critically endangered

Protected Areas Are Not Protecting Insects | Earth Wise

March 24, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Insects can be found in every environment on Earth and play crucial roles in the planet’s ecosystems. In fact, Biologist E. O. Wilson once said that “if all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.”

While his statement may sound extreme, it’s really not an exaggeration. Insects are critical to most ecosystems. They pollinate more than 80% of plants – both those we eat and those that provide food and habitat for other species. Insects are also a food source themselves, eaten by other insects, birds, fish, and mammals. Without insects, we wouldn’t have the rich biodiversity that supports life on earth today.

But insect populations are collapsing around the globe, and they continue to be overlooked by conservation efforts. Protected areas, like national parks, refuges, and sanctuaries, can safeguard threatened species, but only if those threatened species actually live within the protected areas.

According to a new study recently published in the journal One Earth, 76% of insect species are not adequately covered by protected areas, including several critically endangered insects such as the dinosaur ant, crimson Hawaiian damselfly, and harnessed tiger moth. Alarmingly, the populations of 1,876 species do not overlap with protected areas at all.

Insects have been historically overlooked by conservation programs and need to be included in future conservation assessments.

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Protected areas fail to safeguard more than 75% of global insect species

Photo, posted August 21, 2014, courtesy of Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Saving The Sumatran Rhino | Earth Wise

January 2, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Sumatran rhinoceros is the smallest and most ancient rhino species and is the only surviving species with hair. It is critically endangered. Because of poaching and habitat destruction, there are fewer than 50 of them left in the wild and those are scattered in the rainforests of Sumatra and the Indonesian part of Borneo. Mating encounters between surviving males and females are increasingly rare.

The last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia died in 2019 but cell samples from that individual are the basis of an ambitious effort in bioengineering.

Researchers from the Max Delbruck Center in Germany are taking skin cells from the deceased rhino and turning them into stem cells. The hope is to use these stem cells to derive egg and sperm cells to be the basis of assisted reproduction. Fertilization would take place in a petri dish. The resultant embryos would then be carried to term by surrogate rhino mothers.

The researchers have reported success generating induced pluripotent stem cells or IPS cells from the rhino skin samples. IPS cells are able to divide indefinitely and can transform into any cell type in the body.

The next step is to try to cultivate primordial germ cells – the precursors of eggs and sperm.

This work is going on because it is increasingly difficult to preserve the Sumatran rhino population by gathering together remaining individuals in wildlife Reserves. Females that have not been pregnant for a long time often become infertile because of cyst growth on their reproductive organs, and some are just too old to bear young.

It may take extraordinary efforts like these to save these animals from extinction.

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A second chance for the Sumatran rhino

Photo, posted April 30, 2008, courtesy of Willem V. Strien via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker | Earth Wise

May 24, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The ivory-billed woodpecker was the largest woodpecker in the US. They were once relatively common, stretching from the Carolinas through the southeast and across to Texas. Their numbers started to drop sharply in the 19th century because of habitat loss and overhunting. Many were taken as valuable specimens; some were even eaten by poverty-stricken people.

The last widely accepted sighting was way back in 1944. For years, the birds were listed as critically endangered with only infrequent and entirely anecdotal reports of sightings. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally declared the species extinct.

A multiyear field study by avian researchers from multiple institutions has recently reported that the ivory-billed woodpecker may in fact still exist in a remote swampy region of Louisiana.

The three-year effort to find the woodpecker involved scientists trudging through the remote site to observe birds and take audio recordings. Unmanned trail cameras taking time-lapse photos and a drone were used to capture images. Several members of the team report that they observed the birds. Some photographic images and videos appear to show ivory bills. Based on characteristic markings visible in some of the photos, the birds do appear to be the ivory bill and not, for example, the fairly common but similar looking pileated woodpecker.

The birds are scarce, live in a tough, swampy habitat, and actively avoid getting near people. They live high in trees and are very difficult to spot, much less get clear photographs of. From all indications, however, reports of the demise of the ivory-billed woodpecker may have been premature.

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Back from the dead? Elusive ivory-billed woodpecker not extinct, researchers say

Photo, posted May 3, 2008, courtesy of Michael McCarthy via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Search For Lingering Ash | Earth Wise

January 12, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Ash trees are some of the most important plants along riverbanks and in wetlands. There are three ash species in North America: the white, green, and black ash. Unfortunately, all three species are critically endangered because of the emerald ash borer.

The emerald ash borer is an exotic beetle from Asia that first showed up in the U.S. in southeastern Michigan in the summer of 2002. The adult beetles do little damage but the larvae feed on the inner bark of ash trees and disrupt the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients. The beetles are now found in 35 states and 5 Canadian provinces and have killed hundreds of millions of ash trees.

The greatest hope for preserving ash tree species relates to lingering ash, which are those rare trees that have managed to survive the onslaught of the emerald ash borer. The idea is that those trees have some natural genetic resistance to the borer. Getting seeds and cuttings from lingering ash and propagating them at nurseries may be the only way to get ash trees back into the natural landscape.

Lingering ash are extremely rare and therefore very hard to find. As a result, researchers are reaching out to the public to help with the search and report the presence of these surviving trees in woodlands.

Researchers want to find large, mature trees left among those that were killed by the invasive insect and therefore display great resilience. In Kentucky, university and Division of Forestry researchers are making use of software tools to engage the assistance of the public. An app called TreeSnap allows people to provide data on trees that they find in their community, on their property, or out in the wild.

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Researchers Ask Public for Help Finding Lingering Ash Trees

Help Our Nation’s Trees!

Photo, posted May 31, 2014, courtesy of Katja Schulz via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Return Of The Blue Whales | Earth Wise

December 21, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

An international research team has revealed that critically endangered Antarctic blue whales have returned to the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, 50 years after whaling just about wiped them out. Other recent research has found that humpback whales are also returning to the region.

Blue whales were commonplace off South Georgia before 20th century industrial whaling taking place between 1904 and 1971 killed over 42,000 of them there. Most of that number were killed before the mid-1930s. As a result, blue whales essentially vanished from the region. Whale survey ships sighted only a single blue whale between 1998 and 2018.

But things have changed in recent years. A survey this past February resulted in 58 blue whale sightings and numerous acoustic detections. Although commercial whaling was banned in the area in the 1960s, it has taken a long time for the whales to make a comeback.

Researchers are not sure why blue whales have taken so long to return to the area. It may be that so many were killed over the years that the remaining population had little or no cultural memory of South Georgia Island as a foraging ground, and that it is only now being rediscovered.

In total, 41 individual blue whales have been photo-identified from South Georgia over the past 10 years, although none of those matched the 517 whales in the current Antarctic blue whale photographic catalogue. Dedicated whale surveys are difficult in a region known for its harsh weather and inaccessibility but are crucial to the future management of South Georgia’s seas. In any case, researchers see the recent sightings as a very positive step forward for conservation of the Antarctic blue whale.

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Blue whales return to South Georgia after near extinction

Photo, posted September 7, 2007, courtesy of the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries via Flickr. Photo credit: NOAA.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The American Bumblebee

May 29, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Pollinators, such as bees and bats, are vital for global food production. They provide an ecological service that’s necessary for the reproduction of nearly 75% of the world’s flowering plants, including more than two-thirds of the world’s food crops.

Bumblebees are among the most important plant pollinators. They pollinate many food crops, including apples, tomatoes, blueberries and legumes, as well as countless types of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers. But researchers have documented declines in both the abundance and range of many bumblebee species.

The American bumblebee, which is native to North America, is one of them. The species can currently be found in eastern Canada, throughout much of the Eastern United States, and much of Mexico.

According to a new study led by York University and recently published in the Journal of Insect Conservation, the American bumblebee is critically endangered, and it faces imminent local extinction from Canada. This is considered the highest and most at-risk classification before extinction.

The researchers used data from three sources in their study: the Bumble Bee Watch (which is a citizen science project), the Bumble Bees of North America database (that has records dating back to the late-1800s), and their own field survey work. They used the IUCN’s Red List assessment criteria to evaluate the status of the American bumblebee within its Canadian range.

The research team found that the species’ area of occurrence has decreased by approximately 70% and its relative abundance dropped by 89% from 2007-2016 when compared to 1907-2006.

The American bumblebee can still be found throughout its Canadian range. But immediate conservation action is desperately needed.

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Disappearing bumblebee species under threat of extinction

Photo, posted August 22, 2011, courtesy of Rachel Elaine via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Extreme Botany

December 17, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The threat of extinction of many animal species is something that makes headlines. But there are also thousands of critically endangered plants in the world and that situation has not generated nearly the same sense of urgency. Some biologists have used the term “plant blindness” to describe humanity’s inability to appreciate the ecological and economic importance of plants.

[Read more…] about Extreme Botany

Trading Rhino Horn And Tiger Bone

November 21, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Historically, rhino horn and tiger bone were used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat various illnesses, despite the lack of any evidence of their effectiveness. In fact, rhino horn is simply keratin, a protein that is found in human fingernails and hair. Rhino horn is used to treat everything from cancer to gout in traditional Chinese medicine. Similarly, a paste made from crushed tiger bone is thought to treat a variety of ailments, including rheumatism and back pain.

Wildlife Rediscoveries

March 30, 2017 By EarthWise

We recently brought you the rediscovery story of cave squeakers. These tiny frogs, known for their high-pitched whistling calls, were native to the mountainous region of eastern Zimbabwe but had not been seen since 1962. That all changed in late 2016, when researchers found four cave squeakers, confirming that after 58 years the species was not extinct. Cave squeakers remain critically endangered according to the IUCN’s Red List of Endangered Species.

Wiping Out Our Relatives

September 20, 2016 By WAMC WEB

We recently highlighted the plight of orangutans. Following years of failed conservation measures, all orangutans are now listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The Sumatran orangutan had been listed as critically endangered for nearly two decades, but the Bornean orangutan was a recent addition. According to the IUCN, all orangutans have an “extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.”

The Plight Of Orangutans

August 1, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Orangutans – one of the planet’s most intelligent animals – can only be found in the wild on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the island of Borneo, which is a land mass shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. And for years conservationists have been warning that measures put in place to protect orangutans have been failing. And they were correct. It was recently declared that orangutans are officially headed for extinction.