Thursday, May 1, 2014

DESIGN PROJECT AND ITS RELATION TO ECOLOGY AND ENDANGERED SPECIES


     Endangered species and human influence on animals -is the topic, which became really interesting to me lately. After reading a lot of articles and books about endangered species, I decided to look at different ways how humans can help animals to adapt to urban environment. 

    Nowadays there are different ways, how people trying to help animals to adapt in unusual environment for animals, such as cities. One and most popular way is to crate buildings with green roofs and walls. Green roofs became really popular in Europe, especially in countries like Germany and UK. Green roofs is a great tool to recreate natural environment for small animals like birds and different kinds of insects. A British study of London rooftops found a large collection of spiders, beetles, wasps, ant and bees, 10% of which were designated as rare by the UK agency Natural England.

    I think that integration of green roofs in our design is really powerful tool, which we can use in order to help animals to adapt to urban environment. In my design project I had an ability and desire to integrate Green roofs and walls into my design. Library, which I was designing, is located in China town, NYC. This is really polluted and busy place, which has a lack of gardens and parks. Green roofs in my design could help birds and insects to find new home, which would be similar to natural environment. 

    Green walls are located inside huge opening which is right in the middle of the building. this opening runs from the basement to the top roof. Trees would grow from the basement and smaller plats would be located on the green walls, which becomes green roof at the top. Because of open roof the garden doesn't require extra watering. Plants can be watered by rain showers, like in natural environment. 

    Moreover the glass panels around the garden helps natural sun light to go through building walls and supply enough light for plants and habitats. 







I think that it is really important to think about animals and how we can help them to adapt in our environment. I managed to create new home for animals, who live in the city, in my project.  I am really happy that today people start to think about animals more and trying to find the way to help them to adapt in our environment. 



Thursday, April 17, 2014

RUSSIA'S ENDANGERED SPECIES

Dozens of animal and plant species become extinct every day. One of the ways to preserve biodiversity is to protect rare and endangered plants and animals.<br />Photo: The Amur (Siberian) tiger is the world’s largest member of the cat family and the only one living in areas of heavy snowfall. There are slightly more than 450 Amur tigers in Russia.<br />
    Dozens of animal and plant species become extinct every day. One of the ways to preserve biodiversity is to protect rare and endangered plants and animals.
    Photo: The Amur (Siberian) tiger is the world’s largest member of the cat family and the only one living in areas of heavy snowfall. There are slightly more than 450 Amur tigers in Russia.
The Amur leopard, also known as the Manchurian leopard, is  one of the most rare and beautiful cats in the world and the only one living so far north. Human activity has dramatically reduced its habitat, making the Amur leopard critically endangered. There are no more than 40 of these cats in the world, 30 in the Primorye Territory in Russia’s Far East.

   The Amur leopard, also known as the Manchurian leopard, is one of the most rare and beautiful cats in the world and the only one living so far north. Human activity has dramatically reduced its habitat, making the Amur leopard critically endangered. There are no more than 40 of these cats in the world, 30 in the Primorye Territory in Russia’s Far East.


The Siberian crane, also known as the Siberian white crane or the snow crane, has been added to Russia’s Red Data Book and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a “critically endangered species.” There were as few as three Siberian crane couples in the Oka Reserve in the late 1990s.<br />Photo: Siberian cranes hatched in the Oka Reserve.<br />
    The Siberian crane, also known as the Siberian white crane or the snow crane, has been added to Russia’s Red Data Book and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a “critically endangered species.” There were as few as three Siberian crane couples in the Oka Reserve in the late 1990s.
Photo: Siberian cranes hatched in the Oka Reserve.

The snow leopard, said to embody the spirit of the mountains, is a moderately large cat living high in the mountains of 13 countries, including Russia. Elusive by nature, there are few studies of this leopard and its exact numbers are unknown.

    The snow leopard, said to embody the spirit of the mountains, is a moderately large cat living high in the mountains of 13 countries, including Russia. Elusive by nature, there are few studies of this leopard and its exact numbers are unknown.


The gray whale lives in the Sea of Okhotsk off Sakhalin in Russia’s Far East. The oldest baleen whale, it feeds on small sea animals including amphipods in northern waters during five months in the summer and on its reserves the rest of the year. There are about 100 gray whales in the world

    The gray whale lives in the Sea of Okhotsk off Sakhalin in Russia’s Far East. The oldest baleen whale, it feeds on small sea animals including amphipods in northern waters during five months in the summer and on its reserves the rest of the year. There are about 100 gray whales in the world


The white stork lives only in the Amur River region and is considered a symbol of the area. It dislikes humans and never nests near them. There are about 400 white stork couples in the world.

    The white stork lives only in the Amur River region and is considered a symbol of the area. It dislikes humans and never nests near them. There are about 400 white stork couples in the world.

The European bison, Europe’s only large bull that has survived centuries of hunting, has always symbolized the power of nature and of the earth. It is listed as “vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

    The European bison, Europe’s only large bull that has survived centuries of hunting, has always symbolized the power of nature and of the earth. It is listed as “vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Leopards once lived in the Caucasus Mountains, but the population was gradually wiped out by humans. Now the only animals living in their historical homeland are in the Caucasian Reserve, and occasionally wander from northern Iran. Photo: A female leopard at Sochi National Park.

    Leopards once lived in the Caucasus Mountains, but the population was gradually wiped out by humans. Now the only animals living in their historical homeland are in the Caucasian Reserve, and occasionally wander from northern Iran. Photo: A female leopard at Sochi National Park.
The saiga antelope, recognizable by an extremely unusual, oversized and flexible nose structure, migrates in the thousands, driven by its own criteria. Their numbers grow or decrease for no apparent reason, and so the current goal is to establish rational rules for hunting them.<br /><br /><br />

    The saiga antelope, recognizable by an extremely unusual, oversized and flexible nose structure, migrates in the thousands, driven by its own criteria. Their numbers grow or decrease for no apparent reason, and so the current goal is to establish rational rules for hunting them.

A long time ago, the Russian Desman could be found all over Europe, but its habitat has dwindled to a few countries, including Russia. The semi-aquatic animal lives in burrows built into the banks of ponds and slow moving streams; they often become entangled in nets and die.<br /> <br />

    A long time ago, the Russian Desman could be found all over Europe, but its habitat has dwindled to a few countries, including Russia. The semi-aquatic animal lives in burrows built into the banks of ponds and slow moving streams; they often become entangled in nets and die.

The polar bear is the world’s largest predator. Although up to three meters long and weighing as much as 800 kilogrammes, the polar bear is a very good swimmer who can swim dozens of kilometers into the high seas. Its habitat in Russia is between Franz Joseph Land and Chukotka.

   The polar bear is the world’s largest predator. Although up to three meters long and weighing as much as 800 kilogrammes, the polar bear is a very good swimmer who can swim dozens of kilometers into the high seas. Its habitat in Russia is between Franz Joseph Land and Chukotka.

Monday, April 14, 2014

SAMOO UNVEILS PLANS FOR NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES IN SOUTH KOREA


    Samoo Architects & Engineers just unveiled their master plan for South Korea’s new National Research Center for Endangered Species in Yeongyang-gun. The 16,030 square meter center is will serve as a hub for scientific research about the country’s rare plant and animal species. The master plan was conceived as a system of buildings and infrastructure that follows the area's topography.



     Located in one of Korea’s cleanest mountainous areas, the complex will hopefully create a balance between architecture and nature, while providing optimal working conditions for its users. It was conceived as a tripartite structure with Core, Refresh and Research zones. The Core Zone has three radially positioned facilities that house a visitors’ area, offices and a quarantine space. This is the most public and accessible area of the complex.


    The Refresh Zone comprises guest houses and housing capacity for researchers. The most interesting part-the Research Zone-is based on a modular system of ‘Cell Units,’ which are a combination of indoor/outdoor breeding farms and research facilities. Thanks to the modular configuration, the complex can be expanded or transformed according to its needs.






HOW CAN WE HELP ANIMALS ADAPT TO URBAN ENVIRONMENT USING ARCHITECTURE




   It plans to develop parks that include suitable green areas with small trees and shrubs, or to turn rooftops green by incorporating gravel or soil. In addition to attracting animals, such sites offer other advantages that will help to attract both developers and planners, Snep insists. “We've also seen that if more attention is paid to the green design of business sites, people like it and employees are happier.”

   These principles are not confined solely to business sites. Green roofs have been catching on quickly in several European cities, particularly in Germany and the UK. A British study of London rooftops (Grant, 2006) found a large collection of spiders, beetles, wasps, ants and bees, 10% of which were designated as rare by the UK agency Natural England (Sheffield, UK).
Retail sedum roof, Canary Wharf, London, UK. Reproduced with permission from Kadas, 2006.
   Green roofs and other green spaces form ecological networks within cities that provide birds and insects, as well as some plants, with a flexible ecosystem on a relatively modest total surface area. Green buildings can also be important outside cities by mitigating the impact of barriers, such as roads and railways, to the movement of animals and plants. “We have come up with a kind of building across a highway, as an ecological corridor across a road,” said Snep, whose team is now working with architects to design green buildings.


   However, such work needs a detailed understanding of how animals and plants respond to artificial environments. Although this is a relatively young field of research, it is making significant progress and is moving beyond mere description to prediction, according to John Marzluff, a professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington (Seattle, USA). Bird species are the most studied in an effort to gain insight into the abilities of animals to adapt to urban habitats. Urban settings have different selective pressures from those on wild habitats: they impose close proximity to humans as well as to rivals, predators and prey, but can also reduce threats and create benign conditions including ready access to food, and insulation or shelter from seasonal variations and adverse weather conditions. The role of the city as a moderator of natural forces is reflected, for example, in the discovery that the abundance of birds in urban environments does not decrease as one moves northwards in Europe, as it does in wild environments.

CAPTURING ENDANGERED SPECIES


    I think this is an incredible video, that everyone should watch. This 15 minute talk really makes you think about how much we harm animals and how the number of endangered species grows every single day.
     As Joel Sartore I really asking to watch this video and think how many animals each person kill every day by living life which we got used to, without even knowing it. 


ENDANGERED SEA CULTURES




Amazing video about endangered species:



ACTIONS TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES


    Numerous international agreements deal with issues related to the conservation and protection of endangered species. The scientific effort to more accurately catalog species and better define the scope of biodiversity has dramatically raised the number of recorded threatened and endangered species in recent years. In spite of these shocking statistics of endangerment, there is a good deal of evidence that national and international efforts to preserve endangered species have been very successful. Some of the most important international conventions are ratified by most of the world's nations, and have had significant power to enforce agreements in the decades since their introduction: (1) the 1971 Convention on Wetlands of International Importance that promotes wise use of wetlands and encourages designation of important wetlands as ecological reserves; (2) the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage that designates of high-profile World Heritage Sites for protection of their natural and cultural values; (3) the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); (4) the 1979 Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals of 1979 that deals with species that regularly cross national boundaries or that occur in international waters; and (5) the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD was presented by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992, and has been regularly updated since then; the most recent amendments to the CBD occurred at the 2002 United Nations Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. The CBD is a central element of another international program called the Global Biodiversity Strategy, a joint effort by the IUCN, UNEP, and the World Resources Institute to study and conserve biodiversity.

    Many countries, like the United States, have also undertaken their own actions to catalog and protect endangered species and other elements of biodiversity. Many of these national conservation efforts, like the ESA, have and international component that deals with species migration and trade across borders, and that mesh with the international conventions. Another important aspect of endangered species protection is collaboration with non-governmental organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy and the Ocean Conservancy. The United States, for example, has a network of conservation data centers (CDCs) that gather and compile information on the occurrence and abundance of biological species and ecosystems that was designed and established by The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy has also facilitated development of CDCs in Canada and in Central and South America.

    International, national and non-governmental agencies attempting to conserve biodiversity and protect endangered species choose whether to pursue single-species approaches that focus on particular species, or to develop more comprehensive strategies that focus on larger ecosystems. Because there are so many endangered species, many of which have not even been discovered, the single-species approach has obvious limitations. While the method works well for charismatic, large animals like giant pandas, grizzly bears, whales, and whooping cranes, this approach fails to protect most endangered species. More effective strategies focus on entire natural ecosystems that include numerous, hidden elements of threatened biodiversity. Furthermore, more conservation policies are attempting to consider the social, political, and economic ramifications of a species or environmental protection plan. As in the case of the northern spotted owl, policies that require large economic sacrifices and offer no immediate local benefits often alienate the very humans that could best help to preserve an endangered species or ecosystem. Modern environmental protection strategies attempt to present alternatives that permit sustainable human productivity.


HUMAN CAUSES OF EXTINCTION AND ENDAGEMENT

Species endangered by unsustainable hunting.

    Overhunting and overfishing have threatened animal species since aboriginal Europeans, Australians, and Americans developed effective hunting technology thousands of years ago. The dodo, passenger pigeon, great auk, and Steller's sea cow were hunted to extinction. Unstainable hunting and fishing continue to endanger numerous animals worldwide. In the United States, many of the animals considered national symbols—bald eagle, grizzly bear, timber wolf, American Bison, bighorn sheep, Gulf of Mexico sea turtles—have been threatened by overhunting. (American bison, incidentally, are no longer considered threatened, but they exist mainly in managed herds, and have never repopulated their wide range across the American and Canadian west.)

    The eskimo curlew is a large sandpiper that was abundant in North America in the nineteenth century. The birds were relentlessly hunted by market gunners during their migration from the prairies and coasts of Canada and the United States to their wintering grounds on the pampas and coasts of South America. The eskimo curlew became very rare by the end of the nineteenth century. The last observation of a curlew nest was in 1866, and the last "collection" of birds was in 1922. There have been a few reliable sightings of individuals in the Canadian Artic and small migrating flocks in Texas since then, but sightings are so rare that the species' classification changes to extinct between each one.

    The Guadalupe fur seal was abundant along the coast of western Mexico in the nineteenth century, numbering as many as 200,000 individuals. This marine mammal was hunted for its valuable fur and almost became extinct in the 1920s. Fortunately, a colony of 14 seals, including pups, was discovered off Baja California on Guadalupe Island in 1950. Guadalupe Island was declared a pinnaped sanctuary in 1975; the species now numbers more than 1,000 animals, and has begun to spread throughout its former range. The Juan Fernandez fur seal of Chile had a similar history. More than three million individuals were killed for their pelts between 1797 and 1804, when the species was declared extinct. The Juan Fernandez seal was rediscovered in 1965; and its population presently numbers several thousand individuals.

    Commercial whaling for meat and oil since the eighteenth century has threatened most of the world's baleen whale species, and several toothed whales, with extinction. (Baleen whales feed by straining microorganisms from seawater.) Faced with severe depletion of whale stock, 14 whaling nations formed the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1946. While the IWC was somewhat successful in restoring whale populations, it lacks authority to enforce hunting bans, and non-member
The endangered golden frog, Panama. JLM Visuals. Reproduced by permission.

    Nations often threaten to disregard IWC directives. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 banned all whaling in United States waters, the CITES treaty protects all whale species, and many whales have been protected by the ESA. In spite of these measures, only a few whale species have recovered to their pre-whaling populations, and a number of species remain on the brink of extinction. Seven baleen whales, and four toothed whales, remain on the ESA list and the IUCN Red List today: northern and southern right whales, bowhead whale, blue whale, fin whale, sei whale, humpback whale, sperm whale, vaquita, baiji, and Indus susu. The California gray whale is a rare success story. This species was twice hunted near extinction, but it has recovered its pre-whaling population of about 21,000 individuals. The gray whale was removed from the endangered species list in 1993.


Large predators and trophies.

    Many large predators are killed because they compete with human hunters for wild game like deer and elk, because they prey on domestic animals like sheep, or sometimes because they threaten humans. Consequently, almost all large predators whose former range has been developed by humans have become extirpated or endangered. The list of endangered large predators in the United States includes most of the species that formerly occupied the top of the food chain, and that regulated populations of smaller animals and fishes: grizzly bear, black bear, gray wolf, red wolf, San Joaquin kit fox, jaguar, lynx, cougar, mountain lion, Florida panther, bald eagle, northern falcon, American alligator, and American crocodile.

    A number of generally harmless species are, sadly, endangered because of their threatening appearance or reputation, including several types of bats, condors, non-poisonous snakes, amphibians, and lizards. Internationally, many endangered species face extinction because of their very scarcity. Though CITES agreements attempt to halt trade of rare animals and animal products, trophy hunters, collectors of rare pets, and traders of luxury animal products continue to threaten numerous species. International demand for products like elephant tusk ivory, rhino horn, aquarium fish, bear and cat skins, pet tropical birds, reptile leather, and tortoise shells have taken a toll on many of the earth's most extraordinary animals.


Endangerment caused by introduced species.

    In many places, vulnerable native species have been decimated by non-native species imported by humans. Predators like domestic cats and dogs, herbivores like cattle and sheep, diseases, and broadly-feeding omnivores like pigs have killed, starved, and generally outcompeted native species after introduction. Some destructive species introductions, like the importation of mongooses to the Pacific islands to control snakes, are intentional, but most of the damage caused by exotic species and diseases is unintended.

    For example, the native birds of the Hawaiian archipelago are dominated by a family of about 25 species known as honeycreepers. Thirteen species of honeycreepers have been rendered extinct by introduced predators and habitat loss since Polynesians discovered the islands, and especially since European colonization. The surviving 12 species of honeycreepers are all endangered; they continue to face serious threats from introduced diseases, like avian malaria, to which they have no immunity.

    Deliberate introduction of the Nile perch caused terrible damage to the native fish population of Lake Victoria in eastern Africa. Fisheries managers stocked Lake Victoria, the world's second-largest lake, with Nile Perch in 1954. In the 1980s the perch became a major fishery resource and experienced a spectacular population increase that was fueled by predation on the lake's extremely diverse community of cichlid fishes. The collapse of the native fish community of Lake Victoria, which originally included more than 400 species, 90% of which only occurred in Lake Victoria, resulted in the extinction of about one-half of the earth's cichlid species. Today, most of the remaining cichlids are endangered, and many of those species exist only in captivity.

    Species living on islands are especially vulnerable to introduced predators. In one case, the accidental introduction of the predatory brown tree snake to the Pacific island of Guam in the late 1940s caused a severe decline of native birds. Prior to the introduction of the snake there were 11 native species of birds on Guam, most of which were abundant. By the mid-1980s seven of the native species were extinct or extirpated on Guam, and four more were critically endangered. The Guam rail, a flightless bird, is now extinct in the wild, although it survives in captivity and will hopefully be captive-bred and released to a nearby, snake-free island.


Endangerment caused by habitat destruction.

    Many species have become extinct or endangered as their natural habitat has been converted for human land-use purposes. The American ivory-billed woodpecker, for example, once lived in mature, bottomland hardwood forests and cypress swamps throughout the southeastern United States. These habitats were heavily logged and/or converted to agricultural land by the early 1900s. There have been no reliable sightings of the American ivory-billed woodpecker since the early 1960s, and it is probably extinct in North America. A related subspecies, the Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker, is also critically endangered because of habitat loss, as is the closely related imperial woodpecker of Mexico.

    The black-footed ferret was first discovered in the North American prairie in 1851. This small predator became endangered when the majority of its grassland habitat was converted to agricultural use. Farming in the American and Canadian plains also dramatically reduced the population of prairie dogs, the black-footed ferret's preferred food.

    Furbish's lousewort is an example of a botanical species endangered by habitat destruction. This herbaceous plant only occurs along a 143-mi (230-km) reach of the St. John River in Maine and New Brunswick. It was considered extinct until a botanist "re-discovered" it in Maine in 1976. At that time, a proposed hydroelectric reservoir threatened the entire habitat of Furbish's lousewort. In the end, the controversial dam was not built, but the lousewort remains threatened by any loss of its habitat.

    The northern spotted owl lives in the old-growth conifer forests of North America's Pacific Northwest. These small owls require large areas of uncut forest to breed, and became endangered when their habitat was greatly reduced and fragmented by heavy logging. The Environmental Species Act prescribes, and legally requires, preservation of large areas of extremely valuable timber land to protect the northern spotted owl. Upon receiving its status as an endangered species, the otherwise unremarkable owl became a symbol of the conflict between environmental preservation and commercial enterprise. For environmentalists, endangered classification of northern spotted owl brought the possibility of protecting the forests from all exploitation; for timber industry workers, the decision represented the government's choice to preserve a small bird instead of their livelihood. Small stores on the back roads of the Pacific Northwest expressed their resentment for the ESA by advertising such specialties as "spotted owl barbeque" and activities as "spotted owl hunts."

    Like the northern spotted owl, the endangered redcockaded woodpecker of the southeastern United States requires old-growth pine forest to survive. The woodpecker excavates nest cavities in heart-rotted trees, and younger plantation trees do not meet its needs. Suitable forests have been greatly diminished by conversion to agriculture, logging, and residential development. Natural disturbance like hurricanes and wildfires threaten the remaining diminished and fragmented populations of red-cockaded woodpeckers. The ESA has attempted to protect the red-cockaded woodpecker by establishing ecological reserves and non-harvested buffers around known nesting colonies outside the reserves. Also like the spotted owl, the red-cockaded woodpecker is maligned by farmers, loggers, and developers for its role in their economic restriction.

    Tropical deforestation presents represents the single greatest threat to endangered species today, though destruction of coastal and shallow marine habitats associated with anthropogenic global warming may present an even larger challenges in the future. While there was little net change (-2%) in the total forest cover of North America between the 1960s and the 1980s, the global area of forested land decreased by 17% during that period. Conversion of species-rich tropical forests in Central America, South America, Africa, and the Pacific islands to unforested agricultural land accounts for most of the decline. (Ironically, tropical soils have such poor structure and nutrient content that they generally cannot support profitable agriculture once the forest biomass has been removed.)


    In the mid-1980s, tropical rainforests were being cleared at a rate of 15–20 million acres (6–8 million hectares) per year, or about 6–8% of the total equatorial forest area. The causes of tropical deforestation include conversion to subsistence and market agriculture, logging, and harvesting of fuelwood. All of these activities represent enormous threats to the multitude of endangered species native to tropical countries. Recent efforts to slow the rate of deforestation have included international financial and scientific aid to help poorer tropical nations protect important ecosystems, and to adopt new, more sustainable, methods of profitable resource use.

AMERICA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AND ENDANGERED SPECIES




This is the link to Hall of Biodiversity, wich talks about different extinct species and give examples of  different endangered species:
 http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/biodiversity-and-environmental-halls/hall-of-biodiversity

Friday, April 4, 2014

TOP 10 U.S. ENDANGERED SPECIES THREATENED BY HUMAN POPULATION



Florida panther: The Florida panther once ranged throughout the southeastern United States, but now survives in a tiny area of South Florida representing just 5 percent of its former range. It was listed as an endangered species in 1967 because of habitat destruction and fragmentation through urban sprawl. Large numbers of panthers died as the expanding network of roads connecting Florida’s rapidly growing human population spread throughout its range. As of 2011, there are only 100 to 120 panthers left.
As Florida’s panther numbers plummeted, the state’s human population nearly doubled over the past 30 years. Recent development patterns pose extreme threats to panthers. As the Florida coasts approach full buildout and have become unaffordable to most people, development has moved inland to the same places panthers retreated to as safe havens decades ago.




Atlantic bluefin tuna: Marine fish provide 15 percent of all animal protein consumed by human beings. Fisheries management, however, has been outpaced by our population growth, causing global fisheries to collapse under the unsustainable pressure. A 2009 assessment found that 80 percent of global fish stocks are either overly and fully exploited or have collapsed. Though a catch reduction of 20-50 percent is needed to make global fisheries sustainable, the demand for fish is expected to increase by 35 million tons by 2030.

Of greatest concern is the western Atlantic bluefin tuna that spawns in the Gulf of Mexico and has declined by more than 80 percent since 1970 due to overharvesting. Prized as a sushi fish around the world, it has become more valuable as it has become rare. One fish in 2011 sold for $396,000. The large, warm-blooded bluefin tuna is a common, upscale sushi menu item and has been severely overfished. The Atlantic bluefin, like so many other ocean species, is threatened by humans’ ravenous appetites: Demand far exceeds sustainable fishing levels.


Loggerhead sea turtle:  More than half the world’s 7 billion people live within 150 miles of the coast, putting tremendous pressure on species trying to find space to live and reproduce among the crowds. Among them is the loggerhead sea turtle, which was listed as a federally threatened species in 1978 owing to destruction of its beach nesting habitat, harassment while nesting, overharvesting of its eggs, and bycatch death via commercial fishing gear.

Ninety-five percent of the U.S. breeding population of loggerheads nests in Florida, whose human population has doubled in the past 30 years. Thanks to careful management, the species’ population increased 24 percent from 1989 to 1998, but under intense pressure from development and recreational beach use, it declined dramatically thereafter, raising concerns it should be uplisted to “endangered” status. The population has increased in recent years, but is still highly vulnerable to nesting habitat destruction and disruption. Just 42,000 nesting attempts were made on Florida beaches in 2011.



Lange’s metalmark butterfly: Many endangered species are endemics, meaning they naturally have very small ranges and populations sizes, and usually require very particular soil, vegetation or climate conditions to survive. These species are especially vulnerable to human encroachment. Among them is Lange’s metalmark butterfly, protected as endangered in 1976.

Lange’s metalmark lives only in the Antioch Dunes at the southern end of San Francisco Bay. This unique ecosystem harbored many unique species, and many species have gone extinct as its dunes were hauled away in massive increments. After the 1906 fires, the city of San Francisco was rebuilt using brick-building material removed from the dunes.
Lange’s metalmark is one of the most endangered species in the United States. It declined from some 250,000 in historic times to just 154 in 1986. It improved a bit, but then declined to just 45 butterflies in 2006. Today the species is still on the knife edge of extinction, with about 150 individuals remaining.

  

Sandplain gerardia: As the human population has increased, it has consumed remote landscapes with houses and other structures. The natural disturbances caused by fire, flood, drought and storm patterns, are suppressed despite playing essential roles in ecosystem health. In conflict with the permanence of human development, these disturbances create an ever-changing blend of meadow and forest, young and mature vegetation patterns. By controlling, limiting and often stopping these essential natural processes, we have changed ecosystems across America, eliminating habitat for rare and endangered species that depend on open habitats.

In New England and the Atlantic coast, brush fires once thinned out dense pine forests and created a constantly moving mosaic of grasslands and prairies. The fires have been suppressed to protect human structures, causing open habitats to be permanently replaced by forest and brush. This nearly caused the extinction of the sandplain gerardia, a coastal plant in the snapdragon family.



Mississippi gopher frogThe Mississippi gopher frog lives in stump holes and burrows dug by other animals, laying its eggs in ponds so shallow they dry up for several months of the year, keeping them free of fish that would eat frog eggs. It was placed on the endangered species list in 2001.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to designate 7,015 acres as protected critical habitat for the Mississippi gopher frog in Mississippi and Louisiana in 2011.
Reduced to approximately 100 individuals in the wild, the Mississippi gopher frog exists in just three small ponds just outside the proposed “town” of Tradition, Mississippi. Planned development would have a devastating effect on this rare frog.





Polar bear: A polar bear is fit to swim 100 miles for food, in search of mates or, more recently, just some ice to stand on. With five inches of blubber keeping this enormous bear prepared for subzero temperatures, the largest member of the bear family has adapted to remarkable Arctic conditions. The fat stored in a polar bear carcass becomes essential food for other Arctic species, like the Arctic fox. However, the extreme impacts that human-caused climate change has had on the Arctic is pushing the polar bear closer to extinction.

The rapid growth of the global human population — which has doubled since 1970 — has fed a massive push for more and more polluting fossil fuels and dramatically altered the planet’s atmosphere. A 2009 study on the relationship between population growth and global warming found that the “carbon legacy” of just one person can produce 20 times more greenhouse gases than one person saves by carbon-reducing steps such as driving high-mileage, using energy-efficient applicants and light bulbs. Few animals are bearing more of the brunt of the global climate crisis than the polar bear.



White River spinedace: The human population of Nevada grew by 35 percent between 2000 and 2010, nearly four times faster than the national average. Las Vegas was one of the fastest-growing areas of the state. But the city is in the middle of a desert, so accommodating that explosive growth requires securing more water from nonlocal supplies.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority has proposed a massive project to pump billions of gallons of groundwater a year from eastern Nevada and western Utah through a 300-mile pipeline to supply rapidly growing urban areas like Las Vegas. The project will have a disastrous effect on dozens of imperiled species, including the White River spinedace, which was protected as an endangered species in 1985. One population of this rare fish was extirpated in 1991 because of irrigation diversion, and fewer than 50 fish remained in a single population in northeast Nevada.




Gulf sturgeon: Lake Lanier, a manmade reservoir in Georgia, feeds several important river systems in the southeastern United States and has been the site of a longstanding conflict between Georgia, Florida and Alabama over water-use rights.

The gulf sturgeon, an anadromous fish, was placed on the threatened species list in 1991. Its most imperiled populations occur in the Apalachicola River, fed by rivers from Lake Lanier. Gulf sturgeon lay eggs on the waterlines along the banks of rivers, and maintaining the right level of water is critical to their breeding success.
Population growth has strained the capacity of Lake Lanier to supply water to Atlanta and other urban areas. A 2009 study explicitly identified explosive population growth as the cause of the ensuing water war between Georgia, Alabama and Florida following a regionwide drought: “…Nineteenth-century droughts, which are perhaps better thought of as a single multi-decadal dry period, are well within the range of historical records and could potentially have had an agricultural effect but probably would not have had an effect on water availability for people given the generally wet climate of the Southwest and the much smaller population then as opposed to now.”




San Joaquin kit fox: The San Joaquin kit fox was relatively common until the 1930s, when people began to convert grasslands to farms, orchards and cities. By 1958, 50 percent of its habitat in California’s Central Valley had been lost, due to extensive land conversions for agriculture, intensive land uses and pesticides. By 1979, less than 7 percent of the San Joaquin Valley's original wildlands south of Stanislaus County remained untilled and undeveloped.
The kit fox was listed as endangered in 1967. Today there are fewer than 7,000 scattered among fragmented populations. The four counties with known San Joaquin kit foxes have grown by 60 percent — by another 1.5 million people — since 1983.
Besides habitat loss, the San Joaquin kit fox is threatened by pesticides and rodenticides associated with intensive agricultural use, industrial activities and residential areas in the Central Valley. Kit foxes’ small-mammal prey base has been significantly reduced by rodenticides, which not only kill life-sustaining prey but can also kill kit foxes when they build up in the foxes’ bodies. Kit foxes have adapted to get their water from the prey they eat making them even more dependent on their food source. They also often burrow in other animals’ dens, leaving them vulnerable to other human activities such as fumigants used to kill coyotes.



Taken from:http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/7_billion_and_counting/species.html

HUMANS RESPONSIBILITY

     
    Humans are now responsible for causing changes in the environment that hurt animals and plant species. We take up more space on Earth for our homes and cities. We pollute habitats. We illegally hunt and kill animals. We bring exotic species into habitats. All of these activities take resources and habitats away from plants and animals.

     Human activity often changes or destroys the habitats that plants and animals need to survive. Because human populations are growing so fast animals and plants are disappearing 1000 times faster than they have in the past 65 million years. Scientists estimate that in the 21st century 100 species will become extinct every day.




Taken from: http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep16b.htm