Post-Visit Activities : Helping Wildlife Communities : Background
Third - Fifth Grade Online Curriculum : Communities

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We have all of heard of the importance of protecting wildlife species, but only recently has there been talk about protecting wildlife communities. In South Carolina there are initiatives to protect red-cockaded woodpeckers, red wolves and loggerhead sea turtles. More and more, though, we are beginning to realize that any one species cannot survive separate from the wildlife community in which it is adapted to live. For this reason, conservation is moving slowly from endangered species to endangered communities. Most of this movement is brought together under the concept of preserving biodiversity.

Usually when biodiversity is discussed, it is discussed in terms of maintaining a wide variety of species, but its definition is much more broad than that. Biodiversity refers to the variety of life at all levels, not just at the species level, but at the genetic level and the community level as well. By conserving communities, all of these levels can be preserved.

Biodiversity is important at the species level because all species are interdependent on each other. No species could survive by itself. Examples abound. Animals depend on plants for food and oxygen. Plants depend on animals to help them spread their pollen to other plants and to help disperse their seeds. Plants also depend on decomposers to break down dead organic matter into nutrients that the plants can use. These relationships exist across the planet.

When you start looking at specific communities you will start finding even more specific species relationships. Many birds depend on trees to build their nests in for shelter. Large fish, such as grouper, depend on cleaner fish, such as porkfish, to remove parasites from their bodies. The entire community depends on apex predators to control the populations of certain species. For example, white tail deer no longer have any natural predators left in most areas, and their populations are exploding. Deer are creating major damage in many communities. There are too many of them, and not enough food or space, so they eat everything, destroying many plants that other animals depend on for food or shelter. They are also becoming nuisances in many human developed areas. This might not be a problem if wolves or mountain lions or other large predators of deer were still common in eastern forests.

Related to species biodiversity is the importance of maintaining genetic biodiversity within a population, the collective organisms of one species that share an environment and interbreed. Genetic biodiversity refers to the variety of genes being passed from generation to generation in a species population. The different genes within a species population determine the different characteristics the individuals of that species will have. The more different characteristics found in a population, the better the species ability to adapt to any changes in the environment that might occur. For example, in one population of fish, certain individuals of that species may have genes that allow them to metabolize better in warmer temperatures, while the rest do so in cooler temperatures. If global temperatures continue to rise, the fish who metabolize in cooler temperatures may die out. The fish with the gene for metabolizing in warmer temperatures would be able to do well in the climate change and eventually could replenish the population. This way the population survives even though some of the general characteristics of the population have changed. Without the gene for warm weather, the population may have died out. This genetic diversity protects species from uncertain futures.

Biodiversity also refers to preserving the variety of different communities. Communities, like species, are also dependent on each other. For example, the wildlife communities in the ocean are dependent on the wildlife communities in the salt marsh. The plants in the salt marsh release nutrients in the water that are used for food by ocean organisms, help to catch pollutants in the rivers before they contaminate the ocean and provide nursery grounds where the young of many ocean animals grow and develop. The wildlife community in the salt marsh, in turn, is dependent on the wildlife communities in riparian forests along rivers in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain to prevent sediment from eroding into the rivers and then smothering the salt marsh. The loss of the saltmarsh community could have devastating effects on the ocean communities, and the loss of the Piedmont riparian forest could greatly affect both of the other communities.

Why is biodiversity such an urgent issue now? The great success of humans as a species often comes at the expense of other species. Almost everything we do that increases the convenience and comfort of our lives often occurs because something was taken away from other living things. It is estimated that currently, approximately 27,000 species go extinct every year, about one species every twenty seconds. This places us in the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs died off 65 million years ago. All other mass extinctions in earth's history were caused by natural, abiotic causes such as changes in climate or strikes from large meteorites. Our current mass extinction is the only one caused by living things (man).

These numbers are staggering and may seem hard to believe. How does this happen? Don't we have endangered species programs to protect these animals? Because of limited funding, only a limited number of organisms can be funded for protection as endangered species. These tend to be large animals with popular appeal that can get a lot of public support for funding. Most of the organisms going extinct are plants, insects and other small animals that live in remote areas and are not widely known about. It would be difficult to name all of these organisms on an endangered list, not only because of lack of money, but because some of them do not even have names yet. New species are being discovered all the time and some scientists fear that many are going extinct before we have a chance to know anything about them. This is another reason why preserving communities is important, because it may also preserve overlooked species.

Nature is resilient, though, and there is still hope for our remaining wildlife communities, if we all take a share of the responsibility. The environmental impacts of each individual person may seem small, but with over six billion people on the planet, the cumulative impact can be massive. Every piece of land that is developed is the loss of habitat for numerous species. Every time fuel is burned, the contaminants released by it can influence the air and water quality hundreds of miles away. Spilled oil or antifreeze, litter, herbicides or pesticides can all be picked up by rain to infiltrate watersheds and affect all of the organisms that depend on them. Animals or plants accidentally or purposefully introduced into foreign environments, can wipe out native species that are not adapted to the introduced species' presence. The everyday needs of people for food, for fuel, for lumber, for minerals and metals can decimate entire ecosystems on land and in the ocean when those resources are taken from that environment.

Because each individual contributes to the loss of wildlife communities, each individual also has the opportunity to help preserve wildlife communities. A group of students working on a project can make a major contribution to the preservation of local wildlife communities. All it requires is a little thought and a little action.

One way we can help wildlife is through recycling and thinking about what we purchase. When we buy products, we are taking something from the natural world. Each product we purchase is made from materials that were either taken from the ground, such as oil or iron, or taken from living things, such as wood or food. The use of that product encourages more of the resources to be taken. When we throw out these products, they may not be biodegradable and can spend centuries in landfills waiting to decompose. Even easily biodegradable objects such as food can spend decades in landfills if they are buried where no oxygen can reach them. Even in perfect conditions, biodegrading can take a long time:

Paper……………………..30 days
Cotton Rags………………6 months
Wood………………………4 years
Painted Wood……………..15 years
Steel cans………………….100 years
Plastic………………………450 years
Aluminum cans…………...500 years
Glass……………………….Undetermined
Styrofoam………………….Undetermined

Because little in the landfill is decomposing, these fill up quickly, and new land has to be claimed for more landfills, taking away from wildlife communities.

Obviously, we cannot stop eating food or wearing clothes and, as a society, we are too acclimated to driving cars or buying cleaning products, but we can be more careful of what or how much we buy or what we do with the products once we are finished with them. Buying recycled or recyclable products helps cut back on the amount of these products taken from the environment. Being conscientious of recycling products whenever possible also keeps new resources from being taken from the environment. Staying away from products with excessive packaging, or with non-biodegradable packaging, such as Styrofoam keeps these remains from filling up landfills. Composting food items keeps these from filling up landfills and also will produce nutrient rich soil that can be returned to the earth. Certain products should be avoided, because the demand for them is affecting wildlife populations. We are all probably familiar with how ivory from elephant tusks is affecting elephant populations, but there are many animals that are also being affected that are not as well known. Shark, swordfish, grouper and snapper are all fish that recent research shows we may be overfishing to dangerous levels. By stopping the purchase of these fish, average people can cut down the demand for them and thus reduce the fishing pressure on these species.

We can also help in our local community by reducing litter, reducing the use of chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides and planting native plants. Not littering is an easy thing for any conscientious person to do, but we can also help by picking up the litter that we find left behind by others. Most chemical herbicides and pesticides can be detrimental to wildlife communities, because they do not stay where they were sprayed. They are usually picked up by rainwater and then carried to local streams, rivers and wetlands where they can be ingested by wildlife and have detrimental effects. Herbicides are usually planted to prevent weeds from growing, but the weeds are usually the native plants of the land while the grass or other plant that is trying to be grown is the exotic species. Natural pesticides, such as ladybugs, are now replacing chemical pesticides. Ladybugs, a natural part of most North American ecosystems can be purchased to help remove aphids and other pests from gardens. Being careful to plant native plants whenever possible helps to return some of the original ecosystem to the community.

One of the best ways to preserve wildlife communities is to preserve the environments in which they live. Writing letters to local, state and national politicians expressing concern for the preservation of wild spaces, can help to pass legislation that slows development and preserves natural areas. There are also many non-profit conservation organizations that are working to buy land for wildlife or have other programs that are helping to preserve biodiversity. Joining one of these organizations can help them to reach their goals.

One of the main problems facing wildlife is that most people are unaware that there is a problem. By educating others, we can help to reduce the problem by getting more people involved in solutions. Everything previously mentioned can be passed to others in the school through the creation of posters or other forms of information.

Preserving wildlife communities is important because, even though we have isolated ourselves from them, we are still dependent upon them. We are but one species among millions, but we are the only species with the ability to consciously destroy our environment. We are also the only species with the ability to learn from the past and think about the future. As such, we have a responsibility to do what we can to preserve the wildlife communities across the planet, so that all species have an equal chance to thrive on a beautiful planet.