Emma: Why people care about wildlife conservation

            From 2001 to 2014, approximately 173 species on Earth were made extinct by humans through the wildlife trade, pollution, habitat loss and the use of toxic substances (Ceballos, 2020). Currently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has announced shocking statistics on The Red List of Threatened Species, which indicates that “38,500 species are threatened with extinction, including 41% of amphibians, 37% of sharks and rays, 34% of conifers, 33% of reef building corals, 26% of mammals and 14% of birds”. Unfortunately, this trend has not ended. In fact, the risk of losing biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems that people depend on to survive are ongoing, and it is entirely mankind’s fault. Because wildlife conservation seems to be a tedious thing to do and people can forget to consider how their actions have put huge pressure on other species and nature, this essay is going to explain the reasons why people should be worried about endangered species.

For some people, it does not matter when a salamander or an elephant dies, or they have not noticed when they cannot hear bird songs in the area where they live. However, such tiny losses of animals has made ecosystema a little fragile. The loss of one species creates butterfly effects which have profound impacts on the rest of ecosystems, as when a species interacts with another species, they gain benefits from the interactions, which allows them to survive. Renee Cho (2019) also points out that species have their unique roles in the food chain. If one of them is diminished in the food chain, the effects of the loss will pass on to the whole environment, causing the ecosystems to become vulnerable to disruptions. In Central Asia and South Asia, the snow leopard is a good example of how endangered species are important to the balance of the ecosystem in the regions. The WFF study indicates that as they perform their functions as top predators by hunting plant-eaters such as mountain sheep and goats, they influence the populations of their prey so that these animal species do not overgraze the land, which will in turn create food shortages for other animals living lower down the food chain.

Another reason why people should care about protecting animal species from extinction is that they are major producers of foods. Despite of the advancements in food technologies, humans still depend on nature to nourish the sources of foods that are consumed for diets, nutrition and medicine. For instance, since most of plants, flowers and crops rely on insects, birds and bats to reproduce, the decline in populations of the animal pollinators has threatened agricultural productivity. The study from  J. Ollerton,  R. Winfree, and S. Tarrant (2011) indicates that over 100,000 different plant species and crops are pollinated by insects and other animals. As Marla Spivak mentioned at TED Global in 2013, more than one third of the world’s crop production depends on bees. Not only insects such as bees and butterflies serve as animal pollinators, but some birds also perform the same function. According to Bird Life International (2019), they pollinate 5% of the plants that humans use for food or medicine, and losing them will cause those plant species to disappear. The study points out that, for example, protecting the bird pollinators on a Hawaiian island can save 31 species of Hawaiian bellflowers on the island from extinction. Similarly, bats are important for pollination. As mentioned by Elissa Nunez (n.d.), over 500 types of plants such as mangoes, bananas, and avocados rely on bats for pollinating their flowers to produce fruits.

Moreover, despite serving as the perfect places for leisure activities for humans, the oceans and marine creatures, threatened by plastic pollution, climate change and overfishing, are a vital food resource. Jackie Savitz (2013) argues that if 10 to 25 countries had implemented good fishery management, including setting a limited number of fish that can be caught, reducing by-catch and maintaining the environment of the oceans that nurtures the sea life, then 700 million people could have consumed healthy fish meals, which are a great source of protein. By protecting these animal species, we can have sufficient diets to help us stay in  good health and save starvation.

In sum, people should realize and understand how the horrifying  impacts caused by human activities cause other life to be at risk of extinction. Since we are the main driver of the degradation of ecosystems, we are the ones to end it. 

References

Ceballos, G., Ehrlich, P.R., Raven, P.H. (2020, June 1). Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction. PNAS. https://www.pnas.org/content/117/24/13596

Cho R., (2019, March 26). Why Endangered Species Matter. Columbia Climate School Climate, Earth, and Society: State of Planet. https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2019/03/26/endangered-species-matter/

The International Union for Conservation of Nature. (n.d.). Background & History. https://www.iucnredlist.org/about/background-history

WWF. (n.d.). The Snow Leopard: Elegant and Elusive. https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/snow-leopards

Ollerton, J., Winfree, R., Tarrant, S. (2011, February 21) How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals?. Oikos. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x

TEDGlobal 2013. (2013, June). TEDGlobal2013 - Marla Spivak - Why bees are disappearing [Video]. YouTube. https://www.ted.com/talks/marla_spivak_why_bees_are_disappearing

Law. J., (2019, January 4). Why we need birds (far more than they need us). BirdLife International. https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/why-we-need-birds-far-more-they-need-us

Nunez. E., (n.d.). Bats. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/bats

TEDxMidAtlantic 2013. (2013, October). TEDxMidAtlantic 2013 - Jackie Savitz – Save the oceans, feed the world! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.ted.com/talks/jackie_savitz_save_the_oceans_feed_the_world