ANIMAL MAPPING Animal mapping is important to the community because, it tells us how people benefit from animals, how animals choose their habit, and how scientists figure out the number of animals in one area and if they are becoming extinct. Animal mapping is a processes that scientist use to gather information on animals in different areas all around the world. The two main types of scientists that deal with animal mapping are Conservation biologists and, Biogeography. In order to do mapping you must find the areas the animals are located and count the numbers of animals found in that location. Then search all the areas around the main area to see if there are any of the same animals in those regions. This process can take years to complete. …show more content…
“The main goal is to establish workable methods for preserving species and their biological communities” (Gerber p NP). Animal mapping is important to community because it helps with understanding the habits of animals that live in the same community in which we live. This is important because we need to understand how we effect the areas in which we build our homes and if these habits will affect their homes as well. We need to also understand where animals live and their habits in order to get the food we need. If we hunt to much of the same animal in the same area we run the risk of causing that animal to become extinct. A famous animal map is called Wallaces Biogeography map. This map has been recently updated in February 2013. “Based on the work of fifteen international researchers and twenty years of data the new map show the division of nature into eleven large biogeographic regions” (Wallace, …show more content…
This is a problem because oysters are the Bays natural filtering system. “Before settling in one place, young oysters drift through the water munching on the microscopic life now in abundance, filtering the Bay as a result.” (Baliles, p 9).
In order to determine what, when, and how an animal may be in danger we must first tract the environment in which they live. The experiment will show animals that are found in the area of Chesapeake and how and where they choose which environment the live. The experiment will show any animals in the area that are endanger of becoming extinct in this area. The method that will be use will be to go to the forestry department and speak with a forestry worker to gain better knowledge of where to look for these animals and will go into the woods to see them in their environment.
Animal mapping is important to the community because, it tells us how people benefit from animals, how animals choose their habit, and how scientists figure out the number of animals in one area and if they are becoming extinct.
One of the Bays biggest resources is its oysters. Oysters are filter feeders which mean they feed on agley and clean the water. The oysters feed on agley and other pollutants in the bay turning them into food, then they condense the food down to nutrients and sometimes developed pearls. Filtering the water helps the oysters to grow, and also helps clean the Chesapeake Bay. One oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day, Oysters used to be able to filter the Bay in about a week. However, these creatures are now scarce in the bay. The Chesapeake Bays Oyster (crassostrea virginica) Population has declined severely because of over harvesting, agricultural runoff, and disease. Now the Chesapeake Bay is becoming polluted without the oysters and the water is not nearly as clean as it once was. The Chesapeake Bay was the first estuary in the nation to be targeted for restoration as an integrated watershed and ecosystem. (Chesapeake Bay Program n/d). This report will show the cause and effect of the Chesapeake Bay's Oyster decline on the Bay.
The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary with six major tributaries, the James, the Potomac, the Susquehanna, the Patuxent, the York, and the Rappahannock Rivers, feeding into the bay from various locations in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia (Chemical Contaminants in the Chesapeake Bay – Workshop Discussion 1). These areas depend on the Bay as both an environmental and an economic resource. Throughout the last 15 years the Chesapeake Bay has suffered from elevated levels of pollution. Nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater treatment plants, farmland, air pollution, and development all lead to reduced water clarity and lowered oxygen levels, which harm fish, crabs, oysters and underwater grasses (Key Commission Issues 1). There are other types of pollution in the bay such as toxic chemicals, but because nutrient pollution is the most significant and most widespread in the Bay its effects are the most harmful to fisheries. Nitrogen and phosphorous fuel algal blooms which cloud the water and block sunlight from reaching underwater grass beds that provide food and habitat for waterfowl, juvenile fish, blue crabs, and other species (Blankenship 11-12). Algae plays a vital role in the food chain by providing food for small fish and oysters. However, when there is an overabundance of algae it dies, sinks to the bottom of the Bay, and decomposes in such a manner that depletes the oxygen levels of the Bay (11). The reduced oxygen levels in the Bay reduce the carrying capacity of the environment and these “dead areas” sometimes kill off species that can not migrate to other areas of the Bay, such as oysters (11). Increased abundance of algal blooms also led to the overabundance of harmful and toxic algae species and microbes such as the microbe Pfiesteria, which was responsible in 1997 for eating fish alive and making dozens of people sick (12). The heightened awareness of diseases that can be contracted through consumption of contaminated fish also has an economic impact. Therefore, the excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorous have fueled an overabundance of algal blooms, which has reduced water clarity and lowered oxygen levels, affecting many species within the bay and ultimately the industries that rely on these species.
The bay's harvest and many of its other attractions bring tourists and in turn revenue for the area. Oysters and blue crab are a big part of the culture in the bay area. However, these organisms are in danger and need help. Description of the problem Eutrophication is a concern in the Chesapeake Bay. Eutrophication is caused by excessive amounts of nutrients.
One of the Bays biggest resources is its oysters. Oysters are filter feeders which mean they feed on agley and clean the water. The oysters feed on agley and other pollutants in the bay turning them into food for them, then they condense the food down to nutrient and developed things like pearls.Filtering the water also helps the oyster to grow. One oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day, Oysters used to be able to filter the Bay in about a week. However these creatures are now scarce in the bay. The Chesapeake Bays Oyster (crassostrea virginica) Population has declined severely because of over harvesting, agricultural runoff, and disease. Now the Chesapeake Bay is becoming polluted without the oysters and the water is not nearly as clean as it once was. The Chesapeake Bay was the first estuary in the nation to be targeted for restoration as an integrated watershed and ecosystem. (Chesapeake Bay Program n/d). This report will show the cause and effect of the Chesapeake Bay's Oyster decline on the Bay.
One of the many ways humans could help the Bay, is to reduce the runoff and pollution of the waters, Many of the new communities around the Bay, are farming land. WIth this being farming land, the runoff from the fields is causing extra nutrience. This cause a layer on the top of the water, that does not allow sunlight to get through to the plants and animals. This affects the ten percent rule as well. There are many inhabitants that live in the Bay. Some of which are becoming endangered. Some of these animals are the oysters and blue crabs. The Bay has been their home for as long as anyone can tell. But in the occurence of recent human behavior, there may not be any of those animals left to inhabit the
Human population has a major impact on all biomes. Grasslands are disappearing due to the dividing land for farming and urban developments. People are building cities, roads, and schools near these grasslands which are causing them to disappear. People are illegally poaching endangered animals like tigers, prairie dogs, elephants, and leopards. Farmers are killing prairie dogs. Bison population almost became extinct due to the overhunting for their fur. Lands are being converted into cropland, and reducing the food source for the wild animals. Grassland is becoming vulnerable due to global warming. The weather pattern and water availability can throw area off balance and change it forever. In northern Europe, grassland is much influenced by livestock grazing.
Woody plants, reptiles, birds, ants, and mammals are being surveyed at sites 26 long-term monitoring sites.
Species such as the blue crab, oyster, and atlantic menhaden are three main commercial fishing outputs in the Chesapeake bay, but the recent algae blooms are devastating the harvest numbers of several different species. According to the oyster company of Virginia, over 20 million bushels of oysters were harvested every year during the peak of the oyster rush of the mid 1880’s. These numbers
and history. Many of the animals were found on the four different mountains in the world and
Works Cited Bates, D. (1957, December 17). Letter from Roy Wilkins. Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America. Beals, M. P. (1994). The Species of the World.
Due to human activity, the natural fauna of the world is becoming displaced; this is especially profound in terrestrial mammalian species. This study specifically looks at fragmented land affecting the northern brown bandicoot, Isoodon macrourus, in the city of Brisbane, Australia. The experiment was conducted using mark-recapture methods and radio tracking in order to distinguish bandicoot home ranges, densities, and habitat. It was observed that the bandicoots sheltered during the day in areas with tall, dense grasses and weeds and exhibited nocturnal foraging in urban lawns and recreational areas within small ranges. The study suggests that the grass and weeds provide an ideal habitat for the bandicoots, allowing them to thrive in large populations.
With the continuously accelerating rate in the loss of wildlife habitat, there is a concern which greets the upcoming century. The problem with the presently remaining "untouched" wilderness is that large whole pieces of wild habitat end up manipulated to suit the needs of human populations. Often times mismanagement of land, besides the mere intrusion into a delicate habitat, exerts stress upon it’s state of equilibrium; so much so that certain species within an area become at risk for extinction. Depending on the stability and degree of interspecie dependency, the extinction of a couple of species of animals could lead to the gradual eventual degradation of that habitat. The focus of many leading conservation biologists within the last three to four decades has been on the study of different factors and dimensions that influence the extinction rate of different types of wild habitat. By understanding the factors and dimensions involved in the maintenance of habitat stability, conservationists may be able to more accurately explain how fragmentation effect specific types of habitat and population, and more accurately predict the effects of proposed conservation projects. Now as we enter a new era with frightening statistics on environmental destruction, conservationists are calling for quick action to slow down the rate of extinction and habitat fragmentation. The present popular proposed solution is for the construction of dispersal corridors, which will reconnect pieces of isolated habitat and reduce the rate of wildlife extinction. There is not enough available material to support this proposal but there is also not enough to prove it unworthy either. Although this is not the only solution to the problem, it is the most appealing to conservation biologists who desire to protect and reclaim wilderness quickly. Thus, ecological corridors is a critical topic of debate because it has become a popular concept taken very seriously by radical conservationists who are in a haste to implement the plan but who do not have sufficient data to prove that it might not counter their predictions and, as many skeptics fear, prove detrimental for habitat restoration.
If you put an animal out and in the wild, they will have more room to roam around and hunt for their own food. If different species of animals aren’t out and in the wild, some types of creatures may just overpopulate and the animals that are not in the wild need to kill them to keep the food chain balanced. If the food chain is unbalanced, this means more than one breed would overpopulate and take over other animal foods; and then other breeds would die off and the whole food chain, even a possibility of humanity’s food
Sikes, Roberts. and William L. Gannon. "Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the Use of Wild Mammals in Research." Journal of Mammalogy 92.1 (Feb. 2011): 235-253. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2011.
One of the reasons for loss in biodiversity is alteration of habitats. A habitat is the natural environment in which a species of living organism lives. If the habitat of a species is changed, it will cause the species to die or migrate to other places where it can find its natural habitat. There are many ways in which the habitat of plants and animals can be altered. One of them is land use changes. Since the beginning of human life, human beings have been changing land use for farming. Large areas of forests have been cleared by humans to increase the area of farming to satisfy their growing needs. Many biodiversity-rich landscape characteristics have been lost due to intensive farming (Young, Richards, Fischer, Halada, Kull, Kuzniar, Tartes, Uzunov & Watt, 2007). For example, traditional farming was replaced by private farms in Europe after the First World War causing an immense change in land use patterns. Another major proble...