Endangered Species Lab

 Endangered Species Lab

Imagine you are boarding a plane, and an announcement comes over the speaker that the plane is missing one rivet in the right wing. The pilot announces the plane should be all right and you will board in ten minutes. A minute later another announcement, two more rivets missing but the wing looks solid. You will be boarding in eight minutes, as each minute passes more and more rivets are discovered to be missing. 

How many rivets must be lost before you cancel your flight? 1, 5, 10, 100?  We each may have our own threshold, but even if just one rivet is missing in a critical place, it could be disastrous for the passengers and crew. The same can be said of the current extinction crisis.

Think of the rivets as environmental components supporting ecosystems. Each organism from fungus to frog plays a role in the spaceship we are on called Earth. We are losing them at an unprecedented rate. Just as missing rivets from a plane will lead to a crash so to will losing species in an ecosystem.  Unfortunately we cannot choose not to board this vessel. We are already on it!

Biodiversity is one of the principles of sustainability. There are several reasons to preserve biodiversity -  economic, aesthetic, recreational, and moral arguments can all be made in order to make a case for maintaining biodiversity. Increasingly, those who are concerned about endangered species are calling for habitat protection as a way to insure a healthy planet. 

 While many people have heard the plight of charismatic mega-fauna like elephants, whales, and eagles, there are many other species that are in danger of disappearing from various ecosystems and this threatens to alter the system in ways we may not understand. 

The Endangered Species Act is a powerful law that protects species and their habitat. These are some questions people ask about the Endangered Species Act.

·         Should the Endangered Species Act of 1973 be left alone so the legal system is left to decide the toughest cases?

·         Should the Endangered Species Act of 1973 be revised in order to increase economic growth?

·         Could a revision such as this even happen without endangering listed species?

 Part One

1.       How many species were included when the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was put in place? 

According to the earliest information I could find March 2003, there were approximately 1,260 endangered species (up from 1,000 in 1996).  The count of endangered animals from 1966 is 81 animals, so it gets higher each year as you can see!

2.       What are the steps for a species to be on the endangered list? 

First step is assessing the status of species which are referred as candidates for listing, complete biological reviews for species which includes complying data about them and from that list they choose which species is most in need of there efforts.

3.       What are three general causes for endangerment of species? 

Three major causes of endangerment of species are humans simply put, habitat destruction and pollution.  Near all causes of extinction are now caused from humans.

4.       According to the Act, what happens once a species is listed as endangered?

They are put under protection and given certain rights that they cannot be harmed or their habitat be harmed.  Those breaking these rules would face prison time and fines.  Efforts are established to help them repopulate, such as captive breeding and reintroduction to the wild.  With these and other methods the animals may start to make a comeback.  One such success stories is the American bald eagle whose name was put on the endangered list.  Locals, government and many others came to the aid of this American symbol and helped restore it to greater numbers so future generations might see these great bird.

Part Two

A.      Visit Earth's Endangered Creatures or Center for Biological Diversity to view a list of the species in North America that are endangered.

1.       Choose a species from one of these lists by matching the first letter of its common name to the first letter of your last name. Some of you will have more choices than others! Let me know if run into any trouble. State the scientific name of your organism in proper format using the binomial system

Binomial System: http://www.earthsendangered.com/profile.asp?gr=M&view=all&ID=9&sp=10502

Handleyomys saturatior or the Cloud Forest Rice Rat.

Uses two names, generic name (name of the genus), and specific epithet (name of the species). For example, human beings are given the scientific name of Homo sapiens; lion Felis leo; rice plant, Oryza sativa; colon bacteria Escherichia coli. In place of underlining, italics may be used.

 

2.       Write a four-sentence description of the species itself not its endangerment.

This specific species of rat was scientifically described and discovered in 1858.  These species of rat is found near meadow foothills of the mountains in the middle of the Americas (Honduras, Guatemala, etc…) and along mountainous/forest regions near this area.  They are small with little tales and come in varying light brown colors.  There are named thus because during the colonial period on rice farms they were considered big pest for getting it to harvested rice.

3.       Include one photo or one video (no more than two minutes in length) showing the organism in its natural setting. Do not use any material showing harm to this organism.

4.       State one specific cause of its endangerment (might match with the characteristics from Figure 9-3).

It is becoming endangered to widespread habitat loss with the species expected to decline over 30% in the next 10 years.

5.       State at least one of this organism’s ecosystem role (foundation, keystone, indicator species, generalist, specialist, etc.). Explain your answer.

This is a generalist species.  I think it is a generalist species because there are many common variants of this species and there are widespread, however this particular species of mouse is in a cloudy region.  While it does play a role in its environment there are other mice in that region as well.  With this particular mouse being gone it does effect consumption of plants, bugs and it is often consumed by predatory birds so lack of its presence would diminish the ecosystem.

Part Three

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Owl Play, Legal Eagles Square Off Over One Troublesome Bird

By Jim Nintzel from Tucson Weekly

THE ENDANGERED Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl got its day in federal court last week, when the Defenders of Wildlife faced the Amphitheater School District.

For Amphi, the trial was the culmination of a long year, which found the district struggling to build a school on a parcel of land, which wildlife experts identify as prime pygmy owl habitat.

Representing the plaintiffs were John Fritsche and Eric Glitzenstein, two Washington, D.C., attorneys. Fritsche is the in-house counsel for the Defenders of Wildlife, while Glitzenstein is a seasoned hand at endangered species legislation who successfully stalled the University of Arizona's plan to build telescopes on Mount Graham over issues related to the endangered red squirrel. Unable to win in court, the UA ultimately had Congress pass a law to allow construction of the scopes.

Put simply, Fritsche and Glitzenstein's case was, "If you hear a hoot, the site is kaput." They called as witnesses a team of state, federal and private wildlife biologists who testified that they believed, based on their experience and the available evidence, that a pygmy owl was using a portion of Amphi's property.

Amphi's defense, meanwhile, might be summarized as, "If it doesn't nest, you can't contest." Attorney Denise Bainton of the DeConcini-McDonald law firm persuasively argued that the burden was on the Defenders of Wildlife to prove that an owl would be harmed, and because surveys have failed to detect on owl on the Amphi property, there's no evidence that construction of the school would do that.

"The plaintiffs will put forth evidence involving maybe's, might be's, could be's, I don't know's," Bainton said in her opening remarks, establishing the theme she would hammer home in her cross-examination of the biologists.

This was a court fight Amphi would have preferred to avoid altogether. The district had hoped the pygmy owl's proximity would prove to be no hinderance to the school's construction, although wildlife officials

now say they had warned the district since spring of last year that the project was in trouble.

Because the district planned to alter a wash on the property, Amphi needed a 404 permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. But when Amphi officials began the 404 permit process, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicated that building a school could harm the owl.

In late summer of last year, the district entered into formal consultations with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Although records of those meetings are sealed, it's clear something went awry, because after a couple of months, Amphi officials backed out of the consultation process and announced they would seek to purchase additional land and reconfigure the project so that the large wash would remain untouched and they would not longer need the 404 permit.

In March, with no formal announcement, the district began plant salvage on the property. The next day, the Defenders of Wildlife filed suit and got an injunction to stop construction until the matter could be hashed out in court.

BECAUSE THE PRECISE location of the pygmy is sensitive information, much of the trial took place with the attorneys, witnesses and judge studying a map.

With a low-key, methodical approach, Fritsche asked the biologists about the pygmy owl. They described a very secretive bird, about four inches tall--six if you include the tail--that generally nests in sagauro cavities. It seems to feed primarily on lizards, as well as other birds. In southern Arizona, the owl appears to prefer a thick mix of ironwoods, palo verdes and mesquite trees, which provide cover from predators and a home for prey.

But other questions about the owl--its range, for example--remain mysteries.

"There's just almost nothing known about it," says Scott Richardson, an urban wildlife specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department who testified at the trial.

Richardson has been studying the pygmy owl since 1994. In 1996, he's regularly detected at least one owl in two different locations adjacent to the proposed school site. In 1997, his surveys weren't as successful, although he believes he heard an owl near the site earlier this year.

"There's just no reason biologically why a bird that would be using an area on two sides of that property would not go on the property," Richardson says. "It's not going to stop at the road. The habitat is uniform across there."

Richardson has drafted the aid of several people living next to the school district's property to record "detections"--moments when they have seen or heard the owl. Several of the neighbors testified in court that they had seen the owl frequently in 1996 and occasionally heard them in 1997 and in 1998. One witness, Linda Snodgrass, said she had even seen the owl on the Amphi property.

Under cross-examination, Snodgrass admitted she didn't care much for develoment. She described a nearby project as "armpit houses...Houses so close to together you can lean out on window and shake hands with the guy next door, and smell his armpit."

But for all their anti-development bias, Richardson testified that he believed the neighbors were credible, adding he believed construction of the school would harm the bird.

"You're talking about a species, based on what we know, with a pretty small home range," Richardson said in an interview after the trial. "With any species with a small home range, you come in with a project like a high school that you plop down in a very significant portion of its home range, you just can't help but have an impact."

Besides the removal of the natural habitat, Richardson says building the school will increase activity levels in the owl's range. The commotion accompanying the construction could ultimately disturb the owl enough to force it to abandon its territory. A bird on the move is vulnerable to predation, and if it should move into another pygmy owl's home range, the territorial birds could end up fighting it out for the area.

But on the stand, Richardson--and the other biologists--had to concede under Bainton's skillful cross-examination that they could not be absolutely certain an owl was using Amphi's property because they had never seen one there.

"Biology is not a science that produces concrete answers," Richardson says. "You're dealing with living creatures in an ever-changing environment, and you just don't ever come up with, 'Well, we studied it here and this is what it did and that's how it always reacts.' You just don't do that with wildlife. There's so many different variables. Legally, I think they're looking for that concrete evidence that says, 'Well, this bird lives here and here and tell me with 100 percent certainty that the bird is on the site without having seen it.' You can't do that biologically."

THROUGHOUT THE TRIAL, Judge Zapata stayed alert and attentive, closely studying the map and occasionally asking questions of witnesses. In his rulings, he showed no clear bias one way or the other. Only a hint of his opinion came when the plaintiffs rested their case on Thursday afternoon.

When it came time for Amphi to begin its defense, Bainton moved for a directed verdict, arguing that the plaintiff's had failed to prove their case.

"There has been no evidence presented that there is an owl there," Bainton argued. "There comes a point where the best evidence available isn't good enough."

Zapata rejected the request, although he said he was disturbed by the fact that no one had testified that an owl was nesting on the property and that none of the birds seemed to be using a narrow corridor the district had agreed to leave untouched.

"I have some very serious concerns about the evidence that has been presented," Zapata said.

While some courtroom observers thought Zapata's stinging comments suggested he was leaning toward the school district's side, others suggested he might have been sending a subtle message to the plaintiff's attorneys regarding a way to strengthen their case.

When the closing arguments were completed late Friday afternoon, Zapata praised both attorneys on a job well done and promised he would rule quickly.

"Now the hard work falls onto me," Zapata said, "and I will do that as quickly as I can."  TW

(Nintzel, Jim. “Owl Play.” Tucson Weekly 7 May 1998. Print.)

A cost-benefit analysis is vital when determining whether or not to save an endangered species habitat or to follow through with urban development plans. They can be very complex, but ours is simple.

As you will read in the next web site, an urban-sprawling town of Tucson, Arizona has a school district on the northwest side of town with a high school that can operate effectively with just over 2,000 students. It now has over 3,000 students. The district bought a 40-acre parcel a few years ago to build a new high school to alleviate the overcrowding problem at the one high school; however, an endangered species might be living on the property.

1.       Read the story, "Owl Play," below.

2.       Find your name on the list below. This is the group you will represent at an arbitration hearing.

·         Neighborhood residents opposed to building the high school             - Nicole, Benjamin

3.       Create a list of at least three costs or three benefits or a combination of both for building the school from your group's point of view.  (3 points)

Three costs would be additional construction in the neighborhood which creates a lot of commotion, increased traffic in the area and the destruction of the owl’s habitat that lives there.  While there could be a few good things to come from the school there are more negatives then positives, sometimes you just need to leave areas undeveloped.

4.       What do you think is your group’s preferred outcome?

The preferred outcome is that the school is not built and things are left as is.

5.       What conflicts if any do you feel about this?

The main conflict is people will argue over anything instead of realizing that animals deserve just ass much right to space as we do and that there are plenty of other places to build even though they might not be ideal we all share this planet.   The conflict would be with people who are for the school and want to bring that into the community.

6.       What is one obstacle to your group’s preferred outcome?

There is not much concrete proof as to where exactly the pygmy owl is at.  They opposition points this out and wonders if the owl is even there.

7.       Explain the meaning of “If you hear a hoot, this site is kaput.” (1 point)

If there is an endangered bird here you cannot alter it or build on it.  You have to go somewhere else and build.

8.       Describe a “404 permit.” (1 point)

A 404 permit is permission to alter the property such as a wash.

9.       Define the term “ecological sustainability.”

It is how a certain ecosystem can have species living in it and still be healthy at a manageable level.  Meaning it is not over populated and there is no deficiency in predators or nutrients.

10.   List three places where science is in evidence in the article. Is this reliable or unreliable science? How can you know?

 It talks about three instances in particular that makes this article reliable science the first being the amount of witness they gathered to talk about how they had seen and heard the owl.  The second that the owls in that area had been studied since 1996 in that area.  And the final reason being he admitted that biology is not a science that produces  100% guarantees, which it doesn't it shows how animals can act, but doesn't say for certain what they will do all the time.

11.   Your opinion, please. Should the Endangered Species Act of 1973 be revised in order to increase economic growth? 

  The Endangered Species act should be more enforced, more funded and have additional regulations.  Some people may not respect that, but we need to maintain the Earths biodiversity as much as we can.