Download The Science of Conservation

The Science of Conservation
Sidney Burningham
10:00-10:50 a.m.
March 26, 2012
“In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by
what we refuse to destroy.” John C. Sawhill said this at the Nature Conservancy in
the year 2000. This illustrates why I decided to write on the science of
conservation. There are organisms on every square inch of our planet. There are so
many different types of organisms. An endangered species is defined as a species
that has experienced a population loss of at least fifty percent in three generations
or ten years, whichever is longer. It is the second-highest risk category assigned by
the ICUN. I want to report on the research I’ve done on this topic including the
basic structure of our planet and it’s inhabitants, what is being done to conserve
them and put a little emphasis on the endangered species of the Giant Panda Bear.
Biologists now organize organisms in cell structure and DNA sequences.
There are Bacteria, Archaea, Protists and fungi of all animals. They all adapt and can
live in extreme conditions on our planet. There are places in the world more suited
for specific species than others. Biologists start out by finding and naming newfound species and then researching which role each plays in order to manage earth
wisely. The classification system invented by Carolus Linnaeus is a way to
determine an organism and give it a name. When we know the name and can pick
out a specific species we can then determine how to conserve them and identify how
many there are in the world to then determine if they are endangered or in fear of
extinction. Biologists can also study their ecosystems and habitats to determine
flaws and problems. There are many threats on our planet that threaten our wildlife
and can be explained by science. There is Climate change, pollution, habitat loss,
and land degradation.
There are several factors in our atmosphere that can affect our wildlife and
their habitats. Global warming for example by definition is the increase in Earth’s
atmosphere. This rise in temperature is due to an increase in greenhouse gases the
most important one to remember is Carbon Dioxide. We as humans use Carbon
Dioxide in a lot of what we do today so a lot of the reason our ice covered places in
the world are melting and the temperature is increasing is because of us. For
example, the Polar Bear in the arctic could not live without the ice and freezing
temperature there. Another consequence of global warming to our wildlife is that
the tropical rainforests are effected by El Nino’s. An El Nino is were tropical surface
waters of the ocean are alternately warmed and cooled. The effect on climate is
different from region to region but on a global scale it raises and lowers
temperature and rainfall and in doing this it increases the frequency and intensity of
storms which threaten our planet animals and humans alike. It is proven
scientifically that this is happening and that global warming has become something
to be scared of. Since the Ice Age the earth has risen approximately 0.9 degrees
Fareinheit and from 1900 another 0.9 degrees. As said before it is caused by
greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide. Scientists have made
chemical measurements of trapped glacial air bubbles, carbon dioxide
concentrations have expanded the same with surface temperature. Concentrations
of carbon dioxide on our planet is at it’s all time high and there is no sign of it
slowing down, a lot of this could be due to industrial activity. It is important to cut
back on our greenhouse gases in order to preserve these habitats for these animals
that need them even though we don’t in some places. Another problem is the
threats to biodiversity on our planet. Disease is a huge part of that. There is
definitely a connection between species extinction and release of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere.
Through evolution, new species arrive due to speciation. They are then able
to find their ecological niche. A species becomes extinct when there are no more of
the species on Earth or can become virtually extinct if it has come down to the last
few who cannot reproduce due to gender, sickness, or old age. Wildlife conservation
is being helped due to help in the loss of biodiversity. They have to take it account
ecological principles with each habitat but the problem is balancing the needs of
animals with the needs of humans.
There is a very interesting subject that has been looked at in the conservation
of wildlife and that is cloning. Technology has allowed us as humans to become
more aware and be able to accomplish cloning to save endangered species. This is
usually done by nuclear transfer, which is use of nuclear DNA of other individuals. It
has been used the problem is we have a lack of success rate in these cloning
experiments but it has been proven it can work and does work with specific training
and technology. Another interesting subject in preserving these animals is called
double-clutching which is defined as the technique of removing one set of an
animal’s eggs to stimulate production of another set while the first set is artificially
incubated in order to reproduce later. This way has been pretty successful.
I’d like to just spend a minute on the Giant Panda Bear just a few simple facts
about them and what is being done to preserve this species that has become
endangered. They lived in the valleys of China and Tibet for twenty-two million
years going from one bamboo forest to the next. They are forced to keep going for
higher and higher ground because humans have settled in their bamboo forests.
Today there are 1,590 living in the wild and 239 living in captivity. The problem
with these animals is they live off bamboo but from research we know that bamboo
goes through flowering and dying and it can take up to a year for a bamboo to grow
again in the wild. Wild giant pandas also do not reproduce poorly, but they
reproduce slowly which means they cannot quickly replace animals lost to poachers
and lack of bamboo. Today much research has been done on the Panda Bear and we
now know their life cycle, about their cubs, and their endangered species status.
Classification in the Linnaeus Carolus classification system has been clarified and it
is Ailuropus melanoleucus melanoleucus which literally means black and white bear.
One thing that has caused these bears to become endangered is flooding which is when
there is just too much rainfall for a certain area and nowhere for it to go. Biologically
when the bears were put into captivity they lost their desire to mate with the others. They
were reproduced by artificial insemination, which is another effort biologists are working
on that has been pretty successful.
In conclusion, conservation of science is something that is changing
everyday but there are certain methods of technology and knowledge we’ve gained in the
biology world that can contribute to saving these species that are about to be extinct from
the world.
WORKS CITED
Wilson, Edward Osborne. "The Bottleneck and Nature's Last
Stand." The Future of Life. 1st ed. Vol. 1. New York: Distributed
by Random House, 2002. Print.
Corwin, Jeff. "Losing Ground and The Glossary." 100
Heartbeats: The Race to save Earth's Most Endangered Species.
Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 2010. Print.
Lumpkin, Susan, and John Seidensticker. "The Conservation
Challenge." Smithsonian Book of Giant Pandas. Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2002. Print.