Ancalmo Page 1

Briana Ancalmo

English Composition II

Professor Hellmers

March 16 2021

Literary Review

The extinction of animals has been an issue for thousands of years and it is sad to see

how many animals are gone. It is hard to know that many of the animals seen today may be gone

in the future and it’s hard to see all the animals who have already gone extinct. The extinction of

animals is a tragic event, but do they affect their environment? Also, how many and what

animals are on the endangered species list in North America and what would happen to their

ecosystems if they went extinct?

Animal endangerment has been going on for many years, and so has the protection of

these animals. In 1903 the first National Wildlife Refuge at Pelican Island, Florida which was

established by Theodore Roosevelt. Later on the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969

expanded on the 1966 act which created a list of animals who are threatened with worldwide

extinction. Then in 1973 the Act was strengthened and expanded to include plants as well as

animals whoa are threatened or endangered.

Weather an animal is overpopulated, extinct or invasive they have a drastic effect on the

environment around them and their ecosystems. Animals as small as bees influence the

environment around by pollinating flowers and other plants and birds and bats eat fruits and then

poop out seeds which help grow more plants. Keeping animals from becoming

endangered/extinct is important, but keeping their ecological functions running is just as

important. (Akcakaya). This is so important because plants and animals depend on each other for
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survival. By eliminating a factor in the ecosystem (an animal or a plant) it can cause a cascade

and mess up the ecosystem (Bove). The loss of animals effects ecosystems all over the globe and

can alter microbe-driven processes as well. (Burkepile and Thurber). For example, something as

small as clams going extinct animals who eat them will leave the area to find another source of

food. When these animals leaves the predators of them will eventually leave to because they will

not have a food source. (Bove).

The United States has been working to get animals off the endangered list and help

restore what was lost with their depleted population. One animal that has had a significant

comeback is the wolf, especially in Yellowstone National Park. In the early 20th century many

wolves were killed in the United States. Without them elk populations grew which caused the

loss of many willow trees and riparian plants. As a side effect song birds were losing their food

which threatened their survival and increased the amount of mosquitos (which songbirds were

normally able to keep in check) (Bove). It became so bad that in the early 1970s there was no

evidence of wolves. Thankfully since then the Endangered Species Act allowed wolves to be

reintroduced. The reintroduction began in 1944, when they began to move wolves from Canada

into Yellowstone (Guz). Although the reintroduction of wolves has been positive, there still are

not nearly as many as there used to be which means they may not be fully completing their

ecological duties (Akcakaya).

Loosing animals in a habitat has a negative effect, but so does having an too many of one

animal. Different kinds of beetles are fatal for certain trees and if they are not kept in check by

others animals their effects can be devastating. For example the native mountain beetles are

killing white pine trees in Yellowstone along with the nonnative white pine blister rust. These

two factors have cause these trees to decrease rapidly and there are only about 80% of them are
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dead or dying. These trees are an important part of a grizzly bear’s diet and without these trees

they may never make a full recovery (Mcnamee). Another problem with the overpopulation of

animals could be the bark beetles. If woodpeckers continue to lose their habitats they won’t be

able to keep these beetles in check and the beetles could end up causing the mortality of many

trees in forests.

Extinction of animals is always an issue, but there are contradicting ideas of if it’s worse

to lose an animal or have too many animals in one area. For example, in Yellowstone elk and

deer population have surpassed the capacity of the park and because of this they have eaten

almost all the aspen and willow tress leaving non for the beavers, whose population is declining.

Even after their population has gone down the aspen and willows have not been recovering at a

steady rate meaning the beavers still have limited to no food. (Guz). However other scientists

argue that the loss of elk has caused more problems, especially with the abundance of soil

microbial communities. The loss of these microbial communities most likely caused the 70%

increase in nitrogen mineralization rate. So the loss of Elk not only affects the ecosystem above

ground, it also affects the below ground. (Burkepile and Thurber) Although both statements

come from credible sources, the second one by Deron Burkepile and Rebecca Thurber is more

accurate. That source has many other resources from scientific research to back their

information. Jackie Guz is knowledgeable in her area of research, but she is still only a grad

student.

Animal extinction and endangerment seems self-explanatory to many people which

causes them to have misconceptions about its affects. For example, in the 1800s many predators,

including wolves, were hunted to near extinction in the US because they were seen as dangerous

and a threat to people and their livestock. (Guz). Today people know this is a problem because
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eliminating these predators has negative effects on the ecosystem. Another misconception is the

definition of animal recovery. Many species are listed as recovered despite the fact that their

population is remaining the same or even decreasing during their recovery. Also, many animals

are said to be recovered despite the fact that they are not preforming their ecological functions.

Functional or recovered species should be defined as species who can perform their ecological

roles (Akcakaya). Despite the fact that these two articles address misconceptions they are still

credible. Mr. Akcakaya is a professor of ecology and evolution and Jackie Guz a graduate

student who is studying the environment.

Animals affect their environment weather they are a large predator or a small beetle. The

loss animals has a negative effect on their ecosystem and can cause it to become unbalanced and

destroyed. It is important for people to learn about these animals and not only focus on getting

them off the endangered list, but also make sure their ecological functions are being performed

properly.
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Work Cited
Akcakaya, H. Resit. "To Save Species from Extinction, We Must Consider More than Just

Numbers." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/JZLXDW483240263/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid

=fcec3d0a. Accessed 4 Mar. 2021. Originally published as "To Save Species from Extinction,

We Must Consider More than Just Numbers," In These Times, 17 Nov. 2019

Bove, Jennifer. “Why It Matters When Species Go Extinct.” Treehugger, Datdash Publishing, 11 Mar.

2021, www.treehugger.com/why-it-matters-when-species-go-extinct-1182006.

Burkepile, Deron E., and Rebecca Vega Thurber. “Long Arm of Species Loss: How Will Defaunation

Disrupt Ecosystems Down to the Microbial Scale?” BioScience, vol. 69, no. 6, June 2019, pp.

443–454. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/biosci/biz047.

Guz, Jackie. “Bring Back the Beavers to Yellowstone National Park.” ThoughtCo, Dotdash Publishing,

27 July 2018, www.thoughtco.com/wolves-and-beavers-yellowstone-nationalpark-1434538.

Mcnamee, Thomas. "Dooming Yellowstone's Grizzlies." New York Times, 15 July 2017, p.

A19(L). Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A498557180/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=41c570

1b. Accessed 3 Mar. 2021.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Endangered Species Program. “Endangered Species Act: A History of

the Endangered Species Act of 1973: Timeline.” Official Web Page of the U S Fish and Wildlife

Service, 30 Jan. 2020, www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/timeline.html.