When deciding whether a species should be added to the Endangered Species List, the following criteria are evaluated:. If the answer to one or more of the above questions is yes, then the species can be listed under the Endangered Species Act. Once a species becomes listed as "threatened" or "endangered," it receives special protections by the federal government.
A listed plant is protected if on federal property or if federal actions are involved, such as the issuing of a federal permit on private land. The term "take" is used in the Endangered Species Act to include "harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct. The primary goal of the Endangered Species Act is to make species' populations healthy and vital so they can be delisted from the Endangered Species Act.
Under the Endangered Species Act, the U. The two organizations actively invest time and resources to help bring endangered or threatened species back from the brink of extinction. Endangered Species Day, which falls on the third Friday in May each year, is a day to celebrate endangered species success stories and learn about species still in danger. Learn what the National Wildlife Federation is doing to protect endangered species and how to support Endangered Species Day.
Endangered Species. Learn about the life-saving efforts that led to celebrated comebacks. A groundbreaking bipartisan bill aims to address the looming wildlife crisis before it's too late, while creating sorely needed jobs. More than one-third of U.
We're on the ground in seven regions across the country, collaborating with 52 state and territory affiliates to reverse the crisis and ensure wildlife thrive. Uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world. Inspire a lifelong connection with wildlife and wild places through our children's publications, products, and activities. In 4 seconds , you will be redirected to nwfactionfund. These include measures to allow for the consideration of economic impacts when enforcing the ESA, ending the practice of automatically giving threatened species the same protection as endangered species, and making it easier to remove species from the endangered list.
In a way, this is nothing new because the ESA has been under attack for decades from construction, development, logging, water management, fossil fuel extraction and other industries that contend the act stifles economic development. But between and alone, there were almost attempts to undercut the ESA; and last year, from July 8 to 22, Republicans in Congress or the Trump administration introduced 24 such measures and spending bill riders.
The Trump Administration recently opened up nine million acres of sage-grouse habitat to drilling and mining. Endangered species, if not protected, could eventually become extinct—and extinction has a myriad of implications for our food, water, environment and even health.
Ninety-nine percent of all species that have ever lived have gone extinct over the course of five mass extinctions, which, in the past, were largely a result of natural causes such as volcano eruptions and asteroid impacts. Today, the rate of extinction is occurring 1, to 10, times faster because of human activity. The main modern causes of extinction are the loss and degradation of habitat mainly deforestation , over exploitation hunting, overfishing , invasive species, climate change, and nitrogen pollution.
There are also other threats to species such as the pervasive plastic pollution in the ocean—a recent study found that percent of sea turtles had plastic or microplastic in their systems. This loggerhead was entangled in a line dragging a plastic bucket. Photo: U. Coast Guard, Matt Strucic. Emerging diseases affecting more and more wildlife species such as bats, frogs and salamanders are the result of an increase in travel and trade, which allows pests and pathogens to hitch rides to new locations, and warming temperatures that enable more pests to survive and spread.
Wildlife trafficking also continues to be a big problem because for some species, the fewer members there are, the more valuable they become to poachers and hunters. This includes 40 percent of amphibians, 34 percent of conifers, 33 percent of reef-building corals , 25 percent of mammals and 14 percent of birds. In the U. While it may seem unimportant if we lose one salamander or rat species, it matters because all species are connected through their interactions in a web of life.
A balanced and biodiverse ecosystem is one in which each species plays an important role and relies on the services provided by other species to survive. Healthy ecosystems are more productive and resistant to disruptions. An often-cited example is the impact of the wolves in Yellowstone Park, which were hunted to near extinction by Without them, the elk and deer they had preyed upon thrived, and their grazing decimated streamside willows and aspens, which had provided habitat for songbirds.
This left the stream banks susceptible to erosion, and a decline in songbirds allowed mosquitoes and other insects the birds would have eaten to multiply. When the wolves were reintroduced to the park in , they once again preyed on the elk; plant life returned to the stream banks and along with it, birds, beavers, fish and other animals.
Note: David Bernhardt, acting secretary of the Department of the Interior, just announced a proposal to strip gray wolves of their endangered status in the Lower 48 states. Kelp forests are another classic example. They play an important role in coastal ecosystems because they provide habitat for other species, protect the coastline from storm surges and absorb carbon dioxide.
Otter in a kelp field. Photo: Doug Knuth. Yet kelp forests are rapidly getting mowed down by exploding numbers of purple sea urchin. California sea otters eat the purple sea urchins that feed on giant kelp. These otters used to number in the hundreds of thousands to millions, but their population has been reduced to about 3, as a result of unchecked hunting in the 19th century and pollution. Moreover, in the sunflower starfish, which also eats purple sea urchins, began dying because of a virus that was likely exacerbated by warmer waters.
Without the sea otter and the sunflower starfish predators, the purple sea urchin began feasting on the kelp forests, which declined 93 percent between and A new study found that kelp forests are now also threatened by ocean heat waves. Fish that need the kelp forests for spawning, such as sculpin, rock cod and red snapper may become vulnerable in the future as well. And Guam is covered in spiders because the birds are not there to eat them.
These large species are more vulnerable because they live longer, reproduce more slowly, have small populations, and need more food and a greater habitat area. Scientists say their loss has played a role in pandemics, fires, the decline of valued species and the rise of invasive ones, the reduction of ecosystem services, and decreased carbon sequestration. Elephants are an apex species that may go extinct in our lifetime, as a result of tourism, habitat loss and poaching for ivory.
It hampered fertility and egghatching success in these species. In another example, lichens and certain plants like the eastern white pine are good indicators of excess ozone, sulfur dioxide, and other air pollutants.
Species like these can alert us to the effects of some contaminants before more damage is done. Freshwater mussels are also very effective environmental indicators. The eastern United States boasts the richest diversity of freshwater mussels in the world. These animals are filter feeders, drawing in water and straining out food particles. Their method of feeding helps to keep our waters clean.
But because mussels filter material from the water, they are often the first animals to be affected by water pollution. They tend to accumulate whatever toxins, such as chemicals in agricultural and industrial runoff, are present in their habitat. Too much pollution can eliminate the mussels. Other threats to mussel populations include siltation, the introduction of competing nonnative mussels, stream channelization and dredging, and the impoundment of free-flowing streams and rivers.
Today, most native freshwater mussel species are considered to be endangered, threatened or of special concern. Ecosystem services include air and water purification, detoxification and decomposition of wastes, climate regulation, regeneration of soil fertility, and the production and maintenance of biological diversity.
These are the key ingredients of our agricultural, pharmaceutical, and industrial enterprises. Such services are estimated to be worth trillions of dollars annually. Yet because most of these services are not traded in economic markets, they carry no price tags that could alert society to changes in their supply or declines in their functioning.
We tend to pay attention only when they decline or fail. An emerging field called phytoremediation is an example of the ecosystem services provided by plants. Phytoremediation is a process that uses plants to remove, transfer, stabilize and destroy contaminants in soil and sediment.
Certain plant species known as metal hyperaccumulators have the ability to extract elements from the soil and concentrate them in the easily harvested plant stems, shoots, and leaves. In the home, houseplants under some conditions can effectively remove benzene, formaldehyde and certain other pollutants from the air. Some benefits of animals and plants can be quantified. A host of small rural towns host festivals to vie for the attention of these birders.
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