What are traits that make a species vulnerable?
What are traits that make a species vulnerable?
There are many reasons for the ever increasing number of extinction events that have happened in the last century. According to the International Union of Nature Conservation, extinction rates have increased as much as 53% since humans became a major player in global extinction events. Approximately 75% of vertebrates (not including fish) have disappeared since 1800, while only 80 species are known to have died out in the previous three centuries. Regardless of cause, whether it be human caused, or unfortunate tragedy, there are certain traits that a species can have that make them more likely to be vulnerable to extinction. To prepare for this forum, read about the eight most common characteristics that makes an organism more likely to go extinct
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What are some organisms that have gone extinct in recent history?
Your task is to research and present an organism that has gone extinct in the last 50 years. To find an organism that interests you, peruse this expansive list of organisms. The format of this webpage is pretty terrible (you will have to scroll from side to side to see all the information presented), but it will help you find a species that interests you. You can choose your organism based on the reasons for extinction, region that it used to live in, or even just because it has a funny name! The columns that will aid in your search include:
- Common name
- Former distribution
- Estimated extinction date
- Causes of extinction
Notice at the bottom of the webpage there are tabs that separate out plants and animals, feel free to choose your organism from either list. Just be sure to pay attention to date of extinction, and focus on organisms that went extinct after 1965, or even better, pick one that has disappeared in your lifetime!
Research your chosen organism and create a new discussion post, addressing the following aspects:
Use the name of your chosen species as the post title.
Points will be deducted for duplicate entries (unless the time stamps on both posts are very close together, suggesting they were being written at the same time).
Present a brief synopsis of your species’ biology.
Discuss native habitat, other species the organism typically interacts, with including predators and competitors.
Identify the main reason that the species went extinct AND the aspect of it’s biology that contributed to it’s destruction.
Discuss if and how humans brought about their disappearance, as well as which one of the 8 characteristics that likely also played a role.
Include a picture to in your post.
(or at the very least a link to a site that has an image).
To receive full credit, you must:
- Write in complete sentences that are thoughtful, well written, and free of typos.
- Present a species that has not been previously reported on by a fellow classmate.
- Address all parts of the forum topic.
- Use vocabulary presented in the learning materials appropriately.
- Create a discussion and reply to another discussion by 8:00 pm on Saturday of week 5 (7 days after week 5 module becomes available).
two students reply:-
Student #1:
The snake river sucker is a fish that was located in the snake river in Wyoming. I was intrigued but this fish because of the name it was given. Its true name is the Chasmistis Muriei, the snake river sucker sounds much better to me though! The snake river sucker’s habitat is in fresh river water. It was only found in the Snake River, hence the nickname it was given. It became extinct in 1927 although the reasoning from the research I had done is different on every site on why. The website that we were directed to use said the causation of extinction was habitat modification, though another site stated the extinction reason is unknown. It was also found to be an epidemic to the Snake River. I had a hard time directly finding a picture of the fish because there are many other fish that are called “blank” river sucker from other rivers of course; they do generally all look similar. I have added a site that has a few different sicker fishes to show examples.
Because it was difficult to find an exact reasoning for extinction, I believe a lot of species go extinct because of human causation. Animals become threatened species or species of concern because of the decisions we as humans make. Involving pollution, eating animal products, and the use of plastic. Sadly if we don’t change the way we are living out normal lives many other endangered animals will start to diminish also
student#2:
Striped Rocksnail
This little snail known as the stiped rocksnail aka ( Leptoxis Vittata) used to live on the banks of the Coosa river in Alabama. Its predators included the local fish in the area. This snail became extinct in 1990 when they built a dam on the river destroying it habitat. From the limited information I could find they used to use its secretion to treat skin problems. Here is a picture.