• Economic:  can we domesticate it?
• Medical:  will it cure?
• Scientific:  how does it work?
• Ecological:  what does it do?
• Esthetic:  beauty, wonder, joy?
• Recreational: ecotourism potential?

• We worry about the rate, not the process.
• Background extinction= species that go extinct at a ìnaturallyî low rate due to normal changes in ecosystems.
• Mass extinction:  catastrophic, widespread (global?) changes in climate leading to extinction of between 25 - 70% of all species.
• Mass extinction has happened before
• 5 X during last 500 million years
• Followed by evolution of new species by adaptive radiation.
• Last occurred 65 million years ago:  Adios dinosaurs
• Why?  Major climate change due to meteor hit?
• Next time?  Too much competition from humans?

• Do we know how many species there are?
• Extinction estimations are widely variable
• High side (Wilson, Ehrlich)
• 50 - 200 species become extinct daily
• 18,000 - 100,000  / year
• Extinction rate estimates: 25 - 100% with  next 50 years
• Most are in tropical ecosystems, which are the richest in biodiversity
• Low Side, documented (Lomborg, 2001.  The Skeptical Environmentalist)
• # of species = 1.6 million
• # of species extinctions since 1600 = 1,033
• Extinction rate: 0.7% over the next 50 years or 25 species / 10 years
• Background should be 2 species / 10 years
• Will the rate increase as the human population increases?

• First to be caused by one species.
• Taking place in only a few decades, rather than over thousands to millions of years.
• We are also removing diverse habitats that would serve as evolutionary recovery centers.

• Local extinction:  gone from part of the range, but found elsewhere.
• Ecological extinction:  a few members left, but canít fulfill the ecological role in the community
• Biological extinction:  gone forever.

• Threatened:  still abundant in its natural range but declining in numbers and likely to become endangered.
• Grizzly bear
• S. sea otter
• American Alligator
• Endangered:  so few individual survivors that species could soon become extinct over all or most of its natural range.
• California condor (40 left)
• Whooping crane (288 left)

• Low reproduction rate:  blue whale, polar bear, whooping crane
• Specialized feeding habits:  blue whale and krill, black-footed ferret on prairie dogs, giant panda on bamboo, koala on eucalpytus
• Feed at high trophic levels:  Bengal tiger, bald eagle, timber wolf
• Large size:  elephant, American bison, grizzly

• Limited/specialized nesting or breeding areas:  whooping crane (marshes), orangutan (only on Sumatra & Borneo) green sea turtles (lays eggs on only a few beaches)
• Endemic (found in only place or region):  Woodland caribou, elephant seal, many unique island species as in Hawaii, Madagascar
• Fixed migratory patterns:  blue whale, whooping crane
• Preys on livestock or people:  timber wolf (livestock), some crocodiles (people)
• Behavioral patterns:  passenger pigeon nesting in large colonies, readheaded woodpecker (flies in front of cars), key deer (forages for cigarette butts along highways for hit of nicotine).

• Florida manatee
• N. Spotted owl
• grey wolf
• american bison
• snow leopard
• black-footed ferret
• Florida panther
• Utah prairie dog
• Black lace cactus
• California condor

• Habitat loss and degradation
• Habitat fragmentation
• Commercial hunting and poaching
• Overfishing
• Predator and pest control
• Sale of exotic pets and decorative plants
• Climate change and pollution
• Invasive species introductions

• Tusks valuable for ivory
• Destructive of vegetation if population is high (preserves)
• Sustainable harvesting may encourage locals to protect herds from poaching
• Some parks are putting the elephants on the ìpillî

• range of rhino in Africa
• Rhino horn daggers can go for

$500 - 12,000 in Yemen

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
• 1975 passed in UN
• Signed by 136 countries
• Lists 700 species as threatened or endangered
• Listed species can not be commercially traded as live specimens or wildlife products.
• You canít bring back those lizard boots from Mexico, that leopard skin coat, or the cute parrot
• Problems:  enforcement spotty, fines low, $6 billion illegal trade in endangered species
• Centers of illegal trade:  Singapore, Argentina, Indonesia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand

• Endangered Species Act 1973 (ESA)
• Amended in 1982 and 1988
• Illegal for Americans to import or trade in any product made from an endangered or threatened species (exceptions:  approved scientific purpose)
• Listing agencies:
• National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) -
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
• Listed species cannot be ìtakenî = hunted, killed, collected, injured, harassed . . . .
• Approx. 1100, about 85 added/yr
• 60% plants, 40% animals
• Recovery Plan:  problem = little money to implement.

• PA: 5 - 10

• Mammals:
• Endangered:  Delmarva Fox Squirrel, Indiana Bat, Least Shrew
• Threatened:  E. woodrat, Small-footed Myotis, West VA water shrew
• Birds
• Endangered
• Raptors:  Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Short-eared Owl . . . .
• Water Birds: Black Tern, King Rail, Yellow-crowned Night Heron.
• Others: Loggerhead Shrike
• Threatened
• Raptors: Osprey
• Others:  Sedge Wren, Upland Sandpiper, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
• EXTINCT:  Passenger Pigeon

• Habitat:
• feeding - small, shallow streams
• Nests - riparian Sycamores
• Range: nests in the lower reaches of the Susquehanna
• Threats
• Habitat disturbance / loss
• Rarity - at Northern edge of range

• graphics  and picture from Merritt, 1987: Mammals of Pennsylvania

• Amphibians
• Coastal plain Leopard Frog
• E. Mud Salamander
• Green Salamander
• NJ Chorus Frog
• Reptiles
• Bog Turtle
• E. Massasauga
• Red-Bellied Turtle
• Rough Green Snake
• Fish
• Atlantic Sturgeon
• Lake Sturgeon
• Darters (Bluebreast, Channel, E. Sand, Longhead, Spotted, Tippecanoe)
• Mountain MadTom
• Lamprey (Mountain Brook, N. Brook, Ohio)

• 1st species on PA list
• Only found in isolated populations
• Decline due to
• Draining bogs, marshes & swampland
• Pet trade
• Range: parts of NY, S to the w. border of NC + NJ
• In PA range split into 2, SE PA to Poconos and W PA in Franklin Co.
• Habitat: wetlands, wet pastures
• Info & Picture from:Shaffer, 1999

• Habitat: clean, moderate - to swift-flowing large streams or rivers
• Threats: siltation, pollution, restricted range (French Creek)

• Plants:  some examples of the ~ 300 vascular plants (ferns, pines, flowering)
• Box huckleberry
• NE Bulrush
• Swamp Pink
• White Monkshood
• Jeweled Shooting-Star
• Showy Ladyís Slipper
• Shale-barren Evening Primrose
• Serpentine Aster
• Many are Wetland species
• Many are ìbarrensî plants
• Unequal protection under the ESA:  only protected on public land (federal, state or local)
• To find out more:  http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/wrcf/plants.htm

• Habitat: shale barrens endemic on S to SW sides of Allegheny ridges
• Threats:
• Road expansion
• Right-of-way maintenance
• quarrying

• Habitat: moist, shaded areas of E & N facing limestone outcrops & river bluffs
• Why threatened?
• Development
• Railroad line blasting
• Limestone mining
• Herbicide usage along railroads
• http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/wrcf/plants.htm

• Habitat: alkaline wetlands
• Threats: collection, habitat destruction, acid mine drainage
• 5 out of 29 historical populations extant
• Info:www.dcnr.state.pa.us/wrcf/showy.htm

• 10 (Brown) = S. Great Lakes Forests
• 14 (lt. Blue)= NE Coastal Forests
• 15 (lt. gray)= Allegheny Highlands Forests
• 16 (dk. gray)= Appalachian/Blue Ridge Forests
• 17 (tan) = Appalachian Mixed Mesophytic forests
• From:Ricketts, et al, 1999

• One of the worldís riches temperate broadleaf forests
• ~ 83% of the habitat in this ecoregion has been altered
• Heaviest loss:ridge & valley provinces for agriculture
• Surburban sprawl and urban development in lower elevations
• Intensive logging in the early 1900s
• Threats
• Timber & mineral extraction
• Conversion to developed lands
• Fire suppression
• Air pollution & acid precipitation
• High deer densities
• Introduction of exotic pests & diseases
• Gypsy moth
• Spruce budworm
• Hemlock wolly adelgid  -
• balsam wolly adelgid
• Dogwood anthracnost fungi

28.  Allegheny Highlands Forests

• Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) + beech (Fagus grandifolia) = 60% of early land surveys
• Most cleared between 1890 - 1920: < 1% old growth remains
• Regenerated forest: hardwoods favored, elimination of white pines and hemlock due to repeated fires
• Remaining protected sites in PA
• Hammersley Fork Wilderness Area
• Cook State Forests
• Arbutus Peak Oak Barren Macrosite
• Lehigh Pond
• Allegheny National Forest
• Woodbourne Forest
• Current Threats
• Recreational and suburban development
• Deer destroying herbaceous vegetation and preventing tree regeneration

• High biodiversity:
• may find > 30 canopy trees at a single site
• Lower-elevation forests: magnolias, oaks, hickories, walnuts, elms, birches, ashes, basswoods, maples, locusts, pines, tulip poplar, black gum . . . . .
• Higher elevation forests: yellow birch, mountain maple, sugar maple, beech, E. hemlock with understory of mountain laurel and rhododendron
• Rich understory: ferns, fungi, perennial & annual herbs, shrubs
• Animals: songbirds, salamanders, land snails, beetles with high diversity
• Freshwater communities have globally high richness and endemism in mussels, fish, crayfish
• >95% converted or degraded
• Agriculture, coal mining, logging for charcoal, dams, roads
• Most agriculture failed -> secondary forests lack much of the diversity
• Threats: logging & development, mining, highways, deer