Pholthip Punnoi
April 10, 2008
Final Paper
Loss of Animal Habitat
There are greater numbers of rare, endangered and threatened plants and animals around the world that are decreasing rapidly. They will be extinct as long as we constantly do the same activities without trying to save them. Endangerment of species, animals and plants is a broad problem. Their habitats and environments are interrelated. If one habitat is destroyed, it may lead to problems with other habitats. Though, according to Charles Darwin, “extinction of a species is part of the evolutionary process. There is no reason at all to be concerned about the disappearance of a species. In fact, a steady rate of extinction is a normal process in the course of evolution, and is called the background rate of extinction.” (“Why the rapid decline? – Natural causes,” pp.1). On the other hand, the rate of extinction has been obviously accelerated by humans because humans can directly and indirectly harm animal habitat: as a result of increasing human population, agriculture, and development.
The world population is increasing rapidly. Since 1980, the global economy has tripled in size and the population has grown by 30 percent to 6 billion people (“World population awareness - Impact,” 2008, pp 4). Many areas of the world are becoming urbanized. By 2025, East Asia is estimated to be 63% urbanized, Latin America 85%, and Africa 54% (“Why the rapid decline? - Habitat loss,” pp. 2). As the number of population has been increasing massively, animals and plants’ habitats have been destroyed for the sake of human shelters and other needs. Moreover, many animal and plant populations and species are going to vanish underneath the concrete buildings of the cities, unless suburban growth is controlled effectively; for example, in 1880, the Sthenele Brown butterfly disappeared under the growing city of San Francisco. In addition, according to Thinkquest, urbanization’s damages tend to occur in areas that...