Public Lab Research note


What Are Endangered and Threatened Species?

by TheChessGym | August 26, 2022 13:12 26 Aug 13:12 | #34902 | #34902

Changes Our Environment Can Be Dangerous To Life As We Know

Changes to Our Environment Can Be Dangerous to Life as We Know

This morning's class began with an in-depth study as to the impacts of invasive species on our ecosystems near and dear to us. "What Are Endangered and Threatened Species?" The title provoked a study of the factors that contribute to making a distinction between species that are considered "endangered" and those designated as "threatened" regarding their respective populations. The article went on to depict that both terms refer to decreasing numbers of said species resulting from changes to their habitat, food sources, predation, and overall changing environment. "Threatened" classification of a species refers to its potential for extinction. Extinction is the highest alarm as it refers to the permanent removal of an entire species from life on this planet. The term "Endangered" is a classification that warns that a species population is close to advancing to the realm of total extinction.

The E.P.A. and several other agencies have taken on the mission of presenting information, along with enacting legislation that speaks to the sustaining, maintaining, and preserving of the environment. Hence the importance of an agency such as Public Lab which not only raises awareness among everyday citizens to the changes in our environment, but also provides platforms for those citizens to take an active role in their preservation. Public Lab and agencies like it empower the everyday citizen with tools necessary to contribute to the success of their own immediate environment.


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Every year, between 200 and 2,000 species go extinct. This is because our environment is constantly changing around us. For example, in Florida, the Burmese python is an invasive species brought over from southeast Asia, and it has taken over the local ecosystems. This has put animals such as racoons, foxes, rabbits, and even birds like wood storks at risk of endangerment. The Burmese python was able to thrive in the Florida ecosystems because of its size, weight, and stealth. This made it into a major threat to local wildlife.

Direct human impacts can also threaten the ecosystems. For example, we use pesticides to control pests, but it has adverse effects on others as well. Also, our pollution gets into the environment. The Nashville crayfish is an example of a species that was threatened because of pollution in its natural habitat. While they are no longer threatened, bald eagles were once in danger of endangerment due to misuse of pesticides. Our impacts on the environment affect everyone, not just us.

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Some animals approach the brink of extinction if the slightest change in their environment because it can disturb nature's balance. They can become endangered from human pollution. The Nashville crayfish is an example. The creek they live in are polluted by people. Another is the Bald Eagle, the symbol of the United States that represents freedom. The iconic bird has unfortunately been affected by pesticides. Another way species are threatened are other species, invasive species. The Burmese Python is an invasive species of snake that has caused damage to the Everglades in Florida, especially to mammals and birds. They come from Southeast Asia, can grow to 18ft in length, and can weigh up to 200lbs. The way it kills prey is by clutching them tightly with their body, so the prey doesn’t move and swallow their prey whole. People used to own them as exotic pets, about 99,000 snakes were imported between 1996-2006. As snakes grew too big to care for, snake owners carelessly released them. Raccoons and bobcats decreased by 99.3% and 87.5% from 2003-2011. Foxes and rabbits had declined by 100% too. Inside the stomach of these snakes can be found deer, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, and bobcats.

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Due to the increased population of Burmese Pythons, the Nashville Crayfish are on the verge of extinction. Invasive species such as the Burmese Python are very harmful to the ecosystem. They can replace apex predators which messes up the food chain of that ecosystem. They aren’t native to these lands, so they must adapt. Once they’ve adapted, the species’ population may grow rapidly. This causes the indigenous species’ population to decrease. Invasive species are heavily responsible in the role of endangered species. Fluctuating population makes the ecosystem unbalanced and eventually crumble.

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There is potential for species to become extinct because of changes in our environment. This can happen due to a number of things such as climate, natural events, people, etc. Natural events such as tsunamis, volcanos erupting, and/or hurricanes. These types of natural events can wipe out an entire species. A lot of species cannot keep up with the climate changes in the environment and begin to start dying.

The environmental changes are very dangerous to many species because not all species can adapt. Certain resources for species run out, making it hard to thrive- to stay alive. Burmese pythons can also play a part in the extinction of species. Burmese pythons eat animals such as raccoons, possums, and bobcats. Since they reproduce a lot, this is more the chance species can go extinct. Once a species habitat is changed, -whether it is due to humans, weather, or natural events- it is more likely for species to become extinct.

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One of the endangered species is the Nashville crayfish, because of the pollution. Some of the endangered species are bobcats, wood storks, and foxes. The invasive species of the Florida everglades (Burmese Python) upsets the balance of the ecosystem. Due to the introduction of a new apex predator, not only it affect the ecosystem it also poses a danger to residential area because the Burmese Python can kill a whole human. All species in a environment plays a crucial role in the balance of the ecosystem. A biotic factor like a invasive species that is not native to the environment can have devastating consequences. Most extinction event is because of natural causes. Endangered are species that is in a brink of extinction while threatened species like bobcats in the Florida Everglades are dying off. I want to thank Public Lab for allowing average citizens like us to voice our opinions regarding the environment and wellbeing of our community.

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Many animals are close to being extinct. It could be because of pollution, hunting, humans, and invasive species. An invasive species is an organism that causes ecological or economic harm in a new environment where it is not native. The Burmese Python is an invasive species in the South of the United States. A group of them were released into the everglades thanks to a breeding facility not needing them anymore. These snakes took over as the apex predator. That made the alligator population decrease significantly because the pythons kept taking the biome's resources from native species. The alligators aren't the only ones affected. It's all the animals in the community. The Burmese Pythons kept increasing and increasing, while the rest of the other animals decreased. They consume wood storks, Key Largo woodrats, and limpkins, as well as large animals such as alligators, white-tailed deer, and bobcats. They don't compete for anything because they are the strongest and will just take it.

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There are over 1,300 endangered or threatened species in the United States today. Endangered species are those plants and animals that have become so rare they are in danger of becoming extinct. Threatened species are plants and animals that are likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. People can cause the extinction of plants and animals. The main reason that many species are endangered or threatened today is because people have changed the homes or habitats upon which these species depend. Some of these species do so well in their new habitat that they endanger those species already living there, called the native species. These introduced species are called invasive species. The Burmese python is an invasive species and has done tremendous damage to native wildlife in Florida especially to mammals and birds. Originally from Southeast Asia, these snakes can grow to 18 ft in length and weigh up to 200 pounds. It kills its prey by constriction with its large body and then swallows it whole. An estimate in 2013, puts its number in south Florida in the range of 30,000 to 150,000. These snakes arrived in the United States because of their value as pets. These snakes were also released in bulk into Floridian swamps from a breeding facility during the ravaging of hurricane Andrew in 1992. Further evidence of predation by the python is the stomach contents of dead snakes which have shown to include deer, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, and bobcats. More troubling is the fact that endangered or threatened species such as Key Largo woodrat and wood stork are also being killed by the Burmese python. Endangered species are the Key Largo wood rat and wood stork. The Nashville crayfish is endangered mainly because the creek where it lives has been polluted by people.

Thanks to public lab we was able to discover and make data about the bad things that is going on the environment we living and the biomes around us that we use for everyday life.

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The Burmese python is one of the largest species of snakes, which they are also known as an invasive species in Florida. The pythons compete with the native wildlife for food they live for to eat off. However, the Burmese pythons aren’t just competing for their food, they are also competing & fighting for a place to live. By them doing this they are running off other animals & feeding on these animals. It won’t be too long till....we are next. I’m saying this b/c due to the fact they are eating off our pets & other animals, what happens to if there are none. What will they eat?

They have already moved down to places where they shouldn’t, for instance how they are all over Florida. They are supposed to be in India one of their homelands. Already there are more than two different species that are now going out to extinction & endangerment. These species are opossums, raccoons, bobcats, rabbits, & more. So, what will we do when it's too late to stop this creature from killing our animals & they move on to us? B/c like I said it won’t be to long till we’re next, so we need to come up with something & I mean something quick before it’s too late.

P.S. I would like to give a shoutout to public lab, for giving us this chance to spread our knowledge to others & help others learn things that they didn't know.

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There is only a carnet number of animals that is in our world as of now. Each of these animals are naivete to their own evierment and adopted to there own way of life. There is a balances in life that we have to maintain or everything could be wiped out completely, including humans. There was breeders that brought in a vermin's python to a place they should have not. It was for the money as they was poplar as pets. but once they was to many to feed and to big to keep they let them out into the wild.

Now today we have a problem with the python as it is wiping out all kinds of animas. The python's impact has been dramatic on the population of smaller mammals, including raccoons, opossums, marsh and cottontail rabbits, foxes and bobcats, population which have dropped drastically. There are hunters that are trying to take them out but they are hard to find as they are the masters of hiding. There are large estimates of python populations range from at least 30,000 to more than 300,000. If nothing is done about them they well keep growing and spread around the world climbing up the food chain eventually getting to humans.

PS. thank you for puilbic lab for giveing us a website that we could share the info that we know and help others learn

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Endangered species are plants and animals in the environment that are in danger of becoming extinct. Extinction is when a species dies out and the species no longer exists. Extinction can happen naturally, or it can be caused by human actions. Natural extinction can happen instantly or take millions of years to occur. While extinction caused by humans usually happens due to destruction of habitats for urbanization and/or the use of resources or killing for sport. But today many animals and plant species are in danger of being extinct due to human activity. This is what puts them on the endangered species list. There are the polar bears which are an endangered species. There endangered because of ongoing and potential loss of their sea ice habitat resulting from climate change- which is caused by humans.

Threatened species are animals that are likely to become endangered within the near future. Threatened species like the Giant panda have population numbers close to being endangered. And there are calculations that show in the future their numbers will dwindle even more making them become endangered if the same events occurring today are still taking place in the future. But there are measures that are being taken to protect and stop the endangerment or vulnerability of plant and animal species.

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Native species are are threated and endangered due to the impact of invasive species, due to climate change, and other changes in the environment. Like in Florida the alligator and crocodile and the python territory is starting to cross because that python population is just growing and growing. Since the population is growing the more food they have to eat to say alive so the bobcat and the raccoon population is depleting significantly. That is threatening all of the native species in Florida because now it is getting hard to survive in their natural habit.

Navies species are also becoming threatened due to climate change. The glaciers in Antarctica are melting because the world is warming up. That is all of our fault because we are adding to the world warming up and for every good thing we do we are doing 10 bad things that effect the world. The polar bears are losing resources and they are losing space to leave so they are slowly dying off.

Another thing that is killing native species off before they get the chance to reproduce is deforestation and wild fires. They animals are either dying because they don't have places to hide so their being preyed upon by their predators or the animals move into civilizations to find a home is being killed because us humans are scared of them when we took their homes for our comfortability. Wild fires also give them no places to live and it also kills many different species at the same time. Thank you to public lab for being able to express our ideas and to see how others thing of the environment.

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With environmental change it puts many animals at risk of extinction. Due to environmental change habitats are loss and degraded, not to mention the overexploitation by humans hunting and overfishing now that our population keeps growing. With that in mind, climate change, pollution, and invasive species have only made that risk even greater. Humans have overexploited the natural habitat of most animals then cause more pollution as time goes by. “The factories are hurting the fish; the plastic is killing the sea turtles; the penguins need it to be colder.” With climate change affecting more animals by the day it only degrades most animals' lands and cause deforestation. There is a polar bear crisis happening as we live our everyday lives. They aren’t getting what they need to survive and won’t be able to adjust. To add on, other species invading other environments that aren’t meant for their kind has interacted with the food chain and caused reducing preys and predators. Even if the invading species were to adapt to their new environment to survive it contradicts the necessary food chain. The food chain is very important system without it there will be ton of extinct animals and that’s exactly what is happening now.

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Endangered species are those plants and creatures that have gotten to be so uncommon they are in threat of getting to be terminated. Threatened species are plants and creatures that are likely to gotten to be endangered inside the predictable future all through all or a noteworthy parcel of its extend. Things that can cause that are pesticides and other chemicals that can poison plants and animals if they are not used correctly. For example, "the passenger pigeon became extinct. All living passenger pigeons disappeared from the earth entirely. The passenger pigeon became extinct for two reasons. First, the forests where it lived were cut down to make way for farms and cities. Second, many pigeons were shot for sport and because they were good to eat. At that time, there were no hunting laws to protect endangered species like there are now." This goes to proves that a lot of main causes for threats and endangered species are pesticide like even if a host doesn't physically take up an organisms body. With that being said, I would like to thank organizations such as public labs for allowing us to express our thoughts and better access and understand information about our environment.

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Endangered species are animals that have a very low population throughout the world. Many things could cause a species to become endangered. Things such as low food and invasive species. One of the main reasons that could cause a species to become endangered is humans. Humans had cause endangerment and extiontion for years. Animals like the wooly mammoth has been killed off due to humans killing them for fur and meat.

Humans aren't all that bad. There are people who try their all to help animals become nonendangered. They create laws such as no killing laws to help prevent people from killing them. They also capture animals and help them regain their population. One animal that was saved from dying off was the Panada.

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The topic discussed this morning was endangered and threatened species what they were and examples of them were given. For a species to be considered endangered that certain species has to be on the verge of extinction. Extinction is the complete disappearance of a certain species of either plants or animals. Many ways species of plants and animals have gone to either become extinct or close to it in recent times was due to the actions of humans and our ignorance or careless attitude. Many examples were given today on endangered species and how they got to that stage was also explained. Examples of endangered species shown today were the the key largo woodrat and the woodrat. The reason for the extinction of these animals was the Burmese Python being an invasive species due to human activities. The Burmese Python is also threatening another species that being the American Alligator all this resulting from the release of Burmese Pythons done by humans.

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Threatened species are plants and animals that are likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. However, endangered species are current plants and animals that have become so rare they are in danger of becoming extinct. One reasons plants ad animals become endangered or threatened is a sudden imbalance in the ecosystem. This imbalance can be cause by invasive species. In the 1980s, the swamps of the South Florida Everglades were introduced to one of the most damaging invasive species the region has ever seen - the Burmese python. The pythons were shipped to Florida to be kept as pet but were dumped by the pet owners after they grew to an unmaintainable size. The Burmese python became the new apex predator in the ecosystem the Everglades inhabited, damaging the ecosystem. The previous harmony o the ecosystem was disrupted. Currently animals such as the Key Largo wood rat, wood stork, raccoons, bobcats, and many more have become endangered and/ or threatened. A huge thanks to Public Lab for that allows the average person to become aware of our constantly changing environment. *Gianna Williams*

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Invasive species affect our environment and have a big impact on it. This happens because once your introduced to something new everything that its use to changes. In most situations they become and threat and reproduce faster. When you look at a graph chart and try to compare the prey rates from then to now you'll see the difference. Invasive species have the ability to change a lot of things including, reducing biodiversity, extinctions of native plants and animals, and competing with the native things for that resources, and changing habitats. Invasive species can also change the food web in an ecosystem by destroying our food sources. They have more negative impacts than positive impacts. Invasive species really mess up everything. Sometimes it be hard to adapt once the invasive species start reproducing. In conclusion, invasive species has a tremendous affect.

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Endangered species are those plants and animals that have become so rare they are in danger of becoming extinct. Threatened species are plants and animals that are likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. An endangered species is a type of organism that is threatened by extinction. Many moves into the endangered or vulnerable category if the negative factors affecting them continue to operate. The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is a threatened species on the verge of extinction. While it is thought that the ferret once had an extended range, poisoning of their prey (prairie dogs) and a plague killed off their population. That is all of our fault because we are adding to the world warming up and for every good thing we do we are doing 10 bad things that effect the world. The polar bears are losing resources and they are losing space to leave so they are slowly dying off.

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Each year, roughly 200-2,000 species go extinct due to indigenous species coming and eliminating the population of that environment. Threatened species would likely become extinct if not for human intervention. A species may be considered vulnerable if their population fails to rise or overcome what is threatening them. If a indigenous species is introduced, the entire ecosystem or habitat could be at risk.

The burmese python is a good example of what an indigenous species can do to an environment. They were shipped off from south Asia to Florida to be kept as pets, but soon grew big enough to the point that owners released them into the wild, endangering the wildlife unknowingly. Animals such as the stork, lorgo wood rat, raccoons, and bobcats have become endangered due to the negligence of humans.

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