Recent Study Outcomes on Factors Affecting Animal Species Endangering and Extinction

About the Study

The loss of the habitat and the loss of the genetic variability lead to the endangering of the animal species and could potentially lead to their extinction, if conservative approaches are not undertaken. Apart from these anthropogenic activities that affect the environment also lead to the degeneration of the animal habitats. On the basis of theoretical generalizations, empirical observations, and contemporary anthropogenic activities throughout the biosphere, it was suggested that further, more in-depth research is needed to understand how the environment is changing generally and how that is affecting the extinction of species. These studies in addition will facilitate the utilization of the animal resources in effective manner like domestication of animals and breeding as well as animal husbandry. While the exploitation of the animal resources can potentially endanger the species diversity, it can also restore and roll back the extinction of the animal species.

he fragmentation of the animal habitat can threaten the wide ranging animal species and also the migratory species. On the terrestrial ecosystem the habitat disintegration can result in the extinction of nearly a quarter of species. One such endangered terrestrial mammalian species is the Caribou that is migratory in nature. Among Caribou population, the migratory nature can vary to a great extent. Such migratory nature can be determined genetically but nevertheless can be influenced substantially by the anthropogenic activities. The genetic factors that determine the migratory nature need to be further studied in elaborate manner. One of the recent studies have analyzed the migratory behaviour using the collar GPS technology among Caribou populations in Northern America in conjunction with the genomic studies of the same individually tagged Caribou. Both the northern and the southern genetic traits were analyzed and observed that >50 small nucleotide polymorphisms were associated positively with the migratory behaviour that could be also potentially playing role in the migration of other organisms. The evolutionary history and ancestry plays substantial role in the migratory and sedentary nature of the Caribou. The loss of the migratory nature could be linked to the modified genetic constitution [1,2].

The ecosystems are subjected to the disruptions of the community dynamics and loss of the habitat. In the conservation biology research, one of the most prominent topics is the prediction of the potential species that are prone to extinction very much before time. The vulnerability of the species to become extinct depends on the genetic factors and factors such as environment and the habitat and their modification by the anthropogenic activities. However, there have been no systematic studies that link the intrinsic and the extrinsic factors, however, the demographic patterns in the reproduction and survival of the species are associated with the risk of extinction.

One of the recent studies studied the influence of the demographic pattern on the extinction of the animal species based on the demographic rates, phylogeny of mammals and birds found that birds are more vulnerable to extinction when they mature early and the animal species are more vulnerable when they have longer periods of generation time [3].

Monitoring of the biodiversity on a long term basis is essential for analyzing the threat factors and the potential conservation strategies for the protection of the animal species as well as for the improved management. One of the recent studies evaluated the population trends of few species over a decade time including their spatial distribution in Cambodia. The study revealed that the arboreal primates and the peafowl have stable and increased population while the semi-arboreal primates showed a declining trend [4].

References

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