As a student, suggest ways to minimize the effects of habitat destruction that will eventually lead to biodiversity loss and species extinction. Write your answers in a maximum of 5 sentences.
As previously discussed, a small geographic range makes a species particularly vulnerable to global extinction. Many of the threats to species are geographically restricted, so species with large ranges will survive somewhere even if they are locally extirpated. Species with small ranges do not have this “reserve.” Moreover, as also was mentioned above, species with small geographic ranges tend to be rare within them—they have low population densities.
The collections of plants and animals on islands are often rich in endemic species; those species that are restricted to particular islands must inevitably have small ranges. Since 1600 the great majority of known bird extinctions have been on islands. The problem of extinction is not just limited to islands, however, as the previous sections amply describe.
In sum, combined endemism and rarity are the factors that confer the greatest risk of extinction.
Body size and related reproductive characteristics
Generally, the larger the body size of an animal, the longer it lives and the fewer offspring it produces each year. Relatively large animals also tend to have relatively low population densities; thus, a viable population of, say, elephants occupies considerably more space than an equal-sized population of rabbits. Large predators such as tigers (Panthera tigris) have lower population densities than the herbivores on which they feed. A tiger has a home range that may occupy 100 square km (40 square miles), while a rabbit may survive in 1 hectare (0.004 square mile).
Large animals, by virtue of their low population densities, are at increased risk of extinction. Moreover, an animal species that produces few offspring each year and that suffers a major loss in numbers from human activity will need more time to recover than a species with high reproductive rates. Again taking the tiger as an example, a tiger population large enough to avoid all the perils of low population size (including the chance that all offspring will be the same sex or that genetic inbreeding will occur) requires extremely large areas. Although the tiger is not considered an endemic species—it has a very large geographic range, stretching over much of eastern and southern Asia—its rarity in that range means that it is nonetheless vulnerable to extinction from human activity.
Answers & Comments
Answer:
Which species are most vulnerable to extinction?
Endemism and rarity
As previously discussed, a small geographic range makes a species particularly vulnerable to global extinction. Many of the threats to species are geographically restricted, so species with large ranges will survive somewhere even if they are locally extirpated. Species with small ranges do not have this “reserve.” Moreover, as also was mentioned above, species with small geographic ranges tend to be rare within them—they have low population densities.
The collections of plants and animals on islands are often rich in endemic species; those species that are restricted to particular islands must inevitably have small ranges. Since 1600 the great majority of known bird extinctions have been on islands. The problem of extinction is not just limited to islands, however, as the previous sections amply describe.
In sum, combined endemism and rarity are the factors that confer the greatest risk of extinction.
Body size and related reproductive characteristics
Generally, the larger the body size of an animal, the longer it lives and the fewer offspring it produces each year. Relatively large animals also tend to have relatively low population densities; thus, a viable population of, say, elephants occupies considerably more space than an equal-sized population of rabbits. Large predators such as tigers (Panthera tigris) have lower population densities than the herbivores on which they feed. A tiger has a home range that may occupy 100 square km (40 square miles), while a rabbit may survive in 1 hectare (0.004 square mile).
Large animals, by virtue of their low population densities, are at increased risk of extinction. Moreover, an animal species that produces few offspring each year and that suffers a major loss in numbers from human activity will need more time to recover than a species with high reproductive rates. Again taking the tiger as an example, a tiger population large enough to avoid all the perils of low population size (including the chance that all offspring will be the same sex or that genetic inbreeding will occur) requires extremely large areas. Although the tiger is not considered an endemic species—it has a very large geographic range, stretching over much of eastern and southern Asia—its rarity in that range means that it is nonetheless vulnerable to extinction from human activity.
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