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Endangered species management: the US experience

David S. Wilcove

in Conservation Biology for All

In this chapter, David Wilcove focuses on endangered species management, emphasizing the United States of America (US) experience. Endangered species conservation has three phases: identification, ... More

In this chapter, David Wilcove focuses on endangered species management, emphasizing the United States of America (US) experience. Endangered species conservation has three phases: identification, protection, and recovery. Protection can be directed toward species, subspecies, or populations. There are important economic and ecological trade‐offs associated with protecting subspecies and populations. Consistent, quantitative criteria for determining the status of species have been developed by the IUCN. Protection of endangered species requires accurate knowledge of the threats to those species, the location of existing populations, and land ownership patterns. Recovery of many endangered species will require continual, active management of the habitat or continual efforts to control populations of alien species. Incentives may be needed to entice people to participate in recovery programs.Less

“The Nation's First Responsibility” Saving Endangered Species in the Age of Ecology

in Nature's Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology

Shortly after coming to office in early 1961, President John F. Kennedy circulated to federal agencies a memo calling for innovative ideas. The Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Ray C. Erickson ... More

Shortly after coming to office in early 1961, President John F. Kennedy circulated to federal agencies a memo calling for innovative ideas. The Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Ray C. Erickson responded with a proposal to begin captive breeding experiments with the sandhill crane, a species that was closely related to the critically endangered whooping crane but not nearly so rare. Within a few years after authoring his letter, Erickson would play a central role in establishing a new captive breeding facility for whooping cranes and other endangered species at the Fish and Wildlife Service's research station and refuge on the banks of Maryland's Patuxent River. This chapter looks at efforts to save endangered species in the age of ecology, focusing on the work of the Survival Service Commission, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources's Red Data Book project, and U.S. Secretary of Interior Stewart L. Udall's conservation agenda. It also examines the decline of the American alligator, spotted cats, and marine mammals and efforts to save them.Less

Conversion Arguments: Land Use Regulation

N. Scott Arnold

in Imposing Values: Liberalism and Regulation

This chapter articulates arguments for and against the regulatory regimes implicit in the Endangered Species Act (on endangered flora and fauna) and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (wetlands ... More

This chapter articulates arguments for and against the regulatory regimes implicit in the Endangered Species Act (on endangered flora and fauna) and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (wetlands regulation). It finds that the best arguments in favor of these regulatory regimes are public goods arguments, which were disposed of in Chapter 6. By contrast, there are good conversion arguments against both of these regulatory regimes.Less

The extinction vortex, is genetic variation related to extinction?

Jacob Höglund

in Evolutionary Conservation Genetics

This chapter begins with a brief introduction to the focus of this book, which is the idea that extinction of species is somehow related to loss of genetic variation. Theoretical considerations ... More

This chapter begins with a brief introduction to the focus of this book, which is the idea that extinction of species is somehow related to loss of genetic variation. Theoretical considerations suggest that small — that is, endangered — populations are different from large ones in two important aspects. The level of inbreeding is increased and likewise the importance of genetic drift, the stochastic loss of alleles, in shaping a population's genetic architecture is increased. Both these processes ultimately lead to loss of genetic variation. The chapter examines each of these arguments. It considers experimental studies that tested whether inbreeding and/or reduced levels of genetic variation leads to greater extinction risk. It shows that many studies of genetic causes for extinction seem to suggest that inbreeding depression is the main genetic problem in conservation biology. On the other hand, hardly any study has convincingly shown that reduced adaptability or fixation of mildly deleterious alleles have contributed to extinction. Thus, it seems prudent for conservation geneticists to focus on inbreeding and inbreeding depression.Less

Creating Wild Capital from the Ecosystem Services Model

Barbara K. Jones

in Wild Capital: Nature's Economic and Ecological Wealth

By failing to assign nature value in our current Anthropocene, the opportunity costs of diminishing biodiversity are not recognized in the marketplace, leading to significant negative consequences ... More

By failing to assign nature value in our current Anthropocene, the opportunity costs of diminishing biodiversity are not recognized in the marketplace, leading to significant negative consequences for both nature and humanity. Polluting water, destroying habitats, or exterminating species should each lessen nature’s value, but if nature has never been assigned a value, that loss is not recognized and development becomes the default. The words “wild capital” remind us that nature should be viewed as an asset like any other, and that in doing so we are better equipped to appreciate its long-term worth. Since the ecosystem services model (ES) ties together the ecological, social, and economic needs of human well-being, it is well situated to assign nature value and from that make a case for nature as natural capital. To assist in policy decisions, ES has offered a path based on the language of economics, making it appealing to economists, while to conservationists, it has turned an argument about the negative effects of development on wildlife into a more fruitful dialogue about how beneficial conservation is for human well-being. ES is also compatible with efforts at sustainability and the goals of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.Less

Litigation, Regulation, and International Law as Law and Policy Drivers in the United States

Cinnamon Piñon Carlarne

in Climate Change Law and Policy: EU and US Perspectives

This chapter examines how public and private actors are using litigation, regulation, and international law to influence federal climate policy. It begins by reviewing past and present climate change ... More

This chapter examines how public and private actors are using litigation, regulation, and international law to influence federal climate policy. It begins by reviewing past and present climate change litigation in the US to suggest the role of litigation in shaping federal climate policy. It then explores the varied ways in which domestic and foreign citizens are attempting to use existing domestic legal and regulatory regimes and international legal mechanisms to compel the US federal government to limit domestic greenhouse gas emissions. The chapter concludes by examining how domestic and international efforts to use litigation and regulation coupled with on-going sub-federal legal and political initiatives influence climate policy in the US.Less

Coral Law under Threat

Irus Braverman

in Coral Whisperers: Scientists on the Brink

In chapter 4, “Coral Law under Threat,”the pendulum swings back to despair. The chapter documents the focus of contemporary legal regimes—in particular, the U.S. Endangered Species Act—on threat and ... More

In chapter 4, “Coral Law under Threat,”the pendulum swings back to despair. The chapter documents the focus of contemporary legal regimes—in particular, the U.S. Endangered Species Act—on threat and endangerment, exposing how ill-equipped this law is for dealing with coral species and also with the sheer scale of their “super wicked problem.” Here, federal administrators provide insight into the processes by which listing and delisting decisions take place, their deliberations about coral classification providing a fresh perspective on the correlations between law and science. While the frustrations with existing legal regimes, as well as the fraught relationship between scientists and lawyers, invoke a sense of despair, some also see hope on the legal horizon. Two such hopeful instances are the emerging international regulation of climate change and the signals of possible receptiveness by U.S. courts to the assertion of constitutional rights to a healthy environment.Less

Applied Nutrition

Stephen J. Simpson and David Raubenheimer

in The Nature of Nutrition: A Unifying Framework from Animal Adaptation to Human Obesity

This chapter shows how the Geometric Framework has been applied to design nutritional regimes for agricultural and companion animals, and to manage the nutritional environment of endangered species. ... More

This chapter shows how the Geometric Framework has been applied to design nutritional regimes for agricultural and companion animals, and to manage the nutritional environment of endangered species. Clearly, the pervasiveness of nutrition extends beyond fundamental biology, to a wide range of problems that demand scientifically designed management solutions. There are many examples, but among the most important is the need to feed production animals (agriculture), to feed companion animals, to conserve endangered species, and to manage the impacts of the rapidly changing human diet on health. In each case, the key to this approach is to depict the animal, the environment, and the interaction between animal and environment in terms of nutrients. In conservation ecology, these nutrient-level depictions should not be considered an alternative to analyses that focus on foods—both food- and nutrient-level analyses are important.Less

The Legal Lives of Endangered Species: Biodiversity Laws and Culture

Ursula K. Heise

in Imagining Extinction: The Cultural Meanings of Endangered Species

This chapter compares laws for the protection of biodiversity in four sites (US, Germany, European Union, Bolivia) so as to highlight the divergent historical provenance and cultural framing of legal ... More

This chapter compares laws for the protection of biodiversity in four sites (US, Germany, European Union, Bolivia) so as to highlight the divergent historical provenance and cultural framing of legal engagements with endangered species. The 1973 Endangered Species Act of the United States focuses on the protection of species at risk and on "critical habitat" as a way of preserving species. In Germany, where environmentalism since the late-nineteenth century has foregrounded the conservation of cultural landscapes, the current law protects biodiversity rather than endangered species, and subordinates the conservation of animal and plant species to the maintenance of historical and cultural landscapes. The European Union protects both species and habitats, adopting a largely scientific vocabulary to create a common language and concern for a shared heritage among its diverse member states. In Bolivia, the new constitution passed in 2009 and subsequent laws combine science and indigenous traditions so as to integrate biodiversity protection into a broader vision of "Buen Vivir," the just and good society. Assessing the performance of these laws is difficult without taking into account the cultural and political frameworks that make biodiversity conservation part of national or regional identity.Less

Implications for endangered taxa

Michael L. Arnold

in Evolution through Genetic Exchange

This chapter focuses on the positive and negative effects of genetic exchange on the fate of endangered flora and fauna. In particular, it considers the role that such gene flow may have (i) in ... More

This chapter focuses on the positive and negative effects of genetic exchange on the fate of endangered flora and fauna. In particular, it considers the role that such gene flow may have (i) in replenishing populations with limited genetic variability; or (ii) in causing genetic assimilation of rare forms by more numerous, related taxa. It argues that if evolutionary diversification is indeed a web-like process, then we should not give weight to whether members of one evolutionary lineage exchange genes with another when attempting to determine a value for conservation. Instead, we should ask the question of whether genetic exchange can help or hinder the conservation of manageable units (i.e. taxa). The chapter also examines the hypothesis that invasive species sometimes originate through introgressive hybridization.Less

Debating Cloning

Carrie Friese

in Cloning Wild Life: Zoos, Captivity, and the Future of Endangered Animals

This chapter examines the debates surrounding the cloning of endangered animals in zoos and situates them in the controversies over interspecies nuclear transfer. It begins with a brief review of ... More

This chapter examines the debates surrounding the cloning of endangered animals in zoos and situates them in the controversies over interspecies nuclear transfer. It begins with a brief review of chimeras as hybrids and bridges and what they mean in the specific subcultures of zoos and species preservation before discussing the use of these categories in the classification of cloned endangered animals. It then outlines three major positions regarding cloning in zoos: the first position holds that animals produced through interspecies nuclear transfer are endangered species, the second claims that they are not, and the third contends that some cloned animals—depending on sex—could strategically count as part of the endangered population. The chapter interprets these different classifications as arguments for different scientific practices in zoos that embody different “visions” of the zoo, roles of the life sciences in endangered species preservation, and conceptualizations of nature more generally.Less

The Endangered Species Act and Marine Species Protection in the Climate Change Era

Alexis K. Segal

in Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law: U.S. and International Perspectives

As mounting impacts from climate change strain our remaining fragile marine species and ecosystems, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has emerged as a primary regulatory vehicle to enhance protection ... More

As mounting impacts from climate change strain our remaining fragile marine species and ecosystems, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has emerged as a primary regulatory vehicle to enhance protection of marine species and habitat. Despite indisputable science showing climate change impacts to corals, many of which are the result of anthropogenic influence, climate change has played only a small role in ESA protection of this critical indicator species of our oceans. Historically underutilized in the marine context relative to terrestrial species and habitat, there is polarizing debate as to whether the ESA is properly equipped to protect our most valuable and vulnerable ocean resources in light of changing climate and issues such as ocean acidification, warming temperature, current flow, pollution, and weather patterns. This chapter discusses the unique aspects, including advantages and disadvantages of protecting marine species and environs through ESA provisions in sections 4, 7, and 10.Less

Expanding the Scope of Justice: Tattooing and Hip Hop as Ecomedia Witnessing Tools

Sarah McFarland Taylor

in Ecopiety: Green Media and the Dilemma of Environmental Virtue

Chapter 7 is a tale of two environmental organizations that each deploy popular “short-form” media as tools to engage younger cohorts, moving them from environmental ideals into environmental action. ... More

Chapter 7 is a tale of two environmental organizations that each deploy popular “short-form” media as tools to engage younger cohorts, moving them from environmental ideals into environmental action. While both organizations’ mediamaking challenges the consumer capitalist “myth of disposability,” they intervene in this myth with very different priorities and environmental urgencies in mind. The first organization’s orientation is largely biocentric and uses endangered species tattooing to extend the moral sphere of “who counts” to include vulnerable and threatened nonhuman populations. The second organization’s mission is squarely humanfocused, attending to environmental justice issues and the plight of poisoned minority communities that have been morally excluded from what is explored in the chapter as the “sphere of justice.”Less

How to measure genetic variation

Jacob Höglund

in Evolutionary Conservation Genetics

This chapter reviews the most common measures of genetic variation used in conservation genetic studies. These include percentage of polymorphic loci, alleles per locus/allelic richness, expected ... More

This chapter reviews the most common measures of genetic variation used in conservation genetic studies. These include percentage of polymorphic loci, alleles per locus/allelic richness, expected heterozygosity, dominant neutral markers, nucleotide diversity, haplotype diversity, non-neutral markers and neutrality tests, and quantitative additive gene variation.Less

The Impact of Marine Invasive Species on Endangered Species Protection Efforts in a Changing Ocean Environment

Eric V. Hull

in Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law: U.S. and International Perspectives

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted to promote the conservation of threatened and endangered plants and animals and to preserve their critical habitats. Invasive species continue to ... More

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted to promote the conservation of threatened and endangered plants and animals and to preserve their critical habitats. Invasive species continue to compromise the effectiveness of the ESA. Today, more than 40 percent of all species listed on the endangered species list have been or continue to be significantly impacted by invasive species within their range. For marine protected species, the impacts are significant. Invasive species established in U.S. waters have altered critical habitats and trophic dynamics, decreased juvenile recruitment through increased predation on native species, increased parasitism, altered genetic diversity, decreased species resilience, impaired nutrient cycling and altered water quality, and have reduced marine biodiversity. This chapter addresses the application of the ESA to a rapidly changing marine environment, with emphasis on how current responses to marine invasive species and climate change may affect implementation of the ESA to marine species.Less

Introduction

Navjot S. Sodhi and Paul R. Ehrlich

in Conservation Biology for All

This introduction briefly introduces all the chapters. This book provides cutting‐edge but basic conservation science for the inhabitants of both developing as well as developed countries. ... More

This introduction briefly introduces all the chapters. This book provides cutting‐edge but basic conservation science for the inhabitants of both developing as well as developed countries. Authoritative chapters are written on balancing conversion and human needs, climate change, conservation planning, designing and analyzing conservation research, ecosystem services, endangered species management, extinctions, fire, habitat loss, and invasive species are covered. Numerous textboxes describing additional relevant material or case studies are also included. The book is written for undergraduate and graduate students as well as scientists, managers, and personnel in governmental and non‐governmental organizations. The book has all the necessary topics to become a required reading for various undergraduate and graduate conservation‐related courses. English is kept at a level comprehensible to people with English as a second language. Overall, this book represents a project that the conservation community has deemed worthy of support by donations of time and effort. None of the authors will gain financially from this project.Less

Amphibian Conservation Needs

Edward D Koch and Charles R. Peterson

in Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species

For fifteen years, the authors have been working together to understand and conserve amphibians in the northern Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States. Based on their ... More

For fifteen years, the authors have been working together to understand and conserve amphibians in the northern Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States. Based on their observations, it appears that many herpetologists are unaware of or poorly informed on management needs and opportunities for conserving amphibian species. Because of this lack of awareness and a relative lack of attention paid by herpetologists to serving specific research and management needs, many natural resource managers lack the sound scientific information and experience needed to conserve amphibians and their habitats. Citizens have created many tools for conserving species that are often unfamiliar to research scientists, many conservationists, and even some managers. This chapter presents some ideas and examples of opportunities to promote amphibian species conservation, based on the authors' experience of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Pacific Region and at Idaho State University. It examines the challenge posed by boreal toads with respect to taxonomy and management. It also provides an overview of conservation planning according to the Endangered Species Act of 1973.Less

Conservation Systematics: The Bufo boreas Species Group

Anna M. Goebel

in Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species

This chapter describes how systematics and taxonomy can better address conservation issues in both theoretical and utilitarian ways. It begins with a discussion of organismic diversity and how ... More

This chapter describes how systematics and taxonomy can better address conservation issues in both theoretical and utilitarian ways. It begins with a discussion of organismic diversity and how systematics and Linnaean taxonomy have failed to meet the needed description and quantification of diversity for conservation purposes. It then argues that recognizing diversity is more critical than recognizing species, and suggests how diversity can be incorporated into systematics using measures of phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic taxonomy. Finally, the chapter suggests three utilitarian ways that conservation systematics can incorporate diversity into management and politics: set priorities for conservation; reconstruct the Endangered Species Act of 1973; and mitigate loss of total diversity by a procedure that identifies acceptable losses. To illustrate problems and solutions, the chapter uses examples from North American bufonids, especially the western toad (Bufo boreas) species group.Less