The European rabbit is both a pest and a promoter of the ecosystem. In many areas where the European rabbit is an invasive species, it is often considered a pest, as in Australia. To its native land in South France and the Iberian Peninsula, this rabbit is very important to the welfare of natural wildlife, therefore populations need to be preserved and improved upon.
C. K. Williams, C. C. Davey, R. J. Moore, L. A. Hinds, L. E. Silverset, P. J. Kerr, et al, (2007) have done research toward maintaining the ever-increasing rabbit populations in Australia through sterility research upon female rabbits using virus-vectored immunocontraception. This study found that sterility decreased the numbers of fleas found on adult females and some adult males. It also found that sterility increased the life span of adult female rabbits. However, sterility has done little to decrease the population size of European rabbits in Australia. Therefore, until more successful research is done, the European rabbit will continue to be a nuisance in Australia, because completely eradicating the population could be very detrimental to the wildlife that grew accustomed to the presence of rabbits in their ecosystem.
Many researchers, including Alexander C. Lees, Francisco Palomares, Zulima Tablado, Miguel Delibes Mateos, Damien A. Fordham, and many others, have done extensive research regarding the conservation of European rabbit populations. These researchers found that factors, such as over viral illness, abundant hunting and habitat destruction, have highly contributed to the decline, and lack of improvement in rabbit populations. They concluded that habitat regulation and hunting regulations reducing hunting during breeding season will effectively help i...
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...tral Ecology, 37, 945-955.
Lees, A. C., & Bell, D. J. (2008). A conservation paradox for the 21st century: the European wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, an invasive alien and an endangered native species. Mammal Review, 38, 304-312.
Palomares, F., Delibes, M., Revilla, E., Calzada, J., & Fedriani, J. M. (2001). WILDLIFE MONOGRAPHS: SPATIAL ECOLOGY OF IBERIAN LYNX AND ABUNDANCE OF EUROPEAN RABBITS IN SOUTHWESTERN SPAIN. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 65, 3-30.
Tablado, Z., Revilla, E., Palomares, F. (2009). Breeding like rabbits: global patterns of variability and determinants of European wild rabbit reproduction. Ecography, 32, 314.
Williams, C. K., Davey, C. C., Moore, R. J., Hinds, L. A., Silvers, L. E., Kerr, P. J., ... Krebs, C. J. (2007). Population responses to sterility imposed on female European rabbits. Journal of Applied Ecology, 44, 291-298.
The Pygmy Three-Toed-Sloth, also known as Bradypus pygmaeus scientifically, has been classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. “They are restricted to one area from Isla Escudo de Veraguas in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro, Panama” (“Pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus)” (a)). The island is very small, measuring about 5 square kilometers in area. These sloths are usually found in red mangroves at sea level.
At one time, the lynx lived all the way along the Continental Divide clear up into Canada. Now, after being gone from Colorado for 25 years, the animal has been reintroduced into the lower tip of the lynx's historic habitat, the San Juan Mountains (Rogers). So far, out of 33 lynx that are being tracked, all of them are roaming in 276 square kilometers of the southwestern portion of Colorado that runs from the New Mexico border up to the I-70 corridor and from Monarch Pass over to Taylor Mesa (Shenk). In an attempt to find out how the animals, which look like bobcats with black tufts on their ears and huge paws, act in nature, scientists are tracking them with radio collars and airplanes (Lloyd).
However, this approach has many challenges for which solutions have been elusive to date. Ideally, methods for contraception of wild horses should be safe and reversible, effective for several years, practical to administer and be of a reasonable cost and whilst having minimal effect on reproductive and/or harem behavior. This ensures the methods that are used to control the reproductive cycle are considered to be humane and ethical.
As the human population of the world continues to increase the flora and fauna of the planet are becoming an increasingly smaller part of the picture. Environmentalist and conservationists all over the globe are working hard to find strategies and methods for the preservation of disappearing creatures and species. An increasingly popular idea that would allow for great benefits in the field of conservation became apparent in 1996 with the cloning of sheep by the name of Dolly. Since then the scientific debate on the relationship between cloning and conservation has ensued. Although the answer to that question remains on the horizon, cloning for helping endangered species is a process that may become a frequent procedure in the future.
The Web. 18 Jan. 2014. Levy, Sharon. A Plague of Deer. BioScience 56.9 (2006): 714–21.
Fernández‐Chacón, A., Stefanescu, C., Genovart, M., Nichols, J. D., Hines, J. E., Páramo, F.,& Oro, D. 2014. Determinants of extinction‐colonization dynamics in Mediterranean butterflies: the role of landscape, climate and local habitat features. Journal of Animal Ecology, 83(1), 276-285.
The same contraceptive has also been used in other sections of the United States to limit population growth such as white-tailed deers, and pigs. However, contraceptives have caused controversy in the safety of the horses’ health. However, in a study done by Turner, A., and Kirkpatrick, J.F., the effects of the contraceptive were studied in foals over the course of twelve years in Assateague Island. Horses that were vaccinated with the contraceptive returned to fertility between 1-5 years, however, when exceeded the seven year mark, the horses remained infertile. It was also concluded that there was no difference in survival rates of the horses.
Deer overpopulation is a controversial topic. Some believe that deer overpopulation is not a real problem. Some may also believe the high numbers that studies show, is a scheme to give hunters an excuse to hunt without reason. The truth is that deer overpopulation is a true issue. Deer, especially the eastern whitetail deer population in these modern times, is out of control. “There are an estimated 30 million whitetail deer in the United States today. Under optimal conditions, whitetail deer populations will double every two years”(Rooney). As the numbers of whitetail deer rise, the land for them to live on decreases. This may lead to deer walking on roads and causing accidents.
Scientists suggest that hunted species, such as bighorn sheep, now have smaller horns than their ancestors from 30 years ago. Flocken endorses that “.hunters are not like natural predators. They target the largest specimens with the biggest tusks, manes, antlers, or horns.” In Defense of Animals International (IDA) argues that hunters concentrate on “game” populations and ignore “non-game” species that may lead to overpopulation and unequal ecosystems.
In 1996, the Asian Longhorn Beetle made its way into the New York and New Jersey creating the decimation of the forests. The Asian Longhorn Beetle has so far caused the cutting of over 10,000 trees in New Jersey, and quarantine of 109 miles in New York today . The spread of this foreign beetle has created great impacts on the environment. The Asian Longhorn Beetle is an invasive specie, a harmful specie from another locations, mainly other countries, that has ended up in a foreign habitat. As time has progressed, invasive species have continued to come into our environment more frequently creating many unforeseen consequences. The relationship of invasive species within the United States’ environment and ecosystem has been changing ever since the arrival of the Europeans in the 1700s to present day. Due to these encounters with other species whether harmful or neutral, the majority, if not all, of the United States has been affected with the threatening encroachment of native species due to the industrialization of waterways and transportation.
1These two populations are different species because they have different capabilities of performing in nature. For example there is behavioral isolation. My evidence for that is that in the data, it states that the average time spent in courtship display for the St. Kitts rodent is 12.6 seconds. While the courtship display for the Nevis Rodent is 21.3. You can see that there is a major difference in the way that they behave. Also there is another type of isolation which is gametic isolation. There is gametic isolation because the average gestation time for St. Kitts rodent is 29.3 days. The average gestation for the Nevis rodent is 42.7 days. Therefore a sperm from St. Kitts rodent wouldn’t survive in the reproductive tract of the Nevis rodent. It wouldn’t survive because it wouldn’t develop properly and is not accustomed to its environment. There is also another type of isolation happening with the rodents of St. Kitts. This type of isolation is called temporal isolation. There is temporal isolation because the article states, “the reproductive seasons are being delayed by up to one year.” This is talking about that the rodents are having a hard time finding mates therefore, their reproductive season is being delayed. Also in the article it states, “In the 240 attempts to bring a Nevis animal into the St. Kitts population, you are unable to observe a single successful reproductive event.” The rodents are mechanically isolated, because if you can’t have a reproductive event, there reproductive organs might not be matching with one another. Their appearance might look identical but they are genetically different.
On the first level, when foreign, but previously non-invasive species is first introduced to a new area, the new species may play a role in a community that was previously unfulfilled; it may fill a vacant niche in the ecosystem. Originally this new species may be seen as a useful contributor to its new surroundings because it has only (temporarily) increased biodiversity in the area (Meinesz, 2003).
Invasive species is a problem in today's world in everything from land,to sea and even in your backyard. This problem has been going on for some time now and making the ecosystem fall out of balance. One might not even know how to help. Invasive species create ecological and economic problems,but the average person can eliminate these problems.
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 big causes of extinction or the endangerment of species is foreign species entering a habitat. This species that are not native to the land can disrupt the food web in that community. These species take control of the food web and endanger some of the other species. The native species become endangered and over the course of many years they either adapt to their new way or life, the foreign predator leaves or is killed off due to the different environment, or the species is killed off and becomes extinct. Organizations like the “World Wild Li...