endangered species management and conservation

8/2/2019 Endangered Species Management and Conservation

1/9

Do We Know What We Are Doing?A look at Endangered Species Management and

Conservation

By: Aaron Shaffer


2/9

Aaron Shaffer

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Do We Know What We Are Doing?

A Look at Endangered Species Management and Conservation

By: Aaron Shaffer

Introduction

Endangered species are an important part of our world, culture and ecosystems that

ultimately help stabilize the environment in their own ecological niche. Protecting these species

should be a fundamental focus of each nation to preserve what remaining endangered species

there are. According to the US Fish &Wildlife Services Endangered Species Program (USFWS

2011) there are nearly 600 endangered and threatened species in the US alone. This report will

focus on the principles that apply to the management and protection of these endangered species

and conservation efforts to support them.

Classification

The classification of species as endangered is highly specific to the group doing the

classifying. According to Arkive.org (2011), endangered species are those considered to be at

risk of extinction, meaning there are so few left of their kind that they could disappear from the

planet altogether. Classifying a species as endangered will, depending on country, permit it

to have certain rights, support and protection from humans and, in the US under the Endangered

Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. 1973, requires federal agencies to consult with the USFWS

and/or the NOAA before engaging in any activity that would likely cause the destruction or

adverse modification of the habitat of such species (EPA 1973).


3/9

Aaron Shaffer


The function of endangered species management is relative to the current perception of

the state of the world, making it a very controversial and complicated topic. If used correctly, it

can equip us with the necessary resources to manage and, hopefully, improve the condition of

endangered species and their environments. From a standpoint pertaining to ecological

indicators, classifying a species as endangered is economically classified as pure public good

(Fredman 1995), meaning that they are non-rival and thereby preserved for the entire publics

benefit and that they are non-exclusive; no one is excluded from the benefits the species has to

offer, mainly viewing and tourist opportunities to see something out of the ordinary. On the

other hand, when the hunting of an endangered species is fully accessible to the public based on

consumption, it is classified as a mixed public good (Broadway 1993) because it has the

benefits of both a Public good and a rival/exclusive Private good, which is due to the limited

number of that species so that there is not enough to go around for all those who go hunting for

that species.

Importance of Conservation

So why should we conserve endangered species? What could we benefit from saving a

species or two when all throughout history there have been species constantly going? Besides

the economical benefits, such as tourism and hunting, the answer is more important than we

might realize. The ethical and moral reasons for preserving species could be the subject of a

separate report but here, the primary focus is going to be on statistical values and empirical

information to support the preservation of endangered species. According to the Higher

Taxonomic Classification Approach (Mora et al. 2011), there are a predicted 8.7 million

eukaryotic species in the world, of which currently only 1.2 million have been documented or

recorded in a central database in the past 250 years of classification. Many of these species,


4/9

Aaron Shaffer


some 86% of land species (Mora et al. 2011), have yet to be discovered and hold the key to

potential medical and technological advances. Miller (1994) argues that each species that goes

extinct every year has increased dramatically since agriculture has begun in the modern era of

Earths history.

Fig 1 The historical extinction rates for birds (light grey) and mammals (dark striped). 17

year Gaussian average of the data from Red List (birds) and CREO (mammals). (Eschenbach, Willis

2010)

We can see a specific spike around the late 19th century, which just happens to be when

the mechanization and industrialization of agriculture began to occur. This caused an overall

increase of agricultural production across the world doubled four times between 1820 and 1975

(Scully 2003) in direct correlation with the spike we see of 1.6 bird and mammal extinctions per

year. Although many of the industrial agriculture practices that were cause to this have been

recently refined to the benefit of the environment, some negative consequences still remain in

activities such as deforestation for agricultural use and slash and burn agricultural.


5/9

Aaron Shaffer


Another way of connecting industrialization and extinction rates are in the words of Aldo

Leopolds warning that To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent

tinkering (p.146). Applying these ideas to the loss of species, Miller brings to attention the fact

that we are unraveling the delicate balance of the planets ecosystem at an alarming rate with

each species that goes extinct every year.

In 1993, biologists estimated that between a 4,000 minimum and as many as 36,000

species went extinct due to deforestation, desertification and destruction of wetlands and coral

reefs. This has sky-rocketed compared to only a few decades ago (Fig 1). If these rates continue

we could lose as many as one quarter to one half of the species on earth within the next few

decades (Miller 1994, Arkive 2011). The effects of urban sprawl and the depleting of resources

has a major impact on the environment and is one of the main causes of the extinction of species

in the rain forest regionsthe biome with the highest biodiversity on the planet. Most of the still

undiscovered land species on earth today reside in the tropical rainforests, species that could,

potentially, hold the cure for a multitude of viruses, infections cancer and even AIDS (AALAS

2004). One prime example is from the US National Cancer Institution, which has currently

identified over 3000 plants that fight cancer cells, 70% of which are found in the rainforests of

the world, which deforestation is rapidly destroying (NCI).

At this point in history, the rates of extinction far exceed the natural rate of adaptation

and the rise of new forms of life that had previously taken place over millions of years. The mass

extinctions caused in the past were due to natural disasters and climate change but are now

associated with the overcrowding and over exploiting of resources by our own species. (Miller

1994, Arkive 2011)


6/9

Aaron Shaffer


Recovery

There are many and various ways of recovering lost habitat to ensure the protection and

survival of endangered species. Examples include designing habitat reserves, breeding in

captivity and various forms of conservation such as dam releases, sediment augmentation, island

building and wetland regeneration.

One example of an attempt for habitat recovery is in the forming of an Adaptive

Management plan, which this section will focus on, that is currently taking place on the central

Platte River, which spans three statesColorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. The US Dept of the

Interior cooperated with conservation groups and the three states in 1997 to implement the plan

which aims to recover four endangered species. Overall, the plan has three main components:

Program Land, Program Water and the management aspect that is reflected in the Adaptive

Management portion of the plan. In 2010 and 2011, the program will begin testing the primary

hypothesis and documenting the species response to recovery efforts. The program has taken 13

years and an estimated $325 million to acquire the land and water rights to bring the

implementation of the plan to its final stages. There were six stages in the plan that has taken

place over the 13 years of development: assess, design, implement, monitoring, evaluate, and

adjust. In the Implementation stage, currently in effect, several efforts have taken place in order

to bring full habitat recovery. Conceptual models, testing of priority hypotheses, development of

experimental actions, collection of data and the laying out of management actions all take place

prior to the actual implementation, which includes stream flow consolidation, sandbar formation,

and vegetation control (Smith 2010).


7/9

Aaron Shaffer


Biogeographical Concepts

The field of Biogeography presents multiple concepts, theories and solutions for

endangered species management. Because biogeography is attempting to spatially understand

organisms, there are a lot of tie-ins with the other natural sciences, primarily biology but also

ecology, pedology, climatology and physiography. All of these have significant impacts on

endangered species and where they are located, from climate to soil quality as well as a cultural

impact due to the human population. For example, a certain type of endangered plant species

might only grow in a highly acidic soil that is only found on certain islands in the pacific. This

could be due to the loss of other habitats found elsewhere on the planet, but have been either

destroyed or reclaimed by natural events such as erosion, loss of land mass or rising sea levels

but can also be caused by the destruction of habitat by human expansion and industrialization.

Human development also has an impact on endangered animal species as well, such as

interrupting the migration routes of fish by building a dam.

Conclusion

We may not always be able to control the natural events that occur, but the one thing we

can and should be limiting is the impact we have on the natural environment. Effective planning

techniques along with volunteer efforts to restore native wildlife and control poaching are just a

few ways in which we can reverse the process and potentially save many endangered species,

some of which might have still not been discovered. Efforts such as the previously stated

Adaptive Management Plan may improve our knowledge of the environment so that we can

better coexist with the natural ecosystem of the planet. With the majority of the implementation

of the project still to come, this active study also provides an excellent example of current


8/9

Aaron Shaffer


conservation management and the process which must take place over an extended period of

time. The results yet to come should provide adequate data on the success of the project as a

model to future conservation projects.


9/9

Aaron Shaffer


Resources

1. US Fish & Wildlife Service. 2011. US Species. FWS.gov.2. US Fish & Wildlife Service. 2011. Why Save Species? FWS.gov.3. Mora, C., Tittensor, D.P., Adl, S., Simpson, A.G.B., Worm, B. 2011. How many species

are there on Earth and in the Ocean? PLos Biology 9 (8), ar. no. e1001127.http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001127;jsessionid=C867ED9EAD5AC5EC6898B1E958E26072.ambra02.

4. G. Tyler Miller Jr. 1994. Living in the Environment: principles, connections, andsolutions. 8th ed. pp. 421-425.

5. ARKIVE. 2011. What is an Endangered Species? Wildscreen. Arkive.org.6. EPA. 1973. Endangered Species Act. 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. 1973. US Environmental

Protection Agency. EPA.org.

7. Fredman, P. and Boman, M. 1995. Endangered Species and Optimal EnvironmentalPolicy.Journal of Environmental Management47, 381-389.

8. Broadway, R.W. and Bruce N. 1993. Welfare economics. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell.9. AALAS. 2004. Medicine and the Rainforest. aalas.org.10.National Cancer Institute. (2011) Natural Products Branch.

http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/pdfdraft/7_therap/fs7_33.pdf

11.Smith, C.B. 2010. Adaptive management on the central Platte RiverScience,engineering, and decision analysis to assist in the recovery of four species. Journal ofEnvironmental Management92. pp. 1414-1419. Headwaters Corp.

12.Leopold, Aldo. 1993. Round River. Oxford University Press. New York. P. 146.13.Scully, Matthew. 2003 Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the

Call to Mercy. St. Martin's Griffin. p 29.

Figures and Graphs

Fig 1. - Eschenbach, Willis. 2010. Where Are The Corpses?http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/extinctions_birds_mammals_historical.jpg
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001127;jsessionid=C867ED9EAD5AC5EC6898B1E958E26072.ambra02http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001127;jsessionid=C867ED9EAD5AC5EC6898B1E958E26072.ambra02http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001127;jsessionid=C867ED9EAD5AC5EC6898B1E958E26072.ambra02http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/pdfdraft/7_therap/fs7_33.pdfhttp://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/pdfdraft/7_therap/fs7_33.pdfhttp://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/pdfdraft/7_therap/fs7_33.pdfhttp://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001127;jsessionid=C867ED9EAD5AC5EC6898B1E958E26072.ambra02http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001127;jsessionid=C867ED9EAD5AC5EC6898B1E958E26072.ambra02

endangered species management and conservation

Documents