Problems with Wildlife
It is blatantly obvious that the level of wildlife has been decreasing amazingly over the years. Species of animals and plants are rapidly becoming endangered or even extinct.
There are many factors that are making this problem a reality. Habitat destruction, hunting, and pollution are the three major factors that are destroying our wildlife.
The destruction of habitat is the greatest of all threats to wildlife, whether they’re rich tropical forests, mangroves, swamps, coral reefs, or your own local grassland or woods. Most wild plants and animals are so closely adapted to their own particular habitat that they become rare or endangered if it is damaged or removed. Globally, the most worrying losses of habitat are the tropical rain forests, because these contain, by far, the largest number of species. Although large areas of tropical rain forests still survive, they are still being lost at an alarming rate, areas the size of small countries each year. Coral reefs, another rich habitat, are threatened by fishing and shell collection. The first comprehensive map of our planet’s reefs indicates that they collectively cover just about 110,000 square miles, an area about as big as Nevada. That’s about half the size that scientists had estimated (Discover, Dec2001, Vol. 22 issue 12, p20, p2/6, 1c). The coral reefs are dramatically decreasing. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the center for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland in Australia, studies the environmental conditions that reefs need to survive. Rishing temperatures, he says, are one of the most
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Insidious threats. If temperature increases seen in the past decade continue, Hoegh-Guldberg predicts that in fifty years coral reefs as we know them will be gone. Short of drastically decreasing oru emissions of greenhouse gases, the best thing we can do for the reefs is reduce the amount of pollution they’re exposed to, he says: “If you expose a person to a heat wave, you don’t want t...
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...-growing business.
The Everglades, a huge swamp at the tip of Florida, is a famous wildlife reserve. It is fed by fresh water seeping through it from a lake and river. The water forms pools, marshes, and meandering channels-it is one of the greatest wildlife sites in the world. The heart of this ecosystem is protected by the Everglades National Park, a Biosphere
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Reserve and World Heritage Site covering 1.4 million acres. The Everglades is home to rare species such as the Wood stork, Everglades kite, reddish egret, and the endangered Florida Panther, a local version of the puma.
There are many factors in the downfall of wildlife, some cannot be repaired, but others can be worked on and fixed. Wildlife extinction is a problem that has been ignored for many years, it has to be paid attention to and start to get solved.
...restore natural lands. The federal, state, and local governments are joining forces to bring these pristine natural lands back to their original splendor and beauty. "The question of why we should protect the Everglades has now evolved into how we should restore the Everglades," according to Suzie Unger. "Everglades National Park is the largest remaining sub-tropical wilderness in the continental United States and has extensive fresh and saltwater areas, open Everglades prairies, and mangrove forests. Abundant wildlife includes rare and colorful birds, and this is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles exist side by side. The park is 1,506,539 acres (606,688 hectares) in size. It is a World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Significance," according to the following website: http://nps.gov/ever
The people of Florida think so, and that is why they named it their state animal. This panther is one of about thirty subspecies of Felis concolor. The subspecies, coryi, is one of the rarest and most endangered animals in the world. Panthers, also called pumas, cougars, screamers, and mountain lions, once ranged from the southern end of South America into Canada. In appearance, the Florida panther is similar to other panthers.
A. Global Warming kills Great Barrier Reef coral. http://www.usyd.edu.au/su/exterel/news/981008News/8.10.coral.html. Coral bleaching http://www.uvi.edu/coral.reefer/bleach.htm Coral Reef http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=050FE000 Coral reefs in peril worldwide. http://usatoday.com/life/science/environ/lse011.htm Coral'stress' worsening, expert says.
Within the state of Florida there are dozens of individualized, non-profit organizations making an effort to help the local wildlife. The local land and marine wildlife includes birds, geckos, frogs, snakes, panthers, manatees, sea turtles, fishes, sharks, corals, lizards and many, many more. Florida State is located on the Southeastern tip of the United States providing a unique opportunity for conservation of salt-water animals. While there are animal conservation efforts taking place all over the world, this essay will focus on two animal species that humans are specifically trying to save in Florida State. The two main animal species of focus are manatees and sea turtles.
Levin, T. (1998, June/July). Listening to wildlife in the Everglades. National Wildlife, 36, 20- 31. McCally, D. (1999). The Everglades: An Environmental History. Gainsville: University Press of Florida.
As a great deal is being done to help endangered wildlife as well as animals in general, there is still a considerable amount of improvements to make. “The exterminating of predators by governments or individuals is wrong-headed, extremely selfish, cruel and the very worst example of wildlife management. It is failed management. In today's backwards and upside-down world, our wildlife needs our protection, not extermination” (Pitt). We need to instill the good values of animals in today’s society so that we may work towards better maintenance of the future lives of these animals. Instead of mounting an animal’s head on the wall as a prize and reducing wildlife population, we should be proud of the variety of species we have on earth and leave them to live free.
Due to global warming, the frequency of coral bleaching is predicted to continue to increase (Baker et al., 2008; Spillman et al., 2013) Numerous reefs across the world experience coral bleaching rather than just one reef. Coral bleaching can have a devastating effect on a region 's tourism industry and can cause not only coral mortality, but the death of other animals that rely on coral to survive. Higher ocean temperatures not only result in more frequent coral bleaching, but can increase other threats to the survival of coral. Furthermore, repeated bleaching increases the chance of fatal bleaching events (Baker et al., 2008). Moreover, despite coral surviving higher sea temperatures in the past, there are many other factors contributing to coral bleaching. Coral recovery depends on how often bleaching events occur and global warming increases this and worsens conditions for reproduction which is essential to survival. Coral bleaching due to global warming is more concerning than many people
A big change that has occurred in the oceans all over the world is the Coral Reefs are dying and are predicted to be dead by the end of the century due to the rising acidity of the oceans caused by many different threats to marine ecosystems. Coral reefs cover less than 0.2% of our oceans but they contain 25% of the world’s marine fish species according to Endangered: Biodiversity on the brink, 2010: pg.45). If this is the case that means by the time the end of the century comes around we will have lost close to 25% of the worlds marine ecosystems.
The National Wildlife Federation lists an endangered animals as a genus that may be eradicated by leaving an insufficient quantity to reproduce or obliterating the species in it entirety ("Endangered animals act," para 1). In the United States alone there are 70 mammals that are recorded as endangered; however the foreign number exceeds 250 (US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2014). The extinction process could be correlated to a natural route; however extinction may also transpire due to environmental differences. Climate variations producing even slight changes in characteristics may have an extreme consequence on an endangered species. Loss of habitation also impacts species causing them to becoming imperiled. On occasion ailments are distributed from domestic animal; due to the loss of habitation wild animals to come in contact with infected animals. For example Siberian tigers have development distemper from domestic dogs; and this has triggered the tigers to lose their fear of humans. This proves to be hazardous when the tigers approach villages and roads and are killed; furthermore the disease may cost the tigers their lives. (Dell’Amore, 2013). Many of the vanishing animals are poached for varies elements that may be utilized in traditional treatment. The African rhino is on species that is being significantly exploited for their horns; in Vietnam and China the horn is thought to treat everything from hangovers to cancer (O’Neill, 2013). In addition, the introduction of an exotic species afflicts endangered animals, and the overexploitation of animals initiates noteworthy reductions in populations. If an animal is not able to adapt to changing variations it could be disastrous to a species.
"Wildlife Assistance/Nuisance Wildlife." Wildlife Assistance/Nuisance Wildlife. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Humans are destructive. Not a lot of us think about how what we do affects the world around us. We almost act like we are the only ones on this planet. We go around polluting and destroying our world with no regard for our actions. The things that live out in the wild are paying the price for it. Every day that passes there is another animal or plant that is placed on an endangered list. This is happening at an alarming rate. Because of man’s desire to expand and conquer their surroundings, there are animals and plants that are on the brink of extinction that will not be around for our kids and future generations to enjoy if something is not done about it now. This problem has been going on for hundreds of years. There are animals and plants that can only been seen in paintings or early photography. It is because of our early ancestors that we have this problem today and we have to do more to prevent more animals and plants from disappearing forever.
According to World WildLife Fund, many ecosystems around the world are being destroyed, eliminating many plant and animal species that inhabit them (“Pollution”). 2. And acid rain, which is created when water in the atmosphere mixes with chemicals, ravage through rain forests and can even kill fish. 3.
Biodiversity loss can lead to extinction, and hurt human life. It is our responsibility to take care of the environment. We bring in machines that harm the environment and destroy animal life. We need to limit ourselves on how much land and resources we consume. There are major issues that are causing species to become extinct and hurt our way of life and other animals do to the change in food chain.
Everyone’s all seen those wildlife shows on tv. The shows on National Geographic and such, showing animals in beautiful environments, everything lush and growing and nothing at all wrong that could threaten these creatures and places. But, have anyone seen the other side? The side where all these beautiful creatures and plants starve, are decimated by predators that have never been there before, and sometime even become poisoned by their very own homes and habitats? Of course no one has. That doesn’t mean that its not happening. It is happening, and its happening everywhere. And guess who is to blame? People. Society. Humans as a race pollute the environment, hunt animals simply for their parts, fish way more than humans will ever need just for the sake of money, introduce new species to new places for our own gain, and even purposefully destroy entire regions just for human expansion. And its starting to take its toll. While it is true that nature is constantly in flux and certain species come and go, humans are causing more species to disappear in the past few hundred years then nature has ever caused since the age of the dinosaurs, and therefore it is up to humans to repair the damage caused, be it cleaning the environment and habitats of these creatures, or taking more direct action to protect and preserve the species that are on the brink of extinction.
In conclusion, I would like to say that before writing this paper, I had no idea how important coral reefs were to the earth. I have learned a lot and I think that if more people were informed about the positive capabilities of them, humans wouldn't be so careless about them.