Endangered Animals
We now focus on what has happened as a result of pollution and human activity- the extinction of species. When air, land, or water gets polluted, plants die and the land or marine animals gets affected. Noise and light pollution add to their stress levels. An entire species can go extinct because of human activity. When a species-whether plant, animal or insect-goes extinct, the food chain gets disrupted causing a domino effect.
The plants and animals in the world now are only about 50% of what was 75 years ago.
Global Warming
The polar caps in the Arctic are shrinking due to global warming. The ice is melting at a fast rate. The hunting and transportation opportunities for the polar bear are shrinking. Shortage of space affects feeding and reproduction routines of these mammals. Loss of forest cover leads to the reduction of several beloved species such as the tiger, panda, and many more all over the world.
Water pollution reduces the quality of the water
Garbage patches in the ocean are large areas of floating debris primarily consisting of plastic. These accumulate in ocean gyres carried here by the ocean and wind currents. They make the oceans toxic; they damage corals reefs and entangle small and large animals in the debris. Whales, seals, walruses, dolphins, manatees and penguins are affected by the plastic debris in the seas. Even microscopic organisms such as krill and zooplankton consume plastic debris and pass it up the food chain.
Light and noise pollution is affecting the routine patterns of animals
Light pollution disturbs the normal rhythms of animals and birds just as it does to humans. Hundreds of migratory birds are misdirected from their normal routes by city lights. Turtle Hatchlings die every year as they move towards lights along the beach opposite to the direction they are supposed to take to the sea. Many insects are attracted to the street lights in the nights and their populations are on the decrease.
Plant Species
Usually much attention is given to the larger mammals like the tiger, elephant, bison whales etc. insects are not usually noticed in this scenario. But just like plants insects are also a foundation block for the food chain. Plant eating insects or butterflies perish when the plants they feed on die off in large numbers. Roughly 600 species are at risk of extinction, of these 48 are in the US alone.
Biomagnification
Toxic chemicals, organic and inorganic contaminants enter the organisms through absorption by skin or ingestion of polluted food and water. Animals higher in the food chain accumulate these toxins in higher and higher concentrations. This is called Biomagnification. When the higher level predators have higher level toxins, they are likely to suffer the diseases, birth defects, genetic mutations and other deleterious effects.
Endangered
Endangered refers to those species which are close to extinction. Endangered is next in line to critically endanger as considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Overhunting combined with climate change and loss of habitat are leading factors in bringing a species into this list. If we don’t act now, the remaining animals we have are also likely to vanish unless strict rules and regulations are enforced.
