Threatened+Species

// 1. Definitions and Key Terms //


 * A threatened specie  is defined as: "any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range".
 * An endangered species is a native species that faces a significant risk of extinction in the near future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.
 * An extinct species  is the end of an organism or a group of organisma (species). The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point.
 * Climate change  is a long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature.
 * When a species passes from being threatened to being endangered, according to the Endangered Species Act , it becomes illegal to kill, harm, or take the species out of its habitat.

// 2. Species most affected by climate change //

Global climate change is making the protection of endangered species increasingly challenging. Climate change not only affects plants and animals directly, through changes in temperature and precipitation for instance, but can worsen the impact on endangered species of traditional threats, such as invasive species, wildfires and diseases. There are about 400 animals in the United States who are listed as endangered, and about 130 that are threatened. Worldwide, there are about 500 animals listed as endangered and 39 listed as threatened.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Global climate change has a noteworthy impact on terrestrial animals, especially:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Orangutan, Gorilla, Chimpanzee, Polar Bears, Giant Panda, Red Wolf, African/Asian Elephants, Cheetah, Lion, Red Panda, and the Galapagos Giant Turtoise.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Climate variability and change affects birdlife and animals in a number of ways; birds lay eggs earlier in the year than usual, plants bloom earlier and mammals are come out of hibernation sooner. Distribution of animals is also affected; with many species moving closer to the poles as a response to the rise in global temperatures. Birds are migrating and arriving at their nesting grounds earlier, and the nesting grounds that they are moving to are not as far away as they used to be and in some countries the birds don’t even leave anymore, as the climate is suitable all year round.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">A sea level rise of only 50cm could cause sea turtles to lose their nesting beaches - over 30% of Caribbean beaches are used by turtles during the nesting season and would be affected. The already endangered Mediterranean Monk Seals need beaches upon which to raise their pups and a rise in sea level could there could damage shallow coastal areas used annually by whales and dolphins which need shallow, gentle waters in order to rear there small calves.


 * __<span style="color: #ca0cca; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 200%;">Why <span style="color: #ca0cca; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">are species endangered? __**


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">1. Habitat Destruction **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Apart from climate change, another major factor affecting animals is the fact that human beings are invading the animals' habitats. Roads, parking lots, fields for grazing cattle, and yards all take up lots of space that once was a home for animals. People have learned that "wetlands" are sanctuaries for hundreds of species of insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. About half of the animals listed as either threatened or endangered depend on wetlands. Destroying wetlands pushes many animals towards extinction. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Most of the animal species in the world live in the rain forests. By destroying the rain forests around the equator, we are endangering and exterminating countless numbers of plant and animal species. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Pesticides, trash, oil spills, vehicle exhaust, and factory waste kill millions of animals. Pollution oozes into the earth, seeps into the rivers, and collects in the oceans, killing countless animals everywhere it goes.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">2. Introduction of Foreign Species **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">As a result of the introduction of 80 startlings (a specie of bird) from Europe into New York City's Central Park on March 6, 1890 by Eugene Scheiffer, the great crested flycatchers, red bellied woodpeckers, Northern flickers, tree swallows, and purple martins all have lost their homes. The pigs, sheep, horses, goats, cows, cats, dogs, rabbits, rats, mice, wasps, trout, goldfish, and other species that humans have introduced to Australia have endangered many of the native animals, and have even pushed some into extinction. Introduced species have endangered animals all over the world!



<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The consequence of the combination of habitat destruction and of the introduction of foreign species aggravated by the increasing climate change (in part due to human exploitation) is reducing the variety of species currently living in the world. There is already evidence that animals are being affected by climate change and glowbal warming in both their distribution and behavior. And unless greenhouse gas emissions are severely reduced, climate change could cause a quarter of land animals, and birdlife to become extinct.

// 3. Human efforts to preserve threatened species //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Wildlife protection organizations are doing their best in protecting the endangered and treatened species of the world like the [|World Wildlife Fund]Organization who saves threatened species to
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Influence and support the survival of other species
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Keep habitats and landscapes thriving
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Envision, create, test and deliver solutions that account for the reality of a crowded planet

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Since climate change poses a fundamental threat to the vulnerable places, species, and people, the wildlife protection organizations seek to protect. To adequately address this crisis organizations must urgently reduce carbon pollution and prepare for the consequences of global warming that the world is already experiencing.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Endangered Species Coalition is the first organization to have dedicated one hundred percent to protecting the United States’ endangered species. As a guardian of the Endangered Species Act, the safety net for our nation’s wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction, the coalition represents the millions of Americans dedicated to strong endangered species protections. <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: justify;">Endangered Species Coalition staff works on local, state and regional campaigns to protect endangered species’ habitat near key communities in their states. As experts in wildlife and habitat in their own states, the staff is working to protect Canadian lynx, gray wolves, spotted owl, Pacific salmon and many more endangered species. ==<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> ==

// 4. Scientists involved in the study of threatened species //

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 15px;">In our own life span, an estimated 40,000 species annually become extinct. To help carry a trace of this vanishing life, a group of scientists is trying to launch a worldwide DNA bank for endangered animals.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 15px;">Scientists presently must rely on studying fossils and other bits of data to comprehend extinct animals, such as dinosaurs and woolly mammoths. A DNA bank would provide the prospect generation with a more complete and accurate record of now-threatened species, such as black rhinos, giant pandas and tigers.

<span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 15px;">Oliver Ryder <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 15px;">, a geneticist at the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species, Zoological Society of San Diego, and leading instigator of the suggestion, said, “The future will discover how to make use of the information obtainable from DNA banks that we cannot currently visualize.”

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 15px;">If DNA models are gathered prior to the decline of a species’ population to dangerous levels, <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 15px;">Oliver Ryder <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 15px;"> and his colleagues furthermore believe that preserved cell lines for endangered animals could be reproduced. Such nuclear substitution cloning might be able to bring back past levels of genetic miscellany within a species.

<span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 15px;">Oliver Ryder <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 15px;">expects that information from the samples could be accessible to scientists and conservationists throughout the world by the use of a single Web site, possibly run by a international organization.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Another scientist called <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">James Lovelock <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">argues that, as a result of global warming, "billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable" by the end of the 21st century. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">According to <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">James Lovelock <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">, by 2040, the world population of more than six billion will have been culled by floods, drought and famine. Indeed "the people of Southern Europe, as well as South-East Asia, will be fighting their way into countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain". This is surely to affect animals directly as well!

//<span style="background-color: #ece9e9; color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">5. Current Event Description //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The video below shows the sad reality of the endangered lowland Gorilla's life and near future. The approaching reality that the zoos of the future will have to become urban sanctuaries because 1/2 of world's wildlife species may become extinct!

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References: Marine Threatened Species, [|Wikipedia diagram], [|Climate impact on animals], [|Species threatened], [|Effect on birds], [|other bird site], [|How Climate Change impacts animals], [|Endangered Species Coalition], [|How climate change impacts animals], [|Oliver Ryder],