North American Endangerment Essay

In this essay, I will be discussing the leading causes of the recent endangerment of both the North American bats and coral reefs. There are ultimate and proximate causes for each of these species continued extinction. In correlation, the extinctions of North American bats and coral reefs would severely impact other organisms in their ecosystem in any ways. Most recently biologists went to complete their annual bat census only to discover that an abundance of bats were quickly dying off or already dead, a drastic population difference from the previous years’ censuses. It was proximately the cause of a white, powdery substance that feathered the animals’ noses, wings, and ears for unclear reasons. This white-nose syndrome was finally discovered
to be the result of a cold-loving fungus that was later coined Geomyces destructans. The ultimate result in this is that the fungus would eat away at the bat’s skin, which would aggravate the bat and confuse it as a sign of arousal. The bats would, consequently, use up their fat storage that were reserved for hibernation, leading the bats to hunt for insects to avoid starvation; and because it would be the dead winter time, insects wouldn’t be available, so the bats would end up dying out. Additionally, the fungus would cause the bats to lose moisture through their skin, making them dehydrated and wandering for a source of water; they would have used up their critical energy storage for hibernation and would lead them, again, to death. The proximate cause to the increasing extinction is thought that the fungus was accidentally imported from Europe to the United States. Long-distance travel is difficult for most species, so a general bat would find it extremely difficult to defend themselves to an invasive species, one of which they were not equipped to evolve. Due to the distribution and widespread of this invasive fungus, over six million bats were presumed to have died. Next, the entire existence of coral reefs is at risk because of many factors. The leading, or ultimate, cause to the destruction is due to ocean acidification. Prior to the industrial revolution, coral reefs were known to have a saturation state of four or more; in recent studies though, it was discovered that coral reefs will be more likely to have a saturation level below 3.5. If that continues to be true, especially because of the the already sensitive state to saturation, coral reefs will need an increase in energy for calcification - which is already used to recover from being battered by waves and marine species - such as fish and sea urchins - who try and eat them. Eventually, the saturation level will become so low that they will not be able to use excess energy to restore their reefs. Coralline algae - which is hypothesized to be a kind of “reef glue” that cements the structure together - has also been discovered to have begun to diminish, something that would also affect the reefs drastically. While ocean acidification might be seen at the ultimate cause of coral reefs extinction, there are also many proximate causes that continue to aid in the decline of the reefs: Too much overfishing and agricultural runoff from farm fields assists the growth of a competitive algae to coral reefs. Deforestation and dynamite fishing has also been found to be destructive to the life of coral. Increasing water temperatures cause the coral reefs stress and in danger of extinction. In addition to the increased endangerment of bats and coral reefs, their extinctions will have a great impact on other species in each of their ecosystems. First off, bats are an important food source for predators and even are significant predators themselves. Bats are known to be easy prey for species such as ravens and coyotes during the winter season because of their close and high abundance in caves. If bats were to completely diminish, these animals, themselves, would starve and be in a desperate situation during these cold, few months. Bats are also very helpful in the cause of insect control. Bats eat almost their body weight in insects everyday, which consequently helps agricultural life by keeping the amount of bugs eating the crops low. Coral reefs are known to the be the rainforest of the ocean because of their extreme support toward millions of species. Species rely on coral reefs for either protection and food, or both, and vise versa; species and coral reefs have learned to co-evolve with each other. Indirectly, coral reefs provide a source of food to other outside predators - species come to prey on other species who seek shelter and nutrients from the reefs. If coral reefs were to disappear, it would cause drastic, and possibly deadly, results. Coral reefs are literally the main support for thousands and millions of species, so if the coral were to go extinct, it leaves all these species out in the open without food or protection. These species, themselves, would probably end up being endangered and a main source of prey to other tougher species. In conclusion, bats and coral reefs both will leave a mark on the earth and their ecosystems.
Everything causes a domino effect, which will lead to even more drastic changes therefore. The proximate cause to bats’ destruction is due to the spread of the fungus Geomyces destructans that was imported from Europe to the United States. Ultimately, the fungus tricked and irritated the bats to the point of no return: they would use up their prime energy storage and led the bats to starvation, dehydration, and consequently, death. If bats were to go extinct, predators would starve during the winter months that were reserved to the easy prey and food source. Farm fields would evidently see a high increase in insects messing up their system. The ultimate death of coral reefs was due to ocean acidification, which altered the corals’ saturation levels drastically. There are many proximate causes that led to the continuing extinction of coral reefs such as overfishing, agricultural runoff, and increased water temperatures; just small changes could ultimately lead the coral reefs to diminish. Coral reefs are one of the prime, if not the leading, support system to millions of species. It can be surely predicted that if coral reefs were to go extinct, their entire ecosystem would suffer the consequences because they provided both food and protection from outside predators. It is clear that these two organisms hold a true light over both of their
ecosystems.