Saving Wildlife: Species Checklists

Posted on March 31, 2013 by GarryRogers

Introduction: The Human Impact

The growing human population is wiping out Earth’s resources and many plant and animal species. Scientists are calling this the Earth’s sixth mass extinction event. They say that we are extinguishing species between 100 and 1,000 times faster than the average rate throughout Earth history.

We can’t seem to do anything about the human population boom, so we can’t stop species extinctions. We can sometimes intervene to save a species. We can return species to places they formerly occupied, and we can protect or restore damaged habitats. Of course, we have to know that species are declining before we can decide to intervene. The only way to know how most species are doing is to conduct repeated field surveys. On foot, clipboard in hand. Continue reading →

Arizona Wildlife In Peril

Posted on March 18, 2013 by GarryRogers

Arizona Wildlife Status

There is general agreement that wildlife is declining worldwide. Across the U. S., government agencies and private organizations have set aside millions of acres in parks, monuments, preserves, refuges, wilderness areas, and other protected areas. The efforts have undoubtedly slowed the decline, but they have not stopped it. The status of most small invertebrate species is unknown, but the AZ Game & Fish Department reports that 551 of the state’s 992 vertebrate species are imperiled.

Imperiled Arizona Wildlife

Continue reading →

Life on Mars?!

Posted on March 13, 2013 by GarryRogers

Learning about Mars

Mars Rover Curiosity

As Mars rover Curiosity gets closer to determining that life existed on Mars, people are getting excited. Some hope that we will find a few of the last surviving pockets of the planet’s microorganisms. Fascinating! Should we invest more in the space program? Oh, sorry; that was stupid. Everyone knows we have to save life on Earth first.

Reports from around the world are describing the progress of a great environmental catastrophe. Earth’s wild animals and plants are dying. Efforts by the world’s governments and conservation organizations have failed to stop the accelerating catastrophe. According to a January 2013 report by the AZ Game & Fish Department, more than half of the state’s native vertebrate species are imperiled. Sadly, the status of the great majority of smaller species is unknown. Continue reading →

Blogville Award

Posted on March 12, 2013 by GarryRogers

GarryRogers.com just received an Editor’s Choice award from Blogville 8-). Blogville is a keyword-based blog directory that is “human reviewed.” According to Alexa, Blogville traffic ranks 8,129 in the U. S., and this year is growing at a high rate of more than 21% per month. Thank you!

Review: The Human Impact

Posted on March 6, 2013 by GarryRogers

Goudie, Andrew S. 2009. (Fifth edition) The human impact on the natural environment: Past, present, and future. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 376 p.

Human impacts are often subtle and complex. They easily escape our notice as they make small cumulative changes in the environment. Only by intensive analysis of the chemistry and spatiotemporal dynamics of particles, forces, and flows can some be detected. But as human population and land use have grown, so has the visibility of the impacts.

In this book, British geographer Andrew Goudie gives well-illustrated discussions of many types of human impacts. With examples drawn from hundreds of studies, Professor Goudie summarizes a broad selection of previous research. Though the environmental changes he describes often seem to be a result of human activity, determining causes is difficult or impossible with the present information.

Following an introduction to the development of human attitudes toward nature, Goudie presents chapters on vegetation, animals, soil, water, geomorphology, and climate. The book ends with a discussion of the current opinions on human influence on environmental change.

When The Human Impact was first published in 1981, one reviewer, Paul Ward English, said, “this is an unusually fine book.” I agree.

Buy the book at the Naturalist’s Bookstore. Search the ‘Human Impacts’ category.