ES Ch 7.3 LESSON Sustaining Wild Species

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Environmental Science, 1e
SUSTAINING YOUR WORLD
G. TYLER MILLER | SCOTT E. SPOOLMAN

7

Saving Species and Ecosystem

Services

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• Enact and enforce national environmental laws and

international treaties

• Set aside protected lands
• Develop programs to protect, breed captive species

7.3 How Can We Sustain Wild Species and Ecosystem
Services?

Drag and Drop

Enact and enforce ​

Placeholder

environmental laws and ​

Placeholder

treaties 

Set aside protected ​

Placeholder

Develop programs to protect, breed captive ​

Placeholder

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

national

international

lands

species

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
(CITES)

– Signed by 181 countries—bans hunting, capturing,

and selling of threatened and endangered species,
products made from them

– Protects about 35,000 species of plants/animals

– Enforcement varies from country to country

• Countries can be exempt from protecting a species

• Most violations happen in non-participating countries

CITES

Categorize

Options (4)

bans hunting and selling endangered species in 181 countries

protects 35000 species

countries can exempt themselves from species

violations occur in non-participating countries

Organize these options into the right categories

CITES pros

CITES cons

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• Treaty was signed by 193 countries.

– As of 2015, the United States had not signed it.

• CBD commits to reducing biodiversity loss and sharing the

world’s genetic resources.

– Including efforts to control/prevent the spread of invader species

– Focuses on ecosystems, not individual species

– Lacks enforcement, severe penalties

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Multiple Select

How is the Convention of Biological Diversity different from

CITES (on the previous slide)

Select THREE

• It is an international treaty

• it focuses on ecosystems instead of species

• addresses the problem of invasive species

• does not have enforcement or severe penalties

• It is signed by over 150 countries

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• National U.S. law first passed in 1973

– Designed to identify and protect endangered/threatened species

in U.S., abroad

• Creates recovery plans, de-lists species

• Monitors commercial wildlife shipments/trade, protects species on private

lands

• Most successful, far-reaching law

– Three-quarters of listed species have recovery plans

– 99% species saved from extinction

– Critical habitat has increased significantly

• Critics have been trying to weaken it.

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

Multiple Select

What are some successes of the Endangered Species Act?

• increased critical habitats

• 99% of listed species have not gone extinct

• recovery plans have been enacted for 3/4 of species

• there are no critics of this plan

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• The National Wildlife Refuge System was established by

President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903.

– By 2014: more than 560 refuges in the system

• Wetlands are protected in ¾ of these refuges and this protects waterfowl

migration.

• At least ¼ of all U.S. endangered and threatened species have habitats in

these wildlife refuges.

– Unfortunately, activities harmful to wildlife (mining, oil drilling, use

of off-road vehicles) occur in nearly 60% of these wildlife refuges.

Wildlife Refuges Can Help Protect Species

Drag and Drop

1. Wetlands are protected in ​

Placeholder

of these refuges and this protects waterfowl migration.

2. At least ​

Placeholder

of all U.S. endangered and threatened species have habitats in these wildlife refuges.

3. Activities harmful to wildlife still occur in nearly ​

Placeholder

of these wildlife refuges.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

¾

¼

60%

90%

½

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• Plant genetic information is preserved in climate-controlled

seed banks (Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the arctic).

• Botanical gardens contain living plants that represent

one-third of Earth’s plant species.

• Arboretums allow for the scientific study and public display

of various species of trees and shrubs.

Preserving Plant Species

Match

Match the following

• contains and preserves plant genetic information

• grow live plants

  (about a third of species)

• public display and scientific study of trees and shrubs

seed banks

botanical gardens

arboretums

• seed banks

• botanical gardens

• arboretums

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• Some endangered species are being preserved in zoos and

aquariums using:

– Egg pulling (removing eggs from the wild to be hatched in zoos)

– Captive breeding (some wild species are collected and bred in

zoos)

– Other techniques: artificial insemination, embryo transfer, incubatprs

• Commercial farming can take pressure of wild populations

of endangered species.

Captive Breeding Programs

– Cross fostering (captive born wolf pups are placed with a wild
pack - increases genetic diversity)

Match

Match the following

• placing captive born newborns with wild animals

• collecting a wild species to be bred in a zoo

• removing eggs from the wild to be hatched in zoos

Cross Fostering

Captive Breeding

Egg Pulling

• Cross Fostering

• Captive Breeding

• Egg Pulling

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• The major issue is genetic variation.

– Scientists estimate that 10,000 or more endangered individuals of

a species are needed to maintain the species’ capacity for biological evolution

• Zoos do not have the space or money to maintain these kinds of

populations

• Aquariums offer displays for education, but cannot serve

as gene banks.

Captive Breeding and Genetic Variation

Fill in the Blanks

How many individuals in a population are probably needed to supply enough genetic variation for long term survival?

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• Should the focus be to protect species, or to protect

ecosystems and the services they provide?

• How do we allocate limited resources between these two

ideas?

• How do we decide which species to protect—the most

threatened or those that are keystone species?

Efforts To Protect Species Raise Difficult Questions

Multiple Select

What are three difficult questions raised by efforts to protect species?

• Protect species or ecosystems?

• Protect threatened or keystone species?

• How should resources be allocated?

• Do we even need to save ecosystems and species?

© 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

• More challenging questions:

– Is it more important to focus on protecting species humans find

appealing or on species of ecological importance?

– How do we determine which habitats are most in need of

protection?

– How do we allocate limited resources among biodiversity hotspots?

• Consumers can help by avoiding products made from

threatened/endangered species.

Limitations of Financial and Human Resources Raise
Additional Questions

Multiple Select

What limitations raise questions like, "How do we determine which habitats are most in need of protection?"

• not enough money to go around

• not enough people to help everywhere

• not enough research to establish the need to help

• not many habitats need help