One Million Species Moving to Extinction

A United Nations-backed report released this month has gotten a lot of media attention for its findings. The headline "The One Million Species Moving to Extinction" is not hyperbole and that number catches the eye of even those people who might not normally read or listen to a report on endangered species.

Here, I write about things threatened and endangered and, thankfully, less often about species that go extinct, but the report suggests that I could write a lot about extinctions on the global scale.

Up to one million plant and animal species face extinction, many within decades, because of human activities, says the report, said to be the most comprehensive one yet on the state of global ecosystems.

About 75% of the planet’s land and 66% of its ocean areas have been “significantly altered” by people, driven in large part by the production of food, according to the IPBES report, which will be released in full later this year. Crop and livestock operations currently co-opt more than 33% of Earth’s land surface and 75% of its freshwater resources.

Without drastic action to conserve habitats, the rate of species extinctions—already tens to hundreds of times higher than the average across the last ten million years—will only increase, according to a United Nations-backed panel, the International Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

I was surprised that they found that agriculture is one of the biggest threats to Earth’s ecosystems, especially in ecosystems that people depend on for food, clean water and a stable climate. The loss of species and habitats is as much a danger to life on Earth as climate change.

Nearly 150 authors from 50 nations worked for three years to compile the report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services — a panel with 132 member nations, including the United States. Representatives of each member nation signed off on the findings.

Without “transformative changes” to the world’s economic, social and political systems to address this crisis, the IPBES panel projects that major biodiversity losses will continue to 2050 and beyond.

Besides agriculture, other serious threats to nature are the exploitation of plants and animals through harvesting, logging, hunting and fishing, climate change, pollution and the spread of invasive species.

The report also find inextricable links between biodiversity loss and climate change.

A 2 °C of warming above pre-industrial levels (which the world could breach in the next few decades unless greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced) would mean an estimated 5% of the planet’s species would be threatened with extinction by. Earth could lose 16% of its species if the average global temperature exceeds 4.3 °C. These losses would undermine global efforts to reduce poverty and hunger and promote more sustainable development.

The report is not without hope. The biodiversity crisis could be reversed with proactive environmental policies, the sustainable production of food and other resources and a concerted effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

SOURCES
scientificamerican.com/article/humans-are-driving-one-million-species-to-extinction/

washingtonpost.com...one-million-species-face-extinction-un-panel-says-humans-will-suffer-result/

Threatened, Endangered, Extinction and Extirpation

It is not unusual to hear the words “extinct” and “extinction” used. Sadly, they tell us that a species has vanished from the planet. Every little kid knows that - despite the ideas in the Jurassic Park movies - the dinosaurs are extinct.

It is a process, like climate change, that naturally occurs and has been happening long before humans were around. Since life began on our planet, it is estimated that about 99 percent of all species that ever lived have gone extinct. Most of that is due to natural causes.

Humankind played no role in most of these extinctions, but for the most recent extinctions, we do play a part.

The passenger pigeon, wild dromedary camel, the dodo bird, the Javan tiger, the dusky seaside sparrow and others on a long list can be blamed on our hunting, harvesting and destruction of habitat.

Less commonly heard is the term extirpate. Some species are not gone forever (extinct) but have disappeared from large areas of their original, natural habitat. We say that they been extirpated which means completely gone from a particular region—in other words,”locally extinct.”

For example, the American red wolf used to be common throughout much of the Southeastern U.S., but by 1980, Canis rufus had been extirpated everywhere but along a narrow strip of coastal eastern Texas. Of course, if that last small population of wolves had been killed off, the species would have gone extinct.

In New Jersey, cougars, bobcats and bald eagles all went through being threatened, endangered and extirpated.  But bobcats and bald eagles were reintroduced to the state and have made comebacks. (I don't expect  a similar program for cougars!)

Pine Barren tree fog via conservewildlifenj.org

Another state example is the Pine Barrens tree frog (Hyla andersonii) which for a time was a logo favorite for state conservation programs. It is a species of New World tree frog that has become endangered due to habitat loss.

At only 1–3 inches (25–76 mm) long, it is one of the smaller species of tree frogs.

The Pine Barrens tree frog is currently distributed in three disjunct areas in the eastern United States: the New Jersey Pine Barrens; the Sandhills of North and South Carolina; and the Florida panhandle and southern Alabama.

It is the state frog of North Carolina. As far as I can find, NJ has no state frog. I nominate this little green wonder.

In our Pine Barrens, it is most commonly found in brushy areas, often near peat bogs or shallow ponds and areas carpeted with thick moss. The adults are terrestrial, but tend to reside near water sources. Unlike most frogs, they are tolerant of low pH levels, and often lay eggs in the shallow, acidic ponds which are found in the Pinelands.

Hyla andersonii was listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service between 1977 and 1983, when additional populations were found in Florida.

Those red wolves were placed in a captive breeding program, and some have been released into one area of North Carolina, where they have since been breeding successfully. As with our Jersey eagles and bobcats, these programs have also brought back the California condor, the American bison to repopulate areas from which they were extirpated by humans.

Racing Extinction

Film director Louie Psihoyos has gone undercover again, this time to bring attention to an overlooked crisis threatening the planet. He is best known for his Oscar-winning documentary, The Cove, in which he covertly captured the slaughter of dolphins in Japan.

His new film, Racing Extinction will be aired on the Discovery Channel in 220 countries and territories in December.

He infiltrates black markets in China, revealing shocking images of thousands of dead animals for sale — manta rays, whale sharks, and piles of shark fins. the film's targets are overfishing, wildlife poaching, and a climate warmed by carbon emissions.



As frightening as the film's message is, Psihoyos says there's reason to be hopeful.

"When we started The Cove, they were killing 23,000 dolphins a year.Now they're killing less than 6,000. Change can happen, and it can happen almost overnight."

Read an interview with the director: www.mensjournal.com/magazine/louie-psihoyos-witness-to-extinction

Official film website: racingextinction.com

Extirpated Species of New Jersey

There are some species that are not threatened or endangered but that have been lost from New Jersey. This is known as extirpated, not extinct, because they survive in other parts of their historical range.

Although it is possible, it is unlikely that they will naturally return to NJ. They are still stories worth knowing because they help us understand how species disappear from a geographic area.

The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ  reports that five extirpated species are the cougar (Felis concolor), Eastern pearlshell (Margaritifera margaritifera), North Atlantic gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), Rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) and Trout-perch (Percopsis omiscomaycus).

Puma By Saguaro National Park - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, Link

The cougar is also known as the mountain lion or puma. It is one of the most wide-ranging big cats in the world, although it's hard to imagine it once roaming the Garden State.

Though the cougar once ranged from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and as far north as Canada and as far south as southern South America, today it does not live east of the Mississippi River except for a small population in southern Florida and a few stray individuals.

Cougars are carnivores who hunt alone and feed on small mammals such as rabbits and squirrels to larger animals such as deer and livestock such as sheep or young cattle.

They began to disappear in the late 1700’s partially due to habitat loss as towns and cities grew. Cougars need a large area for their hunting. Also, because of fear and to stop livestock losses, rewards were offered for cougar kills and the remaining animals were eliminated by the early 1800s.

Is Extinction Extinct?

This blog focuses on New Jersey species that are threatened or endangered. I don't spend much time on extinct species because - well, because they are extinct. They are gone forever.

Or are they gone forever?

The Carolina parakeet, Eskimo curlew, heath hen, Labrador duck and the passenger pigeon species have been lost forever from New Jersey and from the planet.

This month, National Geographic hosted TEDxDeExtinction, a daylong conference on species-revival science and ethics. They have also published a new cover story on de-extinction.

It sounds great that we might be able to bring back a species that we thought was gone. But the idea has opponents and supporters. Bringing back extinct species is a chance to redeem human sins, says one conservationist. An ecologist counters with a No, saying that "resurrection science" is a fantasy that harms species that need help now.


This video looks at how the red-breasted American passenger pigeon,
hunted to extinction a century ago, could be revived from museum specimens.


The arguments in favor of resurrecting species could be the same arguments for why we protect endangered species today: to preserve biodiversity, to restore diminished ecosystems, to advance the science of preventing extinctions, and to undo harm that humans have caused.

De-extinction is shocking in that we assumed extinction was irreversible and final. As with our own local success stories in NJ, such as the bald eagle, de-extinction gives us hope.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has its famous "Red List" of endangered species. It also has created more hopeful "Green Lists" of species that are stable and species that were in trouble and with protection are now doing better, as well as protected wild lands in the world that are well managed.

That heath hen(Tympanuchus cupido cupido) was once found in NJ and along the coastal plain from Massachusetts to Virginia in the south. They were very common during Colonial times, but unregulated hunting for food and sport caused this species to become extinct by 1932. It was hunted for both food and sport. By the time protection was considered, the population was limited to a small number on Martha’s Vineyard. Predation by goshawks and feral cats, disease introduced by domestic poultry, and inbreeding finally led to the species’ extinction.


MORE
Extinct species of New Jersey
The promise and pitfalls of resurrection ecology by Brian Switek
Resurrecting a forest, by Carl Zimmer
Will cloning ever save endangered animals? by Ferris Jabr

Not the Way We Want Species Removed from the Endangered Species List

Although the eastern cougar has been on the endangered species list since 1973, its existence has long been questioned. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) conducted a formal review of the available information and, in a report issued today, concludes the eastern cougar is extinct and recommends the subspecies be removed from the endangered species list.
“We recognize that many people have seen cougars in the wild within the historical range of the eastern cougar,” said the Service’s Northeast Region Chief of Endangered Species Martin Miller. “However, we believe those cougars are not the eastern cougar subspecies. We found no information to support the existence of the eastern cougar.”

SOURCE: Northeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Detecting When A Species Is Nearing Extinction

It doesn't take a scientist to know what the major causes of animal extinctions are today. Even youngsters learn in school that habitat loss or degradation, invasive species, hunting, and pollution are the major causes.

A much more difficult topic is trying to to predict when a population will become so endangered that it it is doomed to extinction if no action is taken.

Theoretical biologists study this "tipping point" and look for signals of a critical slowing down that indicates that a population is taking longer to bounce back from small declines.

A recent article in Science magazine, discusses a simple laboratory experiment that might help land managers know when they need to step up their conservation efforts.

Using tanks with established populations of water fleas,  the scientists mimicked environmental degradation in half the tanks by gradually cutting back on the blue-green algae they were fed and watching for that tipping point.

The study provides experimental evidence for generic early-warning signals that have been theoretically predicted, so that studies of populations might not require detailed knowledge of the species, but only a comparison group or baseline data on population trends.

Celebrate Endangered Species Day on May 21, 2010

Celebrate Endangered Species Day on May 21, 2010.

Endangered Species Day is an opportunity for people young and old to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions that people can take to help protect our nation’s disappearing wildlife and last remaining open space.

Protecting America’s wildlife and plants today is a legacy we leave to our children and grandchildren, so that all Americans can experience the rich variety of native species that help to define our nation.

Started by the United States Senate, Endangered Species Day is the third Friday in May.

Every year, thousands of people throughout the country celebrate Endangered Species Day at parks, wildlife refuges, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, libraries, schools and community centers.

You can participate in festivals, field trips, park tours, community clean-ups, film showings, classroom presentations, and many other fun and educational activities.

Find everything you need in the Endangered Species Day Toolkit, including a step-by-step guide to planning an Endangered Species Day event and materials to make your event fun and successful.

Teachers and other educators find resources in Endangered Species Day Educational Materials. This guide includes lesson plans, handouts and fact sheets.

The Sixth Great Extinction

Scientists still discover new species every year. Unfortunately, many new species are often immediately classified as threatened or endangered.

These discoveries help us understand the fragility of the the planet's biodiversity. 2010 is
the International Year of Biodiversity.

Last November, the IUCN Red List was updated and it was estimated that 36% of world's flora and fauna are threatened with extinction.

Some scientists call this the "Sixth Great Extinction." Every 20 minutes we lose an animal species and at that rate by the end of the century 50% of all living species will be gone.

The fifth extinction took place 65 million years ago when it is likely that asteroids smashed into the Earth, killing off the dinosaurs and many other species and opening the door for the rise of mammals.

There were 47,000 species surveyed by ICUN and about 17,000 are at serious risk.

21% of the world's mammal species
12% of birds
28% of reptiles
30% of amphibians
35% of invertebrates
37% of freshwater fish
70% of plants

• http://www.biologicaldiversity.org
• http://www.iucn.org
• A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals 
• Extinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago 
• Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity 
• What Is Biodiversity? 
• Conservation and Biodiversity

The Greatest Mass Extinction Since the Dinosaurs

What is the greatest mass extinction since the dinosaurs?

Population by population, species by species, amphibians are vanishing off the face of the Earth. Despite international alarm and a decade and a half of scientists scrambling for answers, the steady disappearance of amphibians continues.

Large scale die-offs of frogs around the world have prompted scientists to take desperate measures to try to save those frogs they can, even bathing frogs in Clorox solutions and keeping them in Tupperware boxes under carefully controlled conditions to prevent the spread of a deadly fungus.

Will it ever be safe to return the frogs back to the ecosystem from which they were taken?

One example here in New Jersey is the southern gray treefrog. This arboreal amphibian is equipped with large toe pads that enable it to cling to trees. These treefrogs can alter their coloration based on their activities or environmental conditions.

Because of its limited distribution in the state and the destruction of its habitat, the
southern gray treefrog was listed as an endangered species in New Jersey in 1979.

Since then, biologists have conducted research to determine the distribution, habitat use, and breeding ecology of the southern gray treefrog in New Jersey. Currently, efforts are being made to protect treefrog habitats on a comprehensive landscape level as well as on an individual wetland basis. Documented breeding ponds, as well as surrounding buffers of 150 to 300 feet, are protected under New Jersey land use regulations, including the Freshwater Wetlands Act and the Coastal Area Facilities Review.

Frogs: The Thin Green Line is one of many PBS videos from the series Nature that are now available online. Many also have Web-exclusive videos. In this program, you can see the effects of the chytrid fungus that may be the key to why one-third of amphibian species are threatened with extinction.

Watch the full Nature episode