Mo Yi Lam
BISC_102
Professor Kiefer
Nov 30th, 2010
Final Paper (Summary of Endangered Species Act)
Endangered Species Act “What is an endangered species?” is a question that needs to be addressed before getting known of endangered species act. An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct due to three possible reasons: it is few in numbers. According to the theory of Exponential Growth Curve proposed by Malthus, a lower population tends to have a lower reproductive rate and thus a higher risk of going extinct; or a species is threatened by changing environment. A species which fail to adapt a new environment by means such as mutation which creates new “fitting” genes tends to have a higher risk of going extinct; or it is affected predation parameters. In a community, defined as a group of interacting organisms sharing a populated environment, the population of a species is highly dependent on one another. If the predator population of a species is high, this can limit its reproductive rate and thus the population growth. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an organization which “helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges.” (IUCN “About IUCN”)According to one of its reports, the endangered species is 40% of all organisms, which has reached the stage of alarm that endangered species conservation policies must be implemented in no time. IUCN is a leading endangered species act organization which established the Red List of Threatened Species. It is the world’s most comprehensive measurement of the extinction levels of most species, dividing them into a of three categories: Extinct, Threatened and At lower risk. The first category consists of two conservation statuses: “Extinct” species refers to that which the last remaining member has died, or presumed beyond reasonable doubt to have died; “Extinct in the wild” species refers to a population which captive individuals survive, but there is no free-living, natural population. In the second category, there are three conservation statuses which are “critically endangered”, “endangered” and “vulnerable”. They differ in the risk of extinction; “critically endangered” species has the highest risk of extinction, followed by the remaining two. The third category consists of 3 conservation statuses: “conservation dependent”, “near threatened” and “least concern”, which differ from one another in terms of their needs to be included into conservation programs. By understanding the risk of going extinct of each species according to the Red List, international organizations and state governments can develop appropriate conservation program corresponding to each of them. Different graph and statistics about the situation of endangered species in the world have been collected:

Graph 1(IUCN Red List, 2007) Graph 1 above shows the percentage species in several groups which are list in the second category: either critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable. As shown in the graph, amphibians have the relatively largest proportion (around 30%) in second category compared to other animal kingdoms, followed by mammals (around 20%) and birds (around 12.5%).

Graph 2(Prof. Kiefer, 2010) Graph 2 is different from the first one in that it calculates the number but not the proportion. Mammals (around 400) have the highest number of endangered species, followed by birds (around 300) and amphibians (around 150). Graph 3 reveals the proportion of different species which are in the second and third category. Sturgeons have the largest proportion of the second category and wrasses and birds have the largest of the third category. On the other hand, Wrasses have the smallest proportion of the second category and sturgeons have the smallest of the third category.

Graph 3(IUCN Red List, 2010)

Graph 4(From Prof. Kiefer, 2010) Graph 4 above shows the nature of lands all over the world, which can be categorized into predominantly natural (green), partially disturbed (yellow) and human dominated (red). The red areas spread over Asia, Europe and North American, which shows the greatest threat to endangered species and thus a greater need of conservation program. On the other hand, according to a statistic conducted by IUCN on the number of threatened species (critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable) in each country, Ecuador has the largest number of endangered species (2255), followed by other nations such as China, India and United States (around 1000). Thus, endangered species will be concentrated in these regions. Although different endangered species act were activated long time ago, there is still a controversial about the importance of endangered species act. The opposed side argues that conservation efforts are proved to be costly and time-consuming. Resources can be instead invested into economic, technological and societal developments which help improve quality of lives. On the other hand, the arguments of supportive side are subjective but still widely-accepted and influential. “Biodiversity conservation is currently principle goal for resource management of 11.5% of the world surface.”(Iswaran and Erdelen 176) “Diversity of life and living system is a necessary condition for human development” too.” (Ishwaran and Erdelen 179) The importance of species conservation can be divided into 4 contents: The first one is art and entertainment. For instance, the introduction of gray wolf in Yellowstone creates an attraction spot for entertainment. It also facilitates the economic development and increase biodiversity (Wilcove and Master 418). The second is useful products for human well-being. Pacific yew is an example of by-product of species. It acts as the source of taxol which is used to cure cancer (Wilcove and Master 418-419). The third is indication of the welfare of environment and ecosystem. For instance, the deterioration of bald eagle can indicate the spread of DDT and other persistent pesticides into ecosystem which places a serious threat to human (Wilcove and Master 418). The forth is scientific research use. Scrub mint is an example which is investigated for its value of being a natural insecticide.

Graph 5(The Nature Conservancy, 2004) In order to implement effective conservation policies, we should know the main causes of endangered species. Otherwise, capital which can be invested into economic development would be wasted. The Nature Conservancy and NatureServe attribute the endangered species to five causes. As shown in Graph 5, the largest cause is habitat degradation, which affects more than 80% of species. It refers to the processes in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present such as construction of buildings, timber harvesting and creation of farmlands. The second largest one, giving out negative effects to about 50% of species, is invasive species, including plants and animals introduced to natural ecosystem by human. Kudzu vine is an example planted by human for art purpose. It usually competes with other species for food resources which creates an unbalance of ecosystem and thus extinction of other species. The third one is pollution which occupied more than 20% in the graph. It can be taken in many forms including water, air and land pollution. Examples include chemical pollutants released by industrial factories and manure left by the farmers into rivers. Graph 6 is a series of data collecting population growth, fossil fuel (represent pollution) and humanity’s ecological footprint. As it shows, a greater population growth usually results in a greater humanity ecological footprint and thus a greater emission from fossil fuels. The externalities created by use of resources always lead to an indirect effect to the survival of species by the means of destroying ecological environment. The forth largest cause is overexploitation which occupied about 20% in Graph 5. Overexploitation means harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Blue-fin tuna is a well-known example of endangered species which is mainly caused by the overexploitation of it for commercial benefits. The last cause is disease, affecting less than 5% of species. Some of the diseases are introduced by human by the use of chemical such as DDT. DDT was once widely used as an insecticide but excess of it was released into water which then concentrated up to bald eagles through the food chain known as biological magnification. Bald eagle population decreased dramatically and had reached the need of conservation policies. To conclude, the main causes are all largely related to the human’s activities. Species are categorized into 3 categories in the Red List so the government can take appropriate actions to each species. Dusky seaside sparrow is a well-known example of the “extinct” species in the first category. The demise began in 1940 and the last members died in about 1987. The main causes of extinction can be attributed to disease and habitat loss. DDT was sprayed on the marshes for the control of mosquitoes. It concentrated up along food chain to dusky seaside sparrow and decreased its population from 2,000 to 600. Habitat loss, on the other hand, is mainly due to the flooding of Merritt Island for reducing mosquitoes and drained marshes for constructing highway. Conservation policies were too late to save these sparrows from now and further conservation investment would be wasted. An example of threaten species is African elephant. It is listed in “vulnerable” conservation status and the population decrease was mainly due to overexploitation by poachers for its ivory tusks. Since there is still a chance to conserve these elephants, IUCN is trying hard to preserve them by the means of investment and advertisement. Lastly, a well-known example of least concerned species is gray wolf, abundant in Eurasia and North America. Although conservation policies are not necessary according to its conservation status, its range has been reduced due to widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment and the resulting human-wolf encounters. Graph 6(Ecologic Design Lab 2008) State governments and worldwide non-government organizations (NGOs) have been cooperated together to conserve endangered species by different laws and projects such as Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992. However, sometimes they also provide funding to corresponding organizations to persuade them to stop exploiting endangered species. On the other hand, governments and NGOs provide ecological knowledge to the public about endangered species through advertisement and education. The public is more knowledgeable about which species to pay attention to and what can be done to save them. For instance, suggested by World Wildlife Funding (WWF), we should start from the simplest things like reducing use of useful materials and recycling because it will create fewer negative burdens to the environment. If citizens, governments and NGOs are willing to cooperate to save endangered species, we will be definitely benefited from the biodiversity in the future.

Reference: 1. International Union for Conservation of Nature, “About IUCN”, July 30, 2010<http://www.iucn.org/about/> 2. Ishwaran, Natarajan and Erdelen, Walter, “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment” Vol. 3 No.4, Ecological Society of America, 2005 3. Wilcove D. S., and Master L. L., “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment” Vol. 3 No. 8, Ecology and the Environment, 2008 4. H2g2bob, “Percentage of species listed on the IUCN Red List”, Wikipedia, 2010<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IUCN_Red_List_2007.svg> 5. Kiefer, Dale, comp., “Number of endangered species”, Los Angeles, 2010 6. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, “Summary Statistics”, IUCN, 2010<http://www.iucnredlist.org/about/summary-statistics> 7. Kiefer, Dale, comp., “Predominantly natural, partially disturbed, human dominated”, Los Angeles, 2010 8. The Nature Conservancy and NatureServe, “The Status of Biodiversity in the United States”, Precious Heritage, 2004 9. Ecologic Design Lab, comp., “Source: UN”, 2008 <http://ecologicdesignlab.com/services/create/> 10. WoWwY689, “Help Save Endangered Animals”, World Wildlife Funding, May 11, 2008<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSDZulIO_ps&feature=related>