Greatest Threats to Wildlife
Author: Shinta Kusuma Dewi

Wildlife is a term which includes animal species, fungi, plants and other organisms living in the wild without human influence on an ecosystem. Therefore, the protection, planning and development of wildlife required to be evaluated with all components of the ecosystem in mind (Kucuk et al. 2017) Wildlife populations are rapidly decreasing day by day due to the harvesting of natural resources for industry, production, and urbanization by human activities, leading to the habitat destruction (Kucuk et al. 2017)

The greatest threats to the survival of wildlife:

  • Habitat loss due to destruction, fragmentation, or degradation of habitat is the primary threat to the survival of wildlife. The main causes of habitat loss are agriculture, land conversion for development, water development, pollution, and climate change. Particularly, the destruction has increased in the last 200 years. As a result, many animals have become extinct or endangered (Isah 2015). Land and marine mammals are the most common endangered species in the extinction status formally evaluated in the International Union for Conservation of  Nature (IUCN) red list.
  • Climate change is quickly becoming the biggest threat to the long-term survival of wildlife. What is happening in climate change comprises temperatures increasing, sea levels rising, sea ice melting, precipitation patterns changing, and the ocean acidifying (Pew Center of Climate Change 2004).
  • Disease is a normal part of the natural world. Most ecosystems include viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites that cause disease. Healthy wildlife and ecosystems have evolved defences to fend off most diseases before they have devastating impacts. Diseases caused by or carried by invasive species are particularly threatening, as native wildlife may have no natural immunity to them.
  • Pollution of our daily lives, exhaust, trash, agricultural, and lawn chemicals via air and water could damage the environment and affect our wildlife. As big as our planet is, it’s not enough to dilute or absorb all the waste, chemicals, and nutrients that billions of people continuously produce. The causes of pollution are divided into two, climate change pollution and persistent organic pollutants (Preeti et al. 2018).
  • Invasive species cause harm to wildlife in many ways. When a new and aggressive species is introduced into an ecosystem, it may not have any natural predators or controls. It can breed and spread quickly, taking over an area. The impacts of invasive species on our natural ecosystems and economy cost billions of dollars each year. Many of our commercial, agricultural, and recreational activities depend on healthy native ecosystems. 
  • Overexploitation puts wildlife at huge risk. Fish and other aquatic species The industrialization of the fishing industry and the increasing global demand for seafood have people taking more fish from oceans, lakes and rivers than is sustainable. Birds are collected or hunted for sport, food, and the cage-bird pet trade (parrots and songbirds are prized as pets). Invertebrates: At least 75 per cent of all known animal species are invertebrates. Insects, oysters, octopuses, crayfish, sea stars, scorpions, crabs, and sponges are all kinds of this animal class. Today many invertebrates, particularly marine invertebrates, are at risk from overharvesting. 

References

Isah T. 2015. Rethinking Ginkgo biloba L.: Medicinal uses and conservation. Pharmacogn Rev 9(18):140-8.

Kucuk O, Güney K, Evcin O, Atürk E. 2017. Threat analysis and proposed solutions for elekdag wildlife development area. Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Education and Research 51(3):398-4052.
Observed Impacts of Climate Change in the United States. 2004. Pew Center on Global Climate Change.  www.c2es.org/document/observed-impacts-of-climate-change-in-the-united-states/

Preeti, Reen JK, Thakur M, Suman M, Kumar R. 2018. Consequences of pollution in wildlife. The Pharma Innovation Journal 7(4):94-102.