The production of these toxic-filled substances continues to lead the human race on a path of natural destruction; with thousands of animal sea-life dying annually from plastic consumption. It's time we wake up to the fact that our oceans are in need of critical help. How did the plastic get into our oceans to begin with? The oceans are enormous but they are not infinite. Today, as in the past, oceans are being treated as giant disposal areas for all types of refuse (plastics, tins, bottles etc.)
Demand for Dissection Specimens Increases Pressure on Threatened Species Researchers from the World Conservation Union reported in 2004 that a third of all amphibian species around the globe, including frogs, were threatened with extinction. Although habitat loss, pollution and climate changes are the primary causes, demand for dissection specimens only makes matters worse. Analysts estimate that as many as six million wild frogs are destroyed each year in the U.S. alone for dissection! (Couldn’t find Canadian Information) Frog dissection has many benefits, including specific lessons that extended basic biology. It has its negative side with the declining population but it also has a very good experience for the human race’s
Since we have the attention of everyone, now is the best time to take action against global warming. Due to the increasing temperatures every year our public health and our agriculture/food supply is at high risk for new and worse diseases due to global warming; we need to change our climate control policies to protect ourselves. Gases are being trapped inside of earth’s atmosphere like a soda can, and are gradually increasing Earth’s temperatures that ice will start melting and there will be flooding due to rising sea levels; plants and animals will start becoming endangered (as cited in Cooper, 2001). We have already seen coastal flooding in parts of Central America and Bermuda’s forests are now endangered due to flooding (as cited in Clemmitt, 2006). Global warming has been an issue since factories were introduced to this world; gases and toxins are being highly exposed into our atmosphere causing a tremendous reaction to the balance of nature.
The ocean dwellers are virtually helpless, and they will ultimately have to suffer the consequences that have been created mainly by humans. Over the past few years there has been a significant change in marine life. Coral reefs are becoming endangered due to high carbon dioxide levels and effects of warming. Large predators, small fish, and other organisms make their homes in coral reefs. A process called mass bleaching has also become a danger to coral reefs.
Advancing glaciers would have lowered the temperature of the shallow seas therefore such big changes in temperature would alter the amount of oxygen in the water and meant the end for any species that couldn’t adapt. Research shows that approximately 50% of all species became extinct. The Devonian period was the second mass extinction and is known as the “Age of the fish” It is famous for the thousands of species of fish that developed in the Devonian seas. During the late Devonian period, over 408-360 million years ago, ,saw mass extinction and over a fifth of marine families and more than half of marine genera gradually died out over what may have been a ten-million-year interval. Climate and sea-level changes were the causes of the extinction of many types of corals, trilobites and fish with the sponges and coral most greatly effected.
At one time, as many as 500 species of cichlids existed making Lake Victoria one of the most diverse lakes in the world. However, the number of cichlid species has now plummeted to just 200, mainly due to the Nile Perch. A side effect of the loss of cichlid species is that a significant number of them feed on detritus. With declining numbers of cichlids to feed on detritus, more unconsumed
As a result of recent studies, Vivek Menon has discovered that elephant poaching increased nearly three fold between 1990 and 1996. However, a large number of carcasses go unreported, so the real estimates could be as much as five times the numbers recorded. When the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) ‘downlisted’ three populations of elephants in Africa in 1997 (this increased to four countries in 2000), it re-started the legal trade in ivory which had been previously banned for ten years. As a result, elephant poaching around the world, including India, increased. Vivek Menon has found that the new wave of poaching in India includes new methods of killing elephants.
Unfortunately, humans are the most polluting species on the planet. Pollution occurs at different levels and it doesn't just impact our planet; it impacts all species, including mankind, who dwell on it. We pollute water with chemicals and waste products from factories.Water pollution has led to a decrease in the number of various aquatic animals. Several aquatic life forms are on the verge of extinction. Vehicles, trains and planes emit toxic gases, creating air pollution.
These "exotic" species can also prey on the native species’. [1] [Fig1] [Fig1] ‘Ahmed Djoghlaf, head of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity stated that, “Extinction rates are rising by a factor of up to 1,000 above natural rates. Every hour, three species disappear. Every day, up to 150 species are lost. Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000 species become extinct.
In the late 1940s to the early 1950s, in the United States alone, polio crippled around 35,000 people each year making it one of the most feared diseases of the twentieth century. By 1979 the country had become polio free. There were 1,195 cases reported in 2006. Polio incidences has dropped more than 99.9 percent since the launch of global polio eradication efforts in 1988. According to global polio surveillance data from October 23, 2013, 301 polio cases have been reported from the following countries: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan.