Saving Birds From Extinction Environmental Sciences Essay

Saving Birds From Extinction Environmental Sciences EssayNow although the number and variety of birds that mig appreciate has decreased over the last two decades, some(prenominal) foreign species continue to visit National Zoological Park during winters. Previously, almost 5,000 migrant birds spread across much than 10 species used to fly down to the Delhi Zoological Park. But now this number has flowen to an alarming 500-odd birds belonging to hardly five-six species. According to the Zoos curator several true migratory birds like Siberian crane, Brahminy duck, Mallard, Red-Crested Pochard and White Stork have non visited the Delhi zoo over the last few years. This decline is due to a number of reasons including atmospheric pollution, hunting by kinds, lack of food, spheric warming etc. local migratory birds in addition turn up at the Delhi Zoo, and this lead becomes a treat to watch for bird lovers. October end and November be the months when the birds start arriving, a nd more birds are estimated to come by January and February.STATE WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ever-ever-changing STATE OF BIRDSSince the year 1500, we have lost over 150 bird species an non inhabitention rate far laster than the natural background. Today, one in 8 bird species is threatened with global quenching, with 189 species critically Endangered, and Red List assessments show that things are getting worse. Particularly alarming are sharp declines in some(prenominal) an opposite(prenominal) formerly common and widespread species. This is a signal of wider environsal problems, and of the erosion of biodiversity as a whole.Why birds are decliningirds are decliningHumans are answerable for the threats to birds. Expanding and intensifying agriculture and forestry destroy and degrade habitats. Inadequately managed fisheries, ever-spreading infrastructure, invasive alien species, pollution and overexploitation all pose serious problems. Climate channel, with impacts already visi ble, whitethorn be the most serious threat of all. These threats have deeper causes, rooted in our failure to accord wild nature its true value.Sound environment every(prenominal)where the past few decades, the worlds governments have endorsed many international agreements relevant to the conservation of biodiversity, demonstrating their giveingness to cooperate in tackling important environmental foreshortens. The challenge now is to harness this committedness and ensure that concrete actions are taken where they are most holded. In several countries, the engagement of civil society and indigenous peoples organisations has resulted in impressive progress. there are signs of increasing action in the private sector, too.Agriculture and forestry are the gravestone drivers of habitat destruction of birdsIn Africa, habitat clearance for agriculture and record threatens 50% and 23% of Important Birds Areas (IBAs) respectively. In Europe, agricultural expansion and intensificati on are among the most serious threats displace IBAs.Proportion of IBAs impacted by different classes of threats in Africa and EuropeAnalysis of entropy held in BirdLifes World Bird Database (2004)In Africa, habitat clearance for agriculture threatens over 50% of Important Bird Areas (IBAs), with debasement owing to shifting agriculture an additional pressure ( weightpool and Evans 2001). In Europe too, agricultural expansion and intensification are among the most serious threats affecting IBAs, with a mellow impact at 35% (Heath and Evans 2000). In Africa, selective logging or tree-cutting affects 23% of IBAs, with degradation owing to firewood collection (including charcoal production) and forest grazing universe additional, often related pressures (these threats are of less importance in Europe where little disused-growth forest remains). In Africa, ongoing or planned infrastructure developing (including dam and road building) is a further key cause of habitat destruction, with 21% of IBAs affected. In Europe this is also a major factor affecting IBAs, with a high impact at 37% .The Effects of Oil on Wild deportmentWe have all seen pictures and videos of wildlife covered in black, bondy inunct after an vegetable oil colour spill. These pictures are usually of oiled birds. Many people are not aware that it is not just birds that get oiled during a spill. other marine life such(prenominal) as marine mammals tail assembly also suffer from the perfumes of an oil spill. Even small spills fag severely affect marine wildlife.Not all oils are the same. There are many different oddballs of oil and this means that each oil spill is different depending on the example of oil spilt. Each oil spill leave have a different impact on wildlife and the surrounding environment depending onthe type of oil spilled,the location of the spill,the species of wildlife in the area,the timing of breeding cycles and seasonal migrations,and even the weather at sea durin g the oil spill.Oil affects wildlife by coating their bodies with a thick layer. Many oils also become stickier over time (this is called weathering) and so adheres to wildlife even more. Since most oil floats o nthe surface of the water it can effect many marine animals and sea birds. Unfortunately, birds and marine mammals will not necessarily avoid an oil spill. Some marine mammals, such as seals and dolphins, have been seen swimming and feeding in or near an oil spill. Some fish are attracted to oil because it looks like floating food. This endangers sea birds, which are attracted to schools of fish and may dive through oil slicks to get to the fish.Oil that sticks to fur or feathers, usually crude and bunker fuels, can cause many problems. Some of these problems arehypothermia in birds by reducing or destroying the insulation and waterproofing properties of their feathershypothermia in fur seal pups by reducing or destroying the insulation of their woolly fur (called lanugo). A dult fur seals have blubber and would not suffer from hypothermia if oiled. Dolphins and whales do not have fur, so oil will not easily stick to thembirds become easy prey, as their feathers world matted by oil make them less able to fly awaymarine mammals such as fur seals become easy prey if oil sticks their flippers to their bodies, making it hard for them to escape predatorsbirds sink or drown because oiled feathers weigh more and their ungainly feathers cannot trap enough air between them to keep them buoyantfur seal pups drown if oil sticks their flippers to their bodieskbirds lose body weight as their transfiguration tries to combat low body temperaturemarine mammals lose body weight when they can not feed due to contamination of their environment by oilbirds become dehydrated and can starve as they give up or reduce drinking, diving and swimming to look for foodinflammation or infection in dugongs and difficulty eating due to oil sticking to the sensory hairs around thei r mouthsdisguise of scent that seal pups and mothers rely on to strike each other, leading to rejection, abandonment and starvation of seal pups and toll to the insides of animals and birds bodies, for example by causation ulcers or bleeding in their stomachs if they ingest the oil by accident.Oil does not have to be sticky to endanger wildlife. Both sticky oils such as crude oil and bunker fuels, and non-sticky oils such as refined petroleum products can affect different wildlife. Oils such as refined petroleum products do not last as long in the marine environment as crude or bunker fuel. They are not potential to stick to a bird or animal, but they are much more poisonous than crude oil or bunker fuel. While some of the following effects on sea birds, marine mammals and turtles can be caused by crude oil or bunker fuel, they are more commonly caused by refined oil products.Oil in the environment or oil that is ingested can cause tipsiness of wildlife higher up the food chain if they eat large amounts of other organisms that have taken oil into their tissuesinterference with breeding by making the animal too ill to breed, interfering with breeding behaviour such as a bird seated on their eggs, or by reducing the number of eggs a bird will laydamage to the airways and lungs of marine mammals and turtles, congestion, pneumonia, emphysema and even last by breathing in droplets of oil, or oil fumes or gasdamage to a marine mammals or turtles eyes, which can cause ulcers, conjunctivitis and blindness, making it difficult for them to find food, and sometimes causing starvationirritation or ulceration of skin, mouth or nasal cavitiesdamage to and suppression of a marine mammals immune system, sometimes causing secondary bacterial or fungal infectionsdamage to red blood cellsorgan damage and failure such as a bird or marine mammals liverdamage to a birds adrenal tissue which interferes with a birds ability to maintain blood pressure, and constriction of fluid in its bodydecrease in the thickness of egg shellsstressdamage to fish eggs, larvae and young fishcontamination of beaches where turtles breed causing contamination of eggs, adult turtles or newly hatched turtlesdamage to estuaries, coral reefs, seagrass and mangrove habitats which are the breeding areas of many fish and crustaceans, interfering with their breedingtainting of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and algainterference with a baleen whales feeding system by tar-like oil, as this type of whale feeds by skimming the surface and filtering out the water andpoisoning of young through the mother, as a dolphin calf can absorb oil through its mothers milk. Animals covered in oil at the tooth root of a spill may be affected differently from animals encountering the oil later. For example, early on, the oil maybe more poisonous, so the wildlife affected early will take in more of the poison. The weather conditions can reduce or increase the potential for oil to cause damage to the envir onment and wildlife. For example, warm seas and high winds will encourage lighter oils to form gases, and will reduce the amount of oil that stays in the water to affect marine life.The impact of an oil spill on wildlife is also affected by where spilled oil reaches. For example, fur seal pups are affected more than adults by oil spills because pups swim in tidal pools and along rocky beachs, whereas the adults swim in open water where it is less likely for oil to linger. Dugongs als feed on seagrass along the coast and therefore be more affected by oil spills.Different resources will be needed to combat an oil spill, depending on the number and type of wildlife that is affected.Climate Change Linked To Migratory Bird DecreaseBiologists believe that climate tilt is affecting living things worldwide, and the latest evidence suggests that warmer winters may mean fewer migratory birds. New research shows that as winter temperatures have risen in central Europe, the number of migrator y birds has dropped. Ultimately, this may also decrease the number of migratory bird species there.We predict that with increasing winter temperaturesthe number of long-distance call migratory bird species should decline, say Nicole Lemoine and Katrin Boehning-Gaese of Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, in the April issue of Conservation Biology.The Earths surface temperature has change magnitude by about a degree F since 1860, and is expected to increase by as much as 10 degrees F more over the next century. Already, climate change is affecting plants and animals in many parts of the world for instance, plants in Europe have a longer growing season, a North American marmot has a shorter hibernation period, and some migratory birds in Europe are starting to breed earlier.Climate change could also affect the abundance and diversity of birds. The idea is that warmer winters could increase the survival of birds that live in an area year-round, which could give migratory birds more rival for resources such as food and nest sites when they return to breed in the spring and that in turn could decrease the total number of migratory birds as well as the number of species.To see if climate change affects the abundance and diversity of migratory birds, Lemoine and Boehning-Gaese analyzed existing bird census and climate data for the Lake Constance region of central Europe, which takes parts of Germany, Austria and Switzer subvert. The researchers determined the number of land bird species and the abundance of each species during two recent census periods (1980-81 and 1990-92). The researchers considered 300 species of land birds and split up them into three categories residents, short-distance migrants (those that migrate an average of roughly 600 to 1,200 miles) and long-distance migrants (those that migrate more than 2,200 miles). There were 122, 80 and 108 species in each category, respectively.While climate change did not affect resident or short -distance migratory birds, Lemoine and Boehning-Gaese found that it did affect the long-distance migrants. Between the two census periods, winters got warmer and the abundance of long-distant migrants decreased. Specifically, the average temperature of the coldest month increased more than four degrees F, and the abundance of long-distance migratory birds decreased by a fifth.Ultimately, warmer winters will probably also decrease the number of long-distance migratory bird species in Central Europe, say the researchers. In addition, the birds migratory behavior will probably evolve. The migratory behavior of bird populations can change in only a few generations, and several populations of wrens, skylarks and other short-distance migrants have stopped migrating in the last 20 years.Migrating Birds Cant Control ThemselvesDuring the spring and fall migratory seasons, sparrows become significantly less capable of resisting temptation. Researchers writing in the open access journalBMC Neu roscienceinvestigated impulse control and sopor in white-crowned sparrows during migratory and non-migratory seasons. During migratory periods, the birds slept very little and became more impulsive, but sleep loss itself was not entirely to blame for their impulsivity. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers studied the effects of migratory status and sleep deprivation on the ability of a group of sparrows to master the urge to peck at a food-giving button.According to study director Ruth Benca, In the wild, despite marked reductions in apparent opportunity to sleep, birds continue to successfully engage in prolonged flight, complex navigation and predator evasion during migration. In the laboratory, weve previously found that birds in the migratory accede can learn to peck at a switch for food as well as birds during non-migratory periods. In contrast, in this study we demonstrate that, relative to birds in the non-migratory state, they struggle to learn when not to peck.This apparent hyperactivity during the migratory period may be conjugated to the fact that the migrating birds sleep periods become divorced from the light/dark cycle they follow during the non-migratory seasons of Summer and Winter separate experiments showed that sleep deprivation alone does not cause this loss of control. Short sleep duration in the summer is also not associated with increased impulsivity.According to Benca, It is conceivable that the temporal fragmentation of migratory sleep plays a role in the migration-specific loss of behavioral inhibition. Whether the inability to inhibit pecking is related to a general failure of inhibition, a distorted common sense of time, in assist to salient cues, or some other underlying mechanism is not entirely clear.How to Prevent unsoundness inBirdsReducing the Risk of Illness in PetBirdsWhile it can be difficult to think about, the reality of bird ownership is that there are many things that can adversely affect a birds health in o ur homes, in the air, and even within the safety of your birds own cage. Reducing the risk of illness as much as possible is a necessity for the majority of bird owners, and can be done by working to eliminate the major risk factors in your birds environment. profits close attention to the information below to patron your bird ward off some of the most common illnesses that affect birds in captivity. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of curePractice good hygiene.Practicing goodhygienearound your bird can go a long way toward preventing the onset of illness in your pet. In addition to washing your hands both before and after you handle your featherlike friend, you should also take time to make sure that your birds toys, dishes, and other cage accessories are cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis. Practice good cage-cleaning techniques by changing the liner at least once a day, and doing a deep, thorough scrubbing weekly. Taking these sorts of sta irs will help reduce the your birds risk of being exposed to viruses and bacteria that may find their ways into your pets living space.SolutionIn BriefHuman history has followed a pattern-which began in Africa but is now global in scope-of exploiting nature and depleting resources. As we have expanded our influence over the world, we have also extinguished species and populations at an alarming rate. Despite attempts to reduce biodiversity loss, the trend is likely to continue nearly 20% of all humans-more than a billion-now live within biodiversity hotspots, and their growth rate is faster than the population at large. This article presents nine steps to reduce biodiversity loss, with a goal of categorizing human-caused extinctions as wrongs, such as the slave trade and child labor, that are unacceptable to society. These steps include developing a system of lay that highlight the planets biological legacy, much as historical landmarks celebrate human history. Legal prohibitions t hat are fairly and capably enforced will also be essential in protecting rare and declining species. Biodiversity endowments-from national governments, nongovernmental organizations, and private enterprises-can help support parks and native species in perpetuity. Like a good sports team, conservationists need to defend extant wilderness areas, but they also need to play discourtesy by restoring ecosystems, reclaiming keystone and umbrella species, and making human landscapes more hospitable to biodiversity. In the long run, the most effective forms of conservation will be those that engage local stakeholders the cultivation of sustainable ecosystems and their services essential be promoted along with conservation of endangered species and populations. The emerging field of ecological economics can unite these goals by revealing the connections between human wellbeing and conservation.Key ConceptsExtinction is likely to be one of our longest-lasting legacies.To address this crisis , we will need landscape-level management of wilderness and human-impacted areas, community involvement, legislation, economic incentives, bioliteracy, unified conservation science, and attention to the prime drivers of extinction growth of the human population and its aggregate consumption.The new field of ecological economics, which synthesizes human activities and natural processes, can quantify the costs and benefits of biodiversity protection.We need a social transformation, through education and ecological literacy, to make human-caused extinction a thing of the past, like the slave trade, apartheid, and the Iron Curtain.In 2008, the Royal nightspot for the Protection of Birds in the UK announced a final call to find the slender-billed curlew, a one-time resident of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, last seen in 1999. Meanwhile, scientists in Australia articulate the white lemuroid possum extinct a native of mountain forests in Queensland, the possum was the first m ammalian extinction blamed exclusively on global warming.. Two critically endangered frog species were declared extinct, despite their protection by a Costa Rican national park. More than 140 species of mammals, 24 birds, 6 reptiles, and 5 amphibiouss deteriorated in conservation status, moving from lower to higher risk categories of concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the global authority on the conservation status of the worlds animals and plants.1Only 37 mammals improved during this period, along with two birds and one amphibian.Unfortunately, the year 2008 was not exceptional in these respects. The biodiversity crisis is by now as well known as it is tragic. The species extinction rate is of great concern. At least 76 mammal species are known to have gone extinct since 1500, with several others on the verge.2The baiji, a freshwater dolphin of the Yangtze, will almost certainly join the list soon. The Scimitar-horned oryx and Pere Davids deer now probably exist o nly in captivity. Marine mammals are in severe danger, e additionally in northern oceans. Things are even worse for other, less celebrated, taxa. More than 70% of North Americas freshwater mussel species are on the edge of extinction.3Since the Polynesians first arrived on Hawaii 1,600 years ago, more than 70% of the islands native birds have disappeared.4Since 1850, the extinction rate for the worlds birds has been about 100 times higher than the background rate in the fossil record. More than 10% of all bird species remain threatened. Seabirds have been in special jeopardy-rats took out many island colonies, and about 130 of the 450 remaining species are threatened with extinction-but forest birds arent faring much better. If deforestation continues at the present pace, so many birds may disappear that their extinction rate will increase by more than an order of magnitude by the end of the century.5The problem is much large than species loss. The diversity of life spans many leve ls, from strands of DNA within an individualistic to entire ecosystems comprising billions of organisms and thousands of species. Extinction occurs adaptation by adaptation, population by population, habitat by habitat. The slicing of a population is often a prelude to species extinction,6but species can lose their ecological relevance long before they go extinct, as their meter dwindle and they no longer remain key players in the system. Many extant species are now absent from more than half of their historic ranges. As organisms disappear, we lose our natural capital-the ecological goods and services that enrich and sustain our lives. That deforestation and overgrazing can lead to erosion and desertification is as obvious as the Sahel, but other connections-such as the rise of malaria and hemorrhagic fevers in disturbed lands-are becoming more apparent as our ecological footprints and understanding of diseases expand. There is a growing acknowledgement that our natural heritag e is at risk, irreplaceable, and central to our well-being.There are potential remedies for these problems, but they will take effort and determination. The financial crisis made front-page news every day in early 2009. The global extinction crisis barely was mentioned. Yet economic recessions are a blip in history, whereas the effects of runaway extinction will linger for zillions of years. Paleontologists have identified long lags in the evolution of new organisms following major extinction events, largely because diversity begets diversity. Extinction chips away at the genetic and ecological engines of speciation. With fewer genetic lineages, there is a reduction in the raw material of evolution variation in DNA. A reduction in ecosystems and unique niches means fewer opportunities for new organisms to evolve. The drop in the number of species, genera, and families on the planet is likely to be a undestroyable legacy of human activities. We will be poorer without a rich store o f biodiversity-in spirit, in health, and even in our pocketbooks. Here are nine tactics that could help moderate human-caused extinctions. Most of these suggestions have been made before, repeatedly, but they warrant our continued and ever-more-urgent attention.Landscape1. Biodiversity ParksMany countries have national parks that feature special landscapes and geological formations the volcanic caldera of Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Mount Kilimanjaro. In addition to these traditional and essential parks, there is a need to protect a carefully knowing network of reserves on each continent and in every ocean. This global series, or archipelago, of biological refuges-biodiversity parks-will preserve key features of the Earths biological legacy transmitted from the evolutionary past into the future. Such parks, in effect, would celebrate and honor the evolutionary heritage reflected in biological diversity, just as traditional national parks and monuments preserve special geologica l features or honor important historical events in human affairs. Rather than merely constructing museums that memorialize biocide, biodiversity parks would offer expressed protection for endangered species and evolutionarily distinctive ecosystems. The task is not as insurmountable as it might appear. By preserving and endowing just 25 biodiversity hotspots (less than two percent of the earths land area) we could help protect 44% of vascular plant species and 35% of all species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians for $500 million a year7-less than 0.1% of the funds allocated to the United States Troubled Asset computer backup Program (TARP) to bail out incompetent financial institutions.One difficulty with many current park systems is that reserves often tend to be on residual lands that are not very valuable for resource extraction or human subsistence. A study of new reserves in Australia showed that they were typically gazetted on steep and infertile public lands, areas least in need of protection.8Without proper planning, ad hoc reserves can be ineffective, often occupying less cultivatable land, making the goal of protecting biodiversity more expensive and less likely to succeed. Well-placed networks of sanctuaries, designed with an awareness of ongoing climate disruption and the unique biotic facets of the sites, can help shepherd many species through the extinction crisis.In discussing parks, we often think of landscapes, but the biodiversity crisis affects aquatic systems as well. Protection of the oceans requires safeguards against overfishing and networks of marine reserves that include rich nearshore habitats (such as coral reefs and upwellings) as well as deep-sea vents and abyssal plains. As on land, these protected areas should range from strict nature reserves where fishing and extraction are forbidden to seascapes that are managed for their cultural and ecological value. Areas that are open to exploitation should be managed sustainab ly to meet the long-term resource ineluctably of local communities, while providing natural services such as recreational opportunities and water purification.92. Ecologically Reclaimed and Restored HabitatsHumans need to play conservation offense as well as defense. Beyond the immediate concern with the loss of a particular population, species, or ecosystem, a focus on long-term recovery and biological revival is also essential. Scientific research can inform the restoration of local habitats and help renaturalize entire ecosystems by uniting scattered fragments.In Costa Rica, scientists, businesspeople, politicians, and the local community helped regenerate 700 square kilometers of a tropical forest system-an area assaulted by ranching, hunting, logging, and fires for almost 400 years. They purchased large tracts of land, stopped the factory farm and fires, and let nature take back its original terrain.10Restoration relying on successional recovery is not always so predictable, however. The reintroduction of fire to sand barren prairies that had been overgrow with willow was not enough to restore the prairie. The woody vegetation was resistant to the fire regime.11For that reason, restoration ecologists are often needed to ensure the recovery of troubled lands.12Thousands of species have been eradicated or imperiled by the construction of ill-conceived dams throughout the world. It is too late for the many freshwater mussels and fish that have gone extinct, but for others the damage still can be reversed. The removal of the Edwards Dam from the Kennebec River in Maine restored large numbers of eels, sturgeon, and striped bass to upstream habitats, where they had been absent for more than 150 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funds competitive grants for private stewardship of lands, with an emphasis on endangered species habitat. Dozens of federal grants support restoration projects such as prairie streams for the Topeka blow in Iowa, aquatic sy stems for Arctic grayling in Montana, grasslands for a threatened milk-vetch and other plant species in Oregon, and habitat for sage grouse in Colorado.13The reintroduction of individual species can play an important role in rewilding parks and their surrounding ecosystems. Large animals are especially prone to extinction, yet they are often key to ecological dynamics. The return of a megafaunal species to its historic range can yield many benefits undo a population extinction, make habitats more interesting and kindle for locals and visitors, and restore ecological interactions (often with positive system-wide consequences). There have been several successful examples of repatriation, though far from enough. Bald eagles now nest in every state in the continental U.S., and populations have increased by more than an order of magnitude since their lows in the 1960s. Przewalskis wild horse has been reclassified from Extinct in the Wild to Critically Endangered, with more than 300 free -ranging individuals now roaming Mongolia. After several decades of absence from the park, gray wolves released by the Yellowstone Wolf Recovery Team in 1995 produced some surprising changes survivorship of pronghorn antelope fawns increased fourfold, as coyote densities declined where wolves were present14streamside vegetation returned as elk browsing declined and tourists flocked to the region, spawning a new type of ecotourism-wolf watching-now a $35 million a year industry.15Some have argued that one way to restore ecological interactions that were lost with the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna would be to introduce analogs, or current counterparts, from elsewhere. For example, bringing Asian elephants to North America might provide seed dispersers for certain plants that co-evolved with mastodons.16There is no scientific or ethical consensus about the sapience of such expensive and transformative action. Yet the possibility that genetic engineers might one day be able t o bring extinct megafauna such woolly mammoths to life from frozen ancient DNA17should prompt us to consider whether, if such efforts are successful, mammoths are something worth restoring to landscapes that have not seen them in 11,000 years.Community3. The Fabric of Local CommunitiesAs scholars, biologists mostly observe. They build models, experiment, and-on good days-make new empirical or conceptual connections the effects of pesticides on egg development, the role of disease in amphibian declines, or the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem function. Such studies take place on the modest spatial scale of a Petri dish, a common garden, or maybe a local landscape, and at the modest temporal scale of a few years. To ameliorate the extinction crisis, though, science must move beyond such focused analyses-i