Animal Extinction Outline

IEPA 060 Reading/Writing 6 Name: Fares AL-zahrani

Detailed Outline Template

Instructions: Type your detailed outline. Use the template below to help you organize your outline. Note: This is a general template; your outline my have different organization.

I. Introduction

A. Hook Extinction or survival? these are the two sides of life.

B. Background Information

*Over the last 300 years, more than 200 forms of birds and mammals have become extinct, with several hundred more forms are threatened with extermination.

*There are differences between the natural extinction of species and the extermination caused by man. *A species becomes extinct when its mortality is continually greater than its recruitment.

*Once a population sinks below

Thesis Statement

This paper discusses why some animals go extinct explaining the factors of extinction either direct extinction or indirect extinction which can be caused by man or by natural selection. Also, why some animals did not go extinct despite all the change done. On the other hand, emphasizing the efforts done by man to limit extinction. These rules are applied to an individual ecosystem like islands.

II. Support 1:

Indirect extinction is caused mainly by alterations done to the animals' environment either naturally or due to human's negative effects on the animals' habitat.

A. The extinction of St. Paul mammoth was due to scarcity of fresh water in the St. Paul island in Alaska, leading to their extinction. Humans don't have a role in their extinction as there was no evidence of human presence in this island then.

B. Other causes of indirect extinction are caused by man such as deforestation, air and water pollution.

C. Genetics can also be a factor of indirect extinction. Studies proved that most extinct animals and endangered animals share the same genetic mutation that made them less adaptive and more liable to go extinct.

III. Support

The American pigeons were overkilled by man due to their tasty flesh which lead them to be extinct instead of covering the skies of America.

C. For profit, man killed the orangutan mothers to get their babies to sell them and the rarer orangutan gets, the more hunters to search for them to gain more money.

IV. Support 3:

The islands represent an ecosystem on their own as there is no relation between them and the mainland so, they are considered the best model for a smaller Earth where animals can evolve or go extinct.

A. Animals in these islands have no predators so they didn't acquire defensive mechanisms. That made them more vulnerable to be extinct.

B. man's introduction of invasive animals to the islands lead to the extinction of many animals. For example, the introduction of red foxes in Australia lead to the extinction of marsupials.

C. Specialization in insular species is one kind of evolution in the island ecosystem. For example, the Galapagos finch which acquired different shapes of bills according to the way they eat.

V. Counterargument:

Although some animals went extinct, others survived longer and resisted extinction.

A. Studies showed that species with larger geographic range size persisted over longer interval of time than those species with small geographic range