Who is destroying our wildlife

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In 4 seconds , you will be redirected to nwfactionfund. The National Wildlife Federation. Threats to Wildlife. Habitat Loss Habitat loss—due to destruction, fragmentation, or degradation of habitat—is the primary threat to the survival of wildlife in the United States. Disease Habitat loss, climate change, and a lack of biodiversity can all make ecosystems unhealthy, putting wildlife at greater risk for disease. Pollution Every day the byproducts of our daily lives make their way via the air and water into the natural environment and become pollutants.

Invasive Species The impacts of invasive species on our natural ecosystems and economy cost billions of dollars each year. Overexploitation Overexploitation is the over use of wildlife and plant species by people for food, clothing, pets, medicine, sport and many other purposes.

The Karner Blue is dependent on the wild lupine. The wild lupine is a plant that grows in pine and oak barrens in the Northeast and Midwest. It is the only known food source of the larvae of the Karner blue. Without this plant the butterfly can't survive. Wild lupine grows best in sandy soils where forest fires occasionally clear out old vegetation.

Fire helps keep shrubs low and clears the areas of plants like aspen and maple that can take over the area and create too much shade for lupine to grow. Karner blues rely on lupine for their whole life cycle.

They attach their eggs to the stems of the plants and newly hatched caterpillars eat the leaves of the plant. If wild lupine doesn't grow, the Karner blue doesn't survive.

Because humans control wildfires, lupine isn't as abundant as it used to be. Lupine is also killed by pesticides. Because lupine is harder to find, the population of Karner blues has drooped by 99 percent in the last two decades.

Natural and Human Impacts on Wildlife The Human Touch Humans are now responsible for causing changes in the environment that hurt animals and plant species. The sixth mass extinction in geological history has already begun , according to some scientists, with billions of individual populations being lost.

Changes to the climate are reversible, even if that takes centuries or millennia, and conservation efforts can work. But once species become extinct, there is no going back.

It frustrates me and upsets me. We sit at our desks and compile these statistics but they have real-life implications. Reptiles, fish and amphibians in the region were most negatively affected, driven by the overexploitation of ecosystems, habitat fragmentation and disease. To form the Living Planet Index LPI , akin to a stock market index of wildlife, more biodiverse parts of the world, such as tropical regions, are given more weighting.

All the indicators of biodiversity loss are heading the wrong way rapidly. Without a strong plan to create terrestrial and marine protected areas important ecological habitats will continue to be lost. Protected areas are one of the most effective tools for conserving species and natural habitats.

They also contribute to the livelihoods and well-being of local communities and society at large. For example, well-planned and well-managed protected areas can help to safeguard freshwater and food supplies, reduce poverty, and reduce the impacts of natural disasters.

Orangutans and other species lose habitat to palm oil plantations. Don't buy products that contain unsustainable palm oil.

Use our scorecard to help you when you shop. Only 0. This is despite the fact that MPAs not only help safeguard biodiversity, they can also benefit fisheries and people.