Endangered Species Act Commentary Paper
Mo Yi Lam
BISC_102
Professor Kiefer
Nov 30th, 2010
Final Paper (Summary of Endangered Species Act)
Endangered Species Act “What is an endangered species?” is a question that needs to be addressed before getting known of endangered species act. An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct due to three possible reasons: it is few in numbers. According to the theory of Exponential Growth Curve proposed by Malthus, a lower population tends to have a lower reproductive rate and thus a higher risk of going extinct; or a species is threatened by changing environment. A species which fail to adapt a new environment by means such as mutation which creates new “fitting” genes tends to have a higher risk of going extinct; or it is affected predation parameters. In a community, defined as a group of interacting organisms sharing a populated environment, the population of a species is highly dependent on one another. If the predator population of a species is high, this can limit its reproductive rate and thus the population growth. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an organization which “helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges.” (IUCN “About IUCN”)According to one of its reports, the endangered species is 40% of all organisms, which has reached the stage of alarm that endangered species conservation policies must be implemented in no time. IUCN is a leading endangered species act organization which established the Red List of Threatened Species. It is the world’s most comprehensive measurement of the extinction levels of most species, dividing them into a of three categories: Extinct, Threatened and At lower risk. The first category consists of two conservation statuses: “Extinct” species refers to that which the last remaining member has died, or presumed beyond reasonable doubt to have died; “Extinct in the wild” species
BISC_102
Professor Kiefer
Nov 30th, 2010
Final Paper (Summary of Endangered Species Act)
Endangered Species Act “What is an endangered species?” is a question that needs to be addressed before getting known of endangered species act. An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct due to three possible reasons: it is few in numbers. According to the theory of Exponential Growth Curve proposed by Malthus, a lower population tends to have a lower reproductive rate and thus a higher risk of going extinct; or a species is threatened by changing environment. A species which fail to adapt a new environment by means such as mutation which creates new “fitting” genes tends to have a higher risk of going extinct; or it is affected predation parameters. In a community, defined as a group of interacting organisms sharing a populated environment, the population of a species is highly dependent on one another. If the predator population of a species is high, this can limit its reproductive rate and thus the population growth. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an organization which “helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges.” (IUCN “About IUCN”)According to one of its reports, the endangered species is 40% of all organisms, which has reached the stage of alarm that endangered species conservation policies must be implemented in no time. IUCN is a leading endangered species act organization which established the Red List of Threatened Species. It is the world’s most comprehensive measurement of the extinction levels of most species, dividing them into a of three categories: Extinct, Threatened and At lower risk. The first category consists of two conservation statuses: “Extinct” species refers to that which the last remaining member has died, or presumed beyond reasonable doubt to have died; “Extinct in the wild” species