For my last post, I thought I would mention one of the most well-known conservation issues: bees. Unless you have been living under a rock or something, you have definitely heard about the problem of declining bee populations worldwide. The movement to save bee populations has spread like wildfire across the United States, and people are right to worry.

In the winter of 2018-19, 40% of United States honey bee colonies died, and one-third of wild bee populations are in serious decline. This decline is also shown in many other insect species, and if this trend continues, most insect species could be extinct within a hundred years.

Fig. 1 Honey Bee

If bees and other insect species go extinct or even severely decline further, it could spell disaster for the entire planet. Insects are major food sources for many species of birds, lizards, fish, and mammal species, so if they go extinct, these animals will go extinct as well. Insects are also vital to pollination for many plant species, most significantly in fruit, vegetable, and nut production. If insects go extinct, humans could lose a great deal of our food sources, causing widespread famine. In the United States, honey bees alone pollinate over 15 billion dollars of food crops.

There are multiple factors for the declining bee populations. The geographic range that bees live on has declined by 25%, mostly due to habitat loss. Another major factor in the declining population is farming practices. Bees’ natural habitats are being destroyed for farmland and the pesticides and fertilizers being used have caused major damage. If a large part of a bee colony is wiped out, the colony has a very difficult time rebounding before more damage occurs.

FIg. 2 Declining Bee Population

While many people get annoyed at all the insects that end up in their yards and houses, they truly do play a vital role in the Earth’s ecosystem. If insects disappear, a total collapse of ecosystems across the globe will occur.

It seems to be quite a trend to “save the bees” and many people brush off these people as trying to be “hipster” and just following along with trends, but even if some people may come off as cringy, this is still a real issue that needs to be resolved. Insect populations are declining, and despite many people’s hatred towards them, this is not an issue to just brush off and ignore. The loss of insects could spell extinction for us.

I have covered plenty of mammals, so I thought it would be time to inform you about one of the most recognizable birds to most people. Many know this amazing bird from its feature in the Harry Potter books as Hedwig. The snowy owl resides in the far northern reaches of North America and is the largest owl of the Americas. They are known for their stunning white feathers, easily blending into the snowy habitat they call home, but due to climate change, these birds are losing this habitat very quickly.

Fig. 1 Snowy Owl

Since their natural habitat is usually in very northern, sparsely populated areas, the main threat to snowy owls is not hunting or other direct human contacts, but humans are responsible for their sharp decline. While they are not formally labeled as endangered yet (they are currently at a ‘vulnerable’ status), a drastic decline in the population of 85% has happened since 2003, leaving only 28,000 left in the wild.

The most likely cause of this decline is climate change. I previously did a post about climate change harming the arctic ecosystem, and snowy owls have not escaped these dreadful changes. The warming climate and melting ice caps of the arctic circle has caused a population decline in the prey of the snowy owl, therefore causing a decline in the snowy owls. The main prey of snowy owls is brown lemmings, small mammals similar to mice. These lemmings have very specific requirements for survival. They only come above ground when the snow has melted, and because of global warming, the snow has been melting earlier and earlier in the season. This causes the lemmings to be above ground for a longer period of time, allowing all of the predators in the area to consume more of them than usual, ultimately causing a population decline as more lemmings are killed than born each year. The decrease in their main food supply has led to the snowy owls not being able to raise as much young as they normally would.

Fig 2. Brown Lemming

The lemming population has a trend of decreases and increases, and the snowy owl population usually follows this pattern with them, but lately, there have been more decreases than increases, which ultimately worries scientists and conservationists. The snowy owl population has only been decreasing for a relatively short time now so it has not garnered as much attention as other species have, but I still felt them worthy of showcasing in my blog post for this week.

This bird is such a staple of the arctic ecosystem, and to see them slowly become endangered has broken my heart.

Since my last post was about Giraffes, it only seemed right to jump over to the subject of elephants, specifically Asian Elephants. While African Elephants are also struggling, Asian Elephants are taking a much harder hit when it comes to being threatened by multiple factors. Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants, but are still extremely large animals, growing up to 11,000 pounds as adults. They also have smaller tusks than the African elephants, but the male elephants can still grow decent sized tusks. These elephants can be found all throughout southern and southeastern Asia, but lately, their population is in decline, and only 40,000-50,000 remain in the wild, causing them to gain the title of endangered species.

Fig. 1 Asian Elephants Walking Through a Field

Like many of the animals I have covered before, Asian elephants are suffering greatly from illegal poaching. Even though their tusks are smaller than that of the African elephant, they still sell for large sums of money on the black market. Asian elephants are also illegally taken out of the wild alive as trophies, shown off as tourist attractions. People have taken advantage of these animals and drastically harmed their population.

Even though poaching has decreased the Asian elephant’s population, the factor that has had the most effect is habitat loss. The population of Asian countries are greater than any other place in the world and is growing at a substantial rate, and the more people there are, the more space they take up, and the more forests have to be cut down, drastically reducing the natural habitats of the Asian Elephant.

Fig. 2 Asian Elephant Family in Natural Habitat

The loss of natural habitat and the cutting off of migration routes has also caused other devastating factors to the decline of the Asian elephant. Since their habitat has decreased, more elephants have been making their way onto farms and into human settlements, causing them to be killed by farmers and locals trying to protect their land and themselves from the elephants. The elephants are also suffering in another way due to habitat encroachment. As human development cuts through their habitat, elephant populations are split up with no way of reaching each other. This causes the genetic pool to become smaller and issues arise from inbreeding. The smaller isolated groups are also more easily wiped out by things like natural disasters and disease.

The Asian Elephant may not be as large or as well-known as its African cousin, but they are a wonderful animal that does not deserve this population decline. They are not the only species suffering in Southeast Asia, but they serve as a good example of what is happening to animals not only there but across the entire world due to human decisions, and only humans can try to stop any more damage from happening.