Throughout the past several decades, the black footed ferret (mustela nigripes) remains at the near top of the endangered species list. These small mammals are one of the most endangered species in North America. The black footed ferret has little visibility compared to other endangered species. With a population of only 370, the black footed ferret’s chances of survival appear slim. Total elimination of the black footed ferret would negatively impact other species in its ecosystem.
Amur Leopard is critically endangered because it’s hunted illegally for its beautiful fur. Their population is estimated to be about sixty individuals, they live about ten to fifteen years in the wild and twenty in captivity. People are trying to save the animal from extinction by monitoring populations, protecting their habitats, and trying to stop poaching and trade. Javan rhinos are critically endangered because of genetic diversity, natural disasters, invasive spaces, and diseases. They are only found in one protected area and there are about sixty of them left.
Dioxin most certainly affected the communities of Vietnam because it is highly poisonous. Agent Orange affected Vietnam for three generations (Black, 2015) post-environmental exposure. Farmers were unknowingly returning to barren fatal fields of corn, cassava, peanuts and rice patties (2015) in hopes of resuming harvest. For Monsanto to still be linked to such generational turmoil and accounted for so millions of deaths, they clearly have failed at fulfilling their moral obligation to
Ecological impacts, Genetic pollution, agricultural damage are some negative effects caused by invasive species. Biological species invasions altered ecological systems in multiple ways. “Worldwide an estimated 80% of endangered species could suffer losses due to competition with or predation by invasive species (panda.org, 2014) ”Some native species may be put at a disadvantage to survive while other species survival is enhanced in physical power due to the change in environment. Genetic pollution might also occur, naturally evolved region specific wild species can be threatened with extinction through the process of genetic pollution. Including, uncontrolled hybridization, introgression (gene flow from one species into the gene pool of another, by the repeated backcrossing of a hybrid with one of its parent species) and genetic aggression and take over, which leads to the replacement of local species as a result in an enchanted advantage of foreign species.
In the Kalimantan region, 1,400 square kilometres of orangutan habitat were cleared between 2009 and 2011. Furthermore, approximately 17,000-30,000 square kilometres of forest in Kalimantan has been lost in total due to the extraction practices that occurred between 1990 and 2005 (Greenpeace 2013). Studies of regional biodiversity have shown that approximately only 15% of species recorded in primary forest areas were found in areas with oil palm plantations- this difference demonstrates the harmful way in which plantations affect ecosystems (Fitzherbert et al. 2008). The rainforest destruction this causes contributes to climate change and tropical biodiversity loss, as explained in the Greenpeace report, License to
The number of animals is from 2 – 50 million. Yes, there’s less animals than there are of humans, but what if both animals and humans were to decrease, you may ask? Well, the Circle of Life is one thing, but to have both animals and humans die at the exact time is dangerously crucial. It’s dangerously crucial because there are 16,306 endangered species threatened with extinction, according to www.endangeredearth.com. If those endangered species die out, in addition to our everyday North American Species of birds and mammals, then we have no chance of survival due to BPA still existing.
However, Kolbert fails on a much greater magnitude than just this small section of the finale. Throughout the entirety of the book and especially in the conclusion, the author describes an unavoidable sixth anthropogenic based extinction. These theme of inevitability is present in nearly every chapter. The frogs cannot be released back into the wild (14), the mastodons, penguins, and ammonites are gone, we are reversing “geologic history not only in reverse but at warp speed” (124), coral and trees have already died, and we have hunted the megafauna into extinction. Like mentioned in the previous paragraph, Kolbert was perhaps being diligent and did not want to dilute her work with hypothetical models and predictions that mapped the future; in this case, one would expect the author to bring up the benefits of environmentally friendly
The extinction rate is one hundred to a thousand times greater than it was before the human species evolved on the planet. Currently, Earth is in its sixth mass extinction, with one sixth of all species going extinct. If all of these species go extinct, humans will also be greatly harmed (Worrall). Humans can not continue without the great interconnected biodiversity we currently have, because all animals on the planet are inter-connected in their habits and way of life. If we begin to destroy minor food chains from small-scale animals going extinct, greater and greater
Because of this demand, their living space needs to be expanded in order to grow food and provide homes for people. Hence, deforestation increases. This is another effect of overpopulation that impacts the worsening of the environment [2]. For example decreased forest size increases the amount of carbon in the environment. More specifically, deforestation affects the wildlife and results in biodiversity loss and species extinction [1].
Drivers of Deforestation The drivers of deforestation are complex and interconnected. Underlying, or indirect, drivers constitute an interplay between demographic, economic,technological, policy and institutional and cultural and/or socio-political changes. In reality deforestationis caused by a combination of direct and indirect drivers, making the fundamental causes hardto pinpoint (Murdiyarso, 2008).