Extinction

Extinction

1. Rate of extinction
2. Causes of extinction
3. Risks confronted by endangered
species
4. Characteristics of species and their
relationship to extinction

2
 The Extinction Crisis
• Extinction
– All individuals die without producing progeny

• Pseudoextinction
– Species disappear over evolutionary time
– Lineage transformed into separate lineages

• Fossil Record
– Extinct species to living species – 1,000:1

3
• Fossil Record
– Average life span of a species – 4 million
years
– Average extinction rate – 2.5 species per year
– Total number of species over time – 10 million
– Favors successful, geographically wide-
ranging species
– Biased toward vertebrates and mollusks
– Background extinction rates are probably
higher than indicated in fossil record.
• Example Extinction rates 10 times higher than
predicted by fossil record
4
Effects due to humans – Distant Past
• Correlation between human population
growth and the number of extinctions
(Figure 3.1)
• Large scale extinctions in North and
South America coinciding with the arrival
of humans (11 thousand years ago)
– North America lost 73% of its genera of large
mammals
– South America lost 80% of its genera of large
mammals
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 6
Number of humans (billions)

Number of extinct species

50
4
Birds
40 Mammals
3
30

2
20

1
10

0 0
1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 1600-1700 1700-1800 1800-1900 1900-2000

Year Year
Population growth and animal extinctions. (left) Geometric increase in the human
population.(right) increasing numbers
生態學 of extinctions
2003 in birds and mammals.
Chap.3 Extinction 6
Effects due to humans – Distant Past
• Large scale extinctions in Australia
coinciding with the arrival of humans
(13 thousand years ago)
– Lost nearly all of its large mammals, giant
snakes, and reptiles
– Nearly half of its large flightless birds

• Probable causes of these extinctions

– Hunting
– Some climate change
7
Effects due to humans – Recent Past
• Devastating effects on islands
• Hawaii – 4th and 5th century Polynesians
arrived
– Exterminated 50 out of 100 species of endemic
land birds.

• New Zealand – End of the 18th century

– Entire avian megafauna consisting of huge land
birds was exterminated
– Accomplished through hunting and habitat
destruction
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Devastating effects on islands

• Madagascar – last 1,500 years

– Exterminated Giant elephant bird, largest
bird ever recorded
– 20 species of lemur, most larger than any
surviving species
– 2 giant land tortoises

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3.2 Patterns of Extinction
• Islands vs. continental areas (Table 3.1)
• Reasons for differences in extinction rate
– Island species may consist of a single population
– Single climatic event can lead to extinction
– Island species may have evolved in the absence of
terrestrial predators
• Characteristics contributing to extinction
• Flightlessness
• Tameness
• Reduced reproductive rates
• Ex. Hawaii

• Causes of extinction
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11
 100
Habitat loss

Exotic species
Percent endangered

75

Pollution

50 Hunting

Disease

25

0
Continental Hawaiian Continental Hawaiian
U.S. birds Birds U.S. plants plants

生態學 2003 Chap.3 Extinction 12

No cause assigned 56%

Introduced animals 17%

Habitat destruction 16%

Hunting 10%

The causes of
Other causes 1%
extinctions

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Introduced species effects
• Competition
– Not been shown to eliminate an entire species

• Predation
– Rats, cats, and mongooses have accounted for at least
112 of 258 extinctions of birds on islands (43%).

• Disease and parasitism

– Avain malaria in Hawaii accounted for the loss of 50% of
the local Hawaiian bird species

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Habitat destruction
– A prime cause of extinction
– Ex. Deforestation
– Subtle alterations (e.g. pollution) have not
yet been shown to cause extinction

• Direct exploitation – Hunting

– Caused numerous extinctions

15
 (a) Steller’s sea cow (b) the dodo

(c) the passenger pigeon •(d) the Carolina parakeet

生態學 2003 Chap.3 Extinction 16
3.3 Endangered Species
• Definition – a species that is thought to be at
risk of extinction in the foreseeable future.
• Factors threatening species with Extinction
1. Habitat loss or modification
2. Hunting
3. Accidental or deliberate introduction of exotic
species
4. Disease, both exotic and endemic

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Characteristics of Factors
• Human in origin
• Species are threatened with several factors
simultaneously
• Ex. Threats facing terrestrial mammals in
Australia and the Americas
– 119 species considered endangered
– 75% threatened by more than one factor
– 27 species face four or more threats
– Major threat – 76% of the species are experiencing
habitat loss or modification

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 Threat and classes of threats Percent of species affected
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Habitat loss & modification: 76%
Cultivation & settlement

Pastoral development

Logging & plantations

Other
Exploitation: 50%
Meat

Fur and hides

Live trade
Introductions: 18%
Predators

Competitors
Others
Limited distribution

Persecution
The factors that
Disturbance
threaten mammals in
Incidental take
Australia and the
Disease
生態學 2003 Chap.3 Extinction Americas. 19
Overexploitation

• Significance of hunting – Valuable fur and

wood (Figure 3.6)
• Overexploitation
– Overharvesting for commercial interests
– Rare plants are threatened by collectors

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Five categories
1. Habitat destruction
2. Alien species
3. Over-harvesting
4. Disease (both native and alien)
5. Pollution

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Endangered Species
• Sample size: 1880 species (Figure 3.7)
• Habitat degradation was by far the most
important threat (threatening 85% of species).
• Overall, pollution threatens 46% of vertebrates
and 45% of invertebrates, and of minor
importance only for plants (7%).
• Overexploitation of mammals, birds, and
reptiles is considerable.

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 Percent of species threatened
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

All species

Vertebrates

Invertebrates

Plants

Mammals

Birds

Reptiles

Amphibians

Fish

Freshwater mussels

Butterflies

Other invertebrates
Habitat loss Exotic
生態學 species Pollution
2003 Chap.3 Over exploitation Disease
Extinction 23
Endangered Species
• Categorization of threats by class of species
(Figure 3.8)
– Mammals are clearly the most endangered
taxonomic group.

• Categorization of threats by geographic areas

(Table 3.2)
– The majority of threatened mammals occur in tropical
countries
– Tropical countries have more species (therefore
should have more endangered species
– Tropical countries have a higher percentage of
endangered species as well.
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 Percentage endangered

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Mammals

Fish

Birds

Reptiles

Amphibians

All invertebrates
Percentage of Known species classed as endangered.
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Endangered Species
• Bigger countries have more endangered
species than smaller countries (Figure
3.9)
• US and endangered reptiles, amphibians,
and fishes
– Better monitoring and documenting activities

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 60
Number of threatened mammals

55
Madagascar
Indonesia
50
45
Brazil
40 India
China
Australia
35
Tanzania
Zaire
30
Peru United States
Vietnam Cameroon
Colombia
25 Thailand Mexico
Nigeria South Africa
Laos Argentina

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10,000 20,000 50,000 100,000 200,000 500,000 1,000,000 2,000,000

Country area (1000 ha)

Relationship between number of threatened species and area of a

country. 生態學 2003 Chap.3 Extinction 28
Correlations between
human factors and extinction
• 1995, Kerr and Currie Compared 90
countries
– Six indices of human activities (Table 3.3)

• Human population explained the most

variation in the proportion of endangered
species of birds.
• Per capita GNP explained the most
variation in mammals
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30
Species Characteristics and
Extinction
1. Rarity (Fig. 3.10)
• Determined by Geographic range, Breadth of
habitat, Local population size

2. Ability to disperse (Fig. 3.10)

• Rescuing a population through immigration

3. Degree of specialization (Fig. 3.10)

• Organisms that are specialized are more likely to
become extinct
• Limited food
• Limited habitat
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 More prone to extinction Less prone to extinction
1) Rarity Common
Rare

N N

t t
2) Dispersal ability Poor dispersal Good dispersal
Habitat destroyed Habitat destroyed
Not able to reach Can reach new
new fragment fragment

Habitat fragments Habitat fragments

3) Degree of specialization

High specialization Low specialization

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 continued…

1. Population variability (Fig. 3.10)

– Stable populations are less likely to go extinct

2. Trophic status (Fig. 3.10)

• Applies to animals only
• Higher trophic levels more at risk

3. Life span (Fig. 3.10)

4. Reproductive ability (Fig. 3.10)

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 More prone to extinction Less prone to extinction

4) Population variability
Low variability
High variability
Population size
Sudden population relatively constant:
decline can lead to extinction unlikely
extinction
N N

5) Trophic status t t

High trophic status Low trophic status

Pyramid of
numbers Top carnivores
Carnivores - tens

Herbivores - hundreds
Plants - thousands

Characteristic that make species particularly vulnerable to

extinction.
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 More prone to extinction Less prone to extinction

6) Life span Short life span Long life span

7) Reproductive ability

High reproductive ability Low reproductive ability

Characteristic that make species particularly vulnerable to

extinction.
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