I have chosen to do research on the Northern Spotted Owl for my keystone lab. Many factors can influence the life of this species. The Northern Spotted Owl is said to be located in the Old Growth Forests of Northern California, Oregon, Washington and some small areas in British Columbia, and Canada. The northern spotted owl has inhabited these areas for hundreds of years, yet was only found as a species in the early 1900’s. We are all aware the Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) is a keystone species, but it is also known as an indicator species of Old Growth Forests. Thanks to the constant need for lumber from timber companies, the Northern Spotted Owl has been steadily moving towards an eventual extinction. ("Northern Spotted Owl.")
The northern spotted owl is medium in size and is a nocturnal raptor that lives in mature and old-growth forests. Spotted owls hunt voles and flying squirrels in the forests and nest high up in big trees with open spaces. Spotted owls mate for life and live 10 to 15 years. ("Northern Spotted Owl.") For many decades the Northern Spotted Owl has been in danger from the Timber industry. Loggers working for the timber companies do not care if every owl is killed or the last Old Growth Tree is finally cut down, as long as they see a profit from it and not something that will damage their bank accounts. ("Northern Spotted Owl.")
In 1987, when the Endangered Species Act was put into practice, the Federal Wildlife Service refused to list the Northern Spotted Owl. The FWS was then sued by the National Audubon Society to list the Species. During this time period, it was discovered that when examining the Northern Spotted Owl for its listing the FWS had looked at both the economics and the politics in ...
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...l keystone includes fungi, Douglas-Fir and the Flying Tree Squirrel. The squirrels eat truffles made by fungi which are of an important tree species. The squirrel then spreads these fungi in the forest by leaving it in its feces. The fungi play a main part in the old growth forests and effect the growth and health of many northwestern trees. ("Northern Spotted Owl.")
Works Cited:
“Basic Facts About Northern Spotted Owls." Northern Spotted Owl. Defenders of Wildlife, n.d.
Web. 3 Mar. 2014. .
"Northern spotted owl." — Conservation Northwest. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
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"Northern Spotted Owl." Northern Spotted Owl. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
The Pacific Northwest is perhaps most commonly known for its awe-inspiring old growth forests that have been gracing the land for hundreds and hundreds of years. The land in British Colombia, Canada, Washington state, Oregon, and parts of Northern California are the only areas in the world where these forests exist. One of the most unique and amazing inhabitants of this age-old forest is the Northern Spotted Owl. The Northern Spotted Owl has been on the endangered species list for over ten years now. The Northern Spotted Owl can only be found in these old growth forests. The northern spotted owl requires many acres old forests to survive, due to its scarce food supply. They are very sensitive to their habitat, and simply cannot survive in any other environment. These owls, as well as the forests have been disappearing at an alarming rate due to the immense logging industry in its area.
The date was December 28, 1973 and the U.S. Congress proudly submits and successfully passed one of its largest pieces of environmental legislation ever: the Endangered Species Act. This act was signed by Richard Nixon into law and passed with a staggering 355 to 4 vote. The law was hailed by proud legislators as the right action, and, if anything, long overdue (Dwyer, Ehrlich, & Murphy, 1995). This act prohibits many activities involving endangered species. These prohibitions include: importation into and exportation from the U.S.; taking of species within the U.S. and its territorial seas, this includes all land areas public and private; selling, possessing, carrying, shipping, or delivering any such species unlawfully taken within the U.S., and selling or offering for sale of species in interstate or foreign commerce (WWW site, ESA). Taking includes harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, trapping, killing, capturi...
Estimates are that at the turn of the twentieth century over two million wild horses roamed free in the western United States. However, having no protection from their primary predator, man, by the 1970’s there numbers had dwindled to less than thirty thousand. In 1971, after a massive public uproar, Congress by a unanimous vote enacted the “Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act” (Act) that characterizes wild horses and burros as national treasures and provides for their protection.
The population of the whooping cranes most definitely gets affected from precipitation, because the population gets affected negatively with high precipitation levels present, while positively with low precipitation levels. The population of the whooping cranes gets affected this way because if there were high precipitation levels for a year, the hatching success rate drastically decreases from the precipitation, who damages the eggs laid by the cranes. By either breaking the eggs, making the cranes not be present to incubate their eggs, or actually destroying the birds’ nests. Also, the high precipitation levels may even cause a few fatalities, which is a very serious problem involving this particular endangered species. While with low precipitation
Wood, Paul M., and Laurie Flahr. "Taking Endangered Species Seriously? British Columbia's Species-At-Risk Policies." Canadian Public Policy 30.4 (2004): 381-399. Business Source Complete.
The Northern Spotted Owl can only live in old growth environment, it is considered an “indicator species”: The health of the Northern Spotted Owl population indicates the health of the old-growth forest ecosystem. An individual Northern Spotted Owl needs more than 3,000 acres of old growth to survive, because of its scarce food supply. The Northern Spotted Owl is found in the cool, moist woodlands on the Pacific Northwest. The habitat of the Northern Spotted Owl can be described as trees relatively large in diameter in the stand, multi-layered canopy, large tall live trees with cavities, broken tops, mistletoe, or platforms of branches capable of holding accumulated organic matter suitable for use as a nest, dead standing trees and fallen decayed trees to support abundant populations of prey species, especially northern flying squirrels and woodrats.
In conclusion, owls have shown they are excellent at adapting to any environment by the ability to fly silently to stalk prey. They use camouflaged and insulated feathers to hide and keep warm while hunting. Owl’s excellent binocular vision, and hearing helps to track prey from long distances. The only real risk of extinction of the burrowing owl is if people continue to kill off animals that dig holes for them. They have shown the ability to survive for a long time with the help of other animals digging holes for them. Owl’s will continue to evolve long after humans have
“200 years ago, there was around 16 million greater sage grouse; Today there may be fewer than 200,000” (Dantzker and Swartwout). The Greater Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a magnificent bird that only lives in the Sagebrush-steppe habitat. This habitat is seen in the western part of the United States and also some area of North and South America. From the study above, it should be obvious that the greater sage grouse were considered endangered by Fish and Wildlife Organizations. However, on September 30th, 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Organization removed the sage grouse from the endangered “candidates” list, and stated that they would enforce plans to help the conservation of these birds. People should be aware that this is
In 1782, the bald eagle was elected as the national symbol of the United States of America, yet by the early 1960’s, it was nearly extinct in the Continental United States. A combination of many dangers, with the main danger being the pesticide DDT, the bald eagle was on the verge of extinction. Yet, through conservation measure applied by the United States government the bald eagle cam back from the brink and was taken off of the endangered species list in 2007.
“Evans and Emlen (1947) estimated that a Barn Owl in California ate 150 g per day. This may be too high as it was based on two pellets per day and available evidence indicates that American Barn Owls average less than that per day (Wallace, 1948 and this paper).”
America’s Old Growth Forests are an endangered resource that is quickly disappearing. The ancient forests are being unnecessarily wasted, and are growing smaller and smaller with each passing moment.
Dobkin, D. S., Ehrlich, P. R., & Wheye, D. (1988). Retrieved from How owls hunt in the dark: https://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/How_Owls_Hunt.html
The project at Yellowstone was met with some apprehension. Biologists there feared that without the fear of predation during the past few generations, the resident moose at Yellowstone would not fear the wol...
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