What are the current condition of endangered species in Canada?
What are the major factors that cause species endangerment?
What are the actions the Canadian government had been taken to save them?
Introduction
Canada is one of the biggest places on earth with extensive wilderness protected areas that are providing home for more than 70,000 wildlife species. Among the rest, 488 species are categorized by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) as extinct, extirpated, endangered, threatened, or of special concern. It is important to prevent extinctions and facilitate recovery of species at risk. This paper will identify the current conditions of endangered species, analyze the major causes of species endangerment, and introduce the protection policies established by Canadian government.
Current Condition of Endangered Species in Canada
"As of May 2002, 30 animal and plant species had disappeared in Canada. Eleven of these species are no longer found anywhere on the Earth." - This dreadful number was found on the website of Natural Resources Canada, tells us the situation of most of the endangered species are very unenthusiastic. The website said that the southern areas of Canada have the largest number of endangered species, where human activity is most extensive and intensive. However, in Jeremy and Josef (2004) argued that areas with high species richness are likely to have more endangered species while all else being equal. The south Canada has the highest species richness, due to the milder climatic conditions, increased habitat heterogeneity, and far greater human modification of terrestrial landscapes. Consistently, southern Vancouver Island, southern British Columbia, the southwestern prairies, and southern Ontario have the highest density of endangered species according to their analyses. This is not saying that southern areas have higher species richness so that the density of endangered species is higher,
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