“99% of currently threatened species are at risk from human activities, primarily those driving habitat loss, introduction of exotic species, and global warming.” (DoSomething). Extinction is become a very large problem in today’s society. The three main causes of extinction are overexploitation, global warming, and the introduction of invasive species. Overexploitation is the overuse of both plants and animals for many different purposes. While humans are dependent on both plants and animals, taking in more than can be reproduced is a big problem. One species being overexploited is fish and other aquatic animals. Fishing has become a very industrialized part of today’s society. Many people also enjoy eating seafood and other types of fish …show more content…
“Average temperatures in the U.S. over the last century have already increased by more than one degree fahrenheit.”(NWF). There has been many noticeable changes due this minor change in temperature. These changes in temperatures are causing problems such as when animals migrate or when they go to hibernate. Warmer temperatures cause the animals to think it is earlier than it actually is and can lead them to migrate or hibernate at the wrong times. These increases in temperature are also leading to the melting of ice in the arctic. Many animals, such as polar bears and seals depend on the ice for somewhere to live and survive. This melting of the ice also leads to sea levels rising. The rising of the sea levels also causes loss of habitats because coastlines and beaches are eroded away. Global warming leads to the extinction of animals because many habitats are lost. With the loss of habitats, animals are completely lost and they have to change their whole way of life in order to survive. If they are not able to adapt to their new surroundings many could become endangered or extinct as the result of lack of food or shelter. Clearly, global warming is adding to the extinction of many …show more content…
Every type of living organism is capable of becoming extinct and there are many different causes for it. Overexploitation causes animals to become extinct due to the over harvesting of these species. Global warming is another cause of extinction which causes animals to lose habitats and change their patterns in life. Lastly, the introduction of invasive species into an ecosystem causes many other species to lose habitats and cause extinction. If something is isn’t done soon to help stop these causes of extinction, planet earth could be seriously changed for the
On a day to day basis, most people take for granted the lives we get to live, and put too much value on the extra things such as materialistic items. Also, the majority of humans are too invested in their personal lives or with themselves that they do not look at the big picture of how what we are doing now will effect us later. As humans, the routines in our lives can bring us harm, and within time a we may become the sixth extinction. In “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert, she gives many examples of animals that are or may become extinct. Along with ways humans contribute to the effort of putting them in danger or having them become extinct. In the end having a summary of how this all comes together and impacts us humans in more
The age of the invasives: The anthropogenic effects leading to the increased spread of tropical marine invasive species in 2050 and beyond
The term invasive species is described as a species that is introduced into an area in which it is not native. This species has the potential to cause a negative effect to the native species and other biotic factors in those surroundings (Invasive Species, n.d). Any kind of living organism can be a potential invasive species, including the seeds and eggs of an organism (Invasive Species, n.d). These species can be brought into an area any number of ways but are usually a result of human activity (Invasive Species, n.d). Although, it has been discovered that protected areas can be impacted by invasive species, possibly more so than non-protected areas (Hoopes et al., 2013).
For years, we have heard of the devastating effects of global warming and how the melting of the polar ice caps will cause severe climate changes. One animal that has suffered most from global warming is the polar bear. Global warming has caused the polar bear population to decrease due to the results of having to swim longer distances, loss of habitat, and lack of mates to reproduce offspring. Global warming has caused this species to become endangered and has some attention with social media. Global warming has caused much damage to the polar bear population due to the warming of their habitat.
Global warming is one of the most serious problems that people all over the world are dealing with. In fact, however, many people may not realize that global warming also affects animals as badly as it does to human. All Americans should help protect animals from global warming because global warming changes animals’ habitats, decreases food supplies of animals, and even shortens animals’ lifespan.
The negative side of global warming is that it leads to the melting of ice. The world's glaciers, especially Arctic glaciers, are melting faster than new snow and ice can supplement them. During the melting of Arctic ice opens over the dark surface of the water or soil and balance changes reflect less and absorb a greater amount of heat, therefore, large areas of ice melt rapidly (News, global warming). There is evidence, which will support this argument: scientists from the University of California in San Diego investigated satellite observation data for the Arctic for 1979-2011 years. Since the 1970s, the area covering the ice has decreased by 40 % and the region has warmed up to 2 degrees (News global warming).It means, that global warming affects the wildlife and due to the melting of ice flora and fauna dies....
Invasive alien species are disrupting and changing the normal ecological functions of biomes, ecosystems, and the biosphere as a whole (CBD, 2009). They are a threat to biodiversity and can cause damage to, or even eradicate native species which natural cycles and other organisms depend on. While disrupting energy flow, food chains, and shaking the structure of ecosystems to the core, invasive species create not only ecological, but also a whole host of social, economical, and health issues that affect the livelihood of almost every organism on earth, including humans (CBD, 2009).
Earth has gone through five fully major extinctions before. We currently are in the process of Earth’s sixth mass extinction. This mass extinction is closely related in severity to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Earth’s extinctions are broken into three different areas. The first area was the large number of animals caught by hunter-gathers. The discovery of agriculture led to the second area of extinction, wildlife habitats. These wildlife habitats were destroyed due to humans starting to stay in one area.
Any species which fall into the categories vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered are considered to be at risk of extinction. Robert Redford said “I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security defense of our resource’s because it’s just as important as defense abroad otherwise what is there to defend?” People should all take the environment more seriously and protect the future for those to come. It’s our responsibility to ensure that the children to come may enjoy all of earth’s beauty, and not through old issues of National Geographic’s.
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.
Climate change is one of the major issues surfacing on Earth over the past century. The earth’s temperature has increased over the years, leading to detrimental effects on the economic and life sources of people, especially that of agricultural production and livestock. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2014), defined climate change as a change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid late 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007) predicts that by 2100 the increase in global average surface temperature may be between 1.8° C and 4.0° C. With increases of 1.5° C to 2.5° C, approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species are expected to be at risk of extinction. Moreover, the IPCC (2007) purported that climate change has severe consequences for food security in developing countries.
Because the CO2 levels are rising, the ice caps are melting and many more animals can become extinct. When pangea started splitting, there was a lot of volcanic activity, which cause the death of many dinosaurs. A meteor also hit earth and the mass extinction of many land and marine animals happened. There have been five mass extinctions in Earth’s history. The worst one wiped out ninety-six percent of marine life and seventy percent of land organisms. This took millions of years to recover.
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.
Endangered species, because of the species ' own cause or the extinction of wild species subjected to human activities or natural disasters in the near future, the probability of a high species extinction key species may disrupt the local food chain, cause damage to ecosystems, and may eventually lead to the collapse of the entire ecosystem.
In our world today we have approximately 26,021 endangered species. Endangered species are organisms that may possible become extinct. The term 'endangered species' refers to all species that fits this description. However some conservation biologists and scientists normally use the term ‘endangered species’ to refer to species that are put on the IUCN(International Union for Conservation of Nature)Red List. Many factors can be looked at when considering the conservation status of a species. Factors such as human threats or environmental threats can cause a species to become endangered.