Hey everyone did you know that the Field
Museum and The Brain Scoop are nonprofit
and now we have super exciting news! You
can support our program directly by
donating to one of the cards in this
video. All of the donations are
completely anonymous and every single
dollar goes exclusively to supporting
our programming. We appreciate whatever
you can give and thanks so much for
helping to make this happen. And now to
our video!
May 20th is endangered-species day!
But, what's an endangered species anyway?
For starters all of the specimens you see
around me are just a fraction of the
species currently recognized as
threatened, endangered, or even extinct by
the Endangered Species Act.
The United States Endangered Species Act, the ESA,
was signed on December 28 1973.
It provides for the conservation of species
that are endangered or threatened
throughout all or a significant portion
of their range and the conservation of
the ecosystems on which they depend.
It's unlike any other conservation plan in
the world and since its implementation
the ESA has celebrated success stories
including that of the popular peregrine
falcon and those of lesser known species
like the Alpine flower Robbins Cinquefoil.
The first few lines of the ESA state the
Congress finds and declares the various
species of fish, wildlife, and plants in
the United States have been rendered
extinct as a consequence of economic
growth and development untempered by
adequate concern and conservation, YIKES!
That's basically Congress saying,
look guys because of our eagerness to
build and expand without consideration
to our collective word "we" as in people
are having a huge and negative impact on
lots of other organisms and that's not
fair. Essentially the Act aims to do
three things
prevent listed species from being killed
or harmed, protect habitats essential to
the species survival, and create plans to
restore healthy populations. Today there
are approximately two thousand two
hundred and forty five species currently
listed by the ESA six hundred and fifty
of these live outside of the US or are
in foreign waters you don't have to live
inside the U.S. specifically in order to
receive protections the species
recognized by the ESA are classified
into one of a few groups: threatened,
endangered, and candidates up for listing
in either category. Endangered species
are those which are an eminent threat of extinction,
while threatened species are those which
are at risk of becoming endangered.
How does a species gain endangered status?
A species achieves recognition as a
potential candidate for listing in one
of a few ways the first is that a
private citizen group or organization
petitions for a species to be considered
for listing by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
If you have enough information
documentation and motivation you too can
put forth a petition to list a species
you're concerned about. With substantial
evidence in support of your claim the
Fish and Wildlife Service may determine
listing for the species could be warranted.
The second way is through a candidate
assessment by FWS biologists. This is a
long process of assessment, reassessment,
monitoring, and reporting on a species of
concern as they attempt to prioritize
those organisms which are most heavily
threatened. Unfortunately, this can take a
significant amount of time at a minimum
it might take 18 months between a
proposal submission and the listing of
that species and that's just the listing
implementation of protection programs
takes even longer. Similarly there's no
limit on how long a species sits in
candidate limbo so it's not unusual for
a lower priority organism to be an
eligible candidate for years like more
than 20 years. The Warm Spring Zaitzevian Riffle Beetle
is one of a handful of
insects that went up every few years
between 1984 and 2002. It's a water
beetle for Montana found in a habitat
smaller than the size of your average
studio apartment. Through a series of
unfortunate events a cement water
collection box was built around much of
their habitat in the early 1900s
by the 1970s someone put a solid metal
lid on the box choking out light which
prevented algae their main food source
from growing. At that point they were
nominated to become candidates up for
protection by the ESA but they weren't
quite a top priority. Species which are
at a higher risk for extinction race to
the top of the priority list and each
candidate species is assigned a recovery
priority from 1 to 18.
18 being the lowest priority.
Priority level is
assigned according to things like the
degree of threats, uniqueness of its
taxonomy, and the recovery potential and
although the Zaitzevian Riffle beetle
never quite made it to priority number
one action was taken to restore their
stream ecosystem and their population
numbers even without legal protection
but as one species moves off the
candidate list others move on the most
recent report of species awaiting their
review listed 59 different ones
including the bivalve quad Rula patrina
commonly known as the Texas pimple back
which brings me to my next point.
What sort of species are covered by the
ESA? Out of the 2,245 species listed more
than half of those 1,354 are animals 901
are plants there are 280 invertebrates
and 90 of those 280 invertebrates alone
are clams. Invertebrates comprise 21% of
all listed animals you might think there
would be more invertebrates simply
because their biodiversity dwarfs
of vertebrates so from the outside it
appears to be a trend toward listing the
more charismatic organisms. Take a group
like the millipede
despite their ecological importance
there are no millipedes recognized as
threatened or endangered that's not to
say millipede habitats or populations
aren't threatened only that perhaps
there isn't enough information on a
species nor enough millipede advocates
in the world to go ahead and petition
for their candidacy, but arguably if you
listed a few species of millipedes that
would also preserve their habitats in
turn offering protection for other
organisms. Understanding this
conservation groups have likely had more
success protecting those less adorable
organisms by instead seeking out support
for the better studied charismatic
creatures. Believe me I have tried to get
I stand with unionid bivalves off of the
ground and it has not been easy
regardless if the ESA is a popularity
contest in favor of the furry and
feathery is it considered a good thing
to be listed as an endangered or
threatened species? Well it's difficult
to say in many ways yes listing a
species suggest that enough research has
been done to confirm that it is in need
of government protection. This can be
seen as a step in the right direction
for the future of that species and for
that ecosystem on which it depends but
listing a species also has the tendency
to make it more difficult to study or to
study species which live in the same
habitats as those which are protected.
Acknowledging this one of the major
goals of the ESA is to prompt enough
support for an organism that change can
occur before that species even requires
governmental protection. This is because
once an organism is listed as endangered
or threatened certain measures have to
be undertaken to ensure its safety.
This includes everything from purchasing or
securing land where that organism occurs
to enforcing strict regulations about
any activities recreational or
developmental that might affect the
species habitat. The case of the greater
sage-grouse is a great example of
various groups deciding to be proactive
about a species protection these birds
are completely reliant on low brush sage
habitats across Wyoming in the Northern
Plains which also happens to be rich
farm and ranch land in an area ripe for
development. Population numbers have been
declining in recent years but to list
the bird means to restrict any
encroachment on its territory. That's not
considered a sustainable approach even
by environmentalists instead
environmental agencies worked with
private landowners and energy producers
to figure out a way to work alongside
the greater sage-grouse. This required
finding a solution that would
leave the sage-grouse is vital habitat
intact and still allow for natural gas
drilling operations and responsible
development of the land to take place
and by creating sustainable plans to
coexist alongside the greater
sage-grouse some 350 other species which
live within its habitat are also
enjoying the benefits of a responsibly
managed ecosystem. The Endangered Species
Act is not perfect but perhaps one of
the greatest things that has done for
species in their environments is to make
us accountable for how we interact with
the world it has helped us to see that
our cities and developments do not have
borders separating us from nature but
that fragile natural ecosystem still
exists all around us and in some cases
despite of us. It's worth recognizing
this as a reality and to take ownership
in whatever way we can whether that's by
volunteering to monitor a local habitat
learning more about endangered or
threatened species in your area or by
creating an obscure hashtag to promote
undervalued flora and fauna every bit of
effort counts.
The brain scoop is made possible by the
Field Museum and the Harris family Foundation
...It still has brains on it