to species endangerment.

Bibliography:

Walton Beacham, Frank V. Castronova, and Bill Freedman, , Beacham’s Guide to International Endangered Species (Beacham Publishing Corporation, 2000);
Tim W. Clark, Richard P. Reading and Alice L. Clarke, , Endangered Species Recovery: Finding the Lessons, Improving the Process (Island Press, 1994);
Brian Czech and Paul R. Krausman, The Endangered Species Act: History, Conservation Biology and Public Policy (The John Hopkins University Press,2001);
Ben Davies, Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia (Ten Speed Press, 2005);
Otto H. Frankel and Michael E. Soule, Conservation and Evolution (Cambridge University Press, 1981);
Lakshman D. Guruswamy and Jeffrey A. McNeely, , Protection of Global Biodiversity: Converging Strategies (Duke University Press, 1998);
Joel T. Heinen and Ganga R. Singh, A Census and Some Management Implications for Wild Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in Nepal (Biological Conservation 101(3): 391-394, 2001);
IUCN (World Conservation Union), IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: A Global Species Assessment, Jonathan E.M. Baillie, Craig Hilton-Taylor, and Simon N. Stuart, eds., (Gland, Switzerland, 2004);
Jeffrey A. McNeely, Kenton R. Miller, Walter V. Reid, Russell A. Mittermeier, and Timothy B. Werner, Conserving the World’s Biological Diversity (IUCN, Gland Switzerland; WRI, CI, WWF-U.S., and the World Bank, 1990);
Richard B. Primack, A Primer of Conservation Biology (Sinauer Associates, 2004).