US seeks to list
wolverines as threatened, cites global warming
Laura Zuckerman
Rueters
February 1, 2013
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=us-seeks-to-list-wolverines-as-thre
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| This photo shows a picture of a wolverine in its natural habitat-snowy areas. As the snow continues to melt from global warming, wolverines will have their homes taken away from them and many will not survive. |
Summary: The endangered
and threatened species list may have a new addition soon. The United States
government is considering adding wolverines to list since there are less than
300 remaining. Although humans and other people like skiers in snow areas do
not directly disturb the areas in which they live, humans are indirectly
hurting them from global warming.
The wolverines are becoming threatened because of warmer temperatures
and less snow. Before global warming majorly took place, the wolverines’
population decreased because hunters treasure their fur and trap and poison
them to get their prize. Many are aggravated that authorities are trying to
take care of the wolverines, but are not setting a plan forth to stop global
warming. They are mad because that is what hurt the wolverines and many other
threatened and endangered animals in the first place. Animal officials are
coming back to say that they are not in charge of taking care of global warming
anyway. If global warming continues to go on and get worse, the human
population will start to see many animals, including wolverines, disappearing.
Opinion: I feel like our
country really needs to fight to stop global warming. So many bad things are
happening to our world from global warming like this in particular, animals
dying and disappearing. Many effects could come from certain animals dying and
it could have major effects and changes to the food chain, like we learned
about from the gizmo in class. Although I understand that it is not the
wildlife official’s jobs to worry about the air and the global climate, I think
that they should be trying to stop global warming because it is greatly
affecting them too. Noah Greenwald, a man who works at the Center for
Biological Diversity, said, “It doesn't make
any sense for the Obama administration to be acknowledging wolverines are
endangered by climate change and yet, at the same time, not seek to address
greenhouse gases.” I think that Noah Greenwald is on point with what he said.
The Obama administration needs to understand that there is a high power to why
the wolverines are endangered and do something about that.
Questions:
1. Since global warming would take
a long time to stop, would we ever be able to replenish to wolverine
population?
2. Although wildlife officials say it is not their job to
improve global warming, shouldn’t they want to help and save the animals
because that is what their job is all about?
3. What are some of the effects in the food chain that could
happen if wolverines became extinct?
Invite a Professional:
ReplyDeleteDr. David Karowe is a professor at Western Michigan University. He is in the Department of Biological Sciences. He teaches a lot about global warming and the effects of pollutants in our atmosphere. Dr. Karowe is the leader of the WMU Climate Change Study Group. He tests climate change and global warming’s effect on plants and animals. Dr. Karowe has also appeared on a few talk shows online about climate change and its impending effects. Since we are talking about global warming’s effect on the ice, and how it affects the species, I believe Dr. Karowe is a good person to have contributing to our blog.
Dr. Karowe,
Hello! My name is Natalie Laurito. I am a freshman at Hatboro Horsham High School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. I am currently in Honors Environmental Science. Right now, we are learning about how climate change and global warming affect the world around us. In class we talk about how global warming affects species and their living adaptations. Our class has created class blogs to talk about current news articles related to what we are learning about. I have noticed that you are quite experienced in the topic of climate change and global warming. It would mean so much to all of us if you could take a look at our blog and comment on what we have to say. We understand that you are very busy and we would appreciate it very much if we could hear your opinion. Our blog is called “Brainy Bloggers” and the link is http://brainybloggers101.blogspot.com/ . Thank you so much for your time. I hope to hear from you.
Natalie Laurito
Freshman at Hatboro Horsham High School
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteExpand with a new link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/global_warming_and_endangered_species/
This article and the one above both talk about global warming and how it affects animals. The article that I shared says more than a million species may be in danger of extinction due to global warming. It also says by 2050 global warming is supposed to kill over 1/3 of earths plant and animal species. These losses would change the way humans live and the ecosystems around the world. The cite this article was from had a petition in 2007 about preserving habitats so that these endangered animals have a chance to live. They never heard back from the agencies after two years and they filed suit. Global warming is on a terrible path of destruction and we need to do something about it.
Max Griffith
Opinion and questions:
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maddy completely on this topic. There is absolutely nothing good coming from global warming, and it is doing nothing but hurt our planet and everything on it. We don't want animals to disappear, or for even land or anything to disappear. Global warming has caused and will continue to cause total destruction to our ecosystems and our planet as a whole, and we really need to stop it now before it gets too out of hand. The first bad thing that will happen is that we will continue to lose more and more animals, which is devastating. But, after that, if we don't do anything to stop it, it could largely affect us! Water levels could rise, taking away our land, and even more awful things can happen.
Questions:
1. What do you think is the first step we could take to stop global warming?
2. Over time, what do you think the effects of global warming could be?
3. Do you feel that we need to do something as soon as possible to stop global warming, or no?
Answer Questions:
ReplyDeleteSince global warming would take a long time to stop, would we ever be able to replenish to wolverine population?
I think that if we work carefully, we could replenish the wolverine population and allow it to thrive once again. For example, if we just start trying to stop global warming, and don’t do anything for the wolverines, their population will continue to decrease (possibly to extinction) before global warming is no longer occurring. However, if we figure out some way to preserve the existing wolverine population while putting an end to global warming, like creating a reservation for the wolverines or taking them into captivity, we may be able to release them back into the wild once global warming has been stopped, and their population could grow from there.
Although wildlife officials say it is not their job to improve global warming, shouldn’t they want to help and save the animals because that is what their job is all about?
I believe that they should try to do something. Even if they don’t try to stop global warming themselves, the wildlife officials should at least try to raise awareness of global warming and of its destructive effects. Although global warming in and of itself is not technically their area of expertise, since it is affecting the animals to such a great degree, they should be doing something rather than nothing.
What are some of the effects in the food chain that could happen if wolverines became extinct?
If wolverines become extinct, it would throw the entire food chain out of proportion. As we demonstrated in the Gizmo activity, an ecosystem can recover from a large decrease in the population of one species; however, it cannot recover from the extinction of one. Its prey would become overpopulated due to the lack of a natural predator, and its predators (if any) would also die off, or become endangered, due to a lack of food and energy. The extinction of wolverines would not only be bad because we would have lost a species, but also because it would have alarming and potentially destructive effects on other species as well.