Save the Sparrow's Environment
Humanitarian
There are several reasons as to why the Florida
Grasshopper Sparrow should be saved. First of all,
it was by the fault of humans that the Sparrow first
became endangered. It is endangered because of its
strong dependence on the dry prairies of Florida, and
more than 85% of those prairies have been obliterated
by humans “developing” them into pastures for cattle
to graze or for humans to grow crops (National
Audubon Society, 2012). This leaves the sparrow
homeless, and oftentimes the baby chicks are unable
to escape because they cannot fly. With so much
destruction, this causes the sparrow to have a very low
biotic potential. This means that, because the sparrow
is so restricted to the central prairies of Florida, there
are ample amounts of environmental resistance. This resistance includes their restricted range, predators, and lack of burning every two years. When the baby chicks die off, it makes it near impossible for the population to grow anymore, which causes the low biotic potential.
The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow should be saved by humans because it was humans who did the immense damage in the first place. Humans were the ones who demolished the bird’s land, plants, and home. It would only be fair if it was humans who repaired it as well. If humans don’t act now, there will be no possible way for the future generations to enjoy the view of this graceful bird flit and flutter around the prairies. The sparrow may be small, but choosing to just let an entire animal species die off without attempting to protect it is just the beginning. If humans let the small, seemingly insignificant animals die, soon every ecosystem will be disturbed, mostly because of the human need to not “waste” money on trivial species. This could cause the ripple effect, meaning every animal and organism that the sparrow interacts with on a daily basis, including parasites, would be affected by the birds loss. This could mean a boom in the population growth of the sparrow’s prey, or a complete eradication of any predators such as snakes, birds of prey, rodents, raccoons, coyotes, and many more. (Florida's Resident Grasshopper Sparrow, 2015) It is the job of humans to fix what they have broken, before it is too late.
Role in the Ecosystem
If the central prairies of Florida, the sparrow’s home, are allowed to be turned into grazing pastures for cattle, this will also risk even greater disaster to strike. Under normal conditions, the central prairies of Florida are meant to burn naturally every two years in fires called surface fires. These types of fires only burn the surface litter and brush, never getting too big or hot. If they are turned into “improved” pastures, they will become human controlled, meaning they will not be allowed to burn. This will cause severe build of dry brush and taller shrubbery, which could eventually result in a crown fire. These types of fires cause mass destruction, jumping from treetop to treetop, burning much hotter and bigger than a surface fire. These fires would cause the land to be devoid of all life for long periods of time, acting as another form of environmental resistance.
The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow has an important functional diversity as well. This means that the role the sparrow plays in the ecosystem is critical to the survival of other species, not only itself. The nests of the sparrow are oftentimes parasitized by the native brown-headed cowbird. While it may not be the best for the health of the sparrow, it is a natural way of life for the birds, and is needed for the survival of the brown-headed cowbird. The sparrow is also parasitized by nasal mites and bird ticks. (Dewey, 2009) It provides a home for these species, which, in turn, are crucial to the environment as they are the prey
of other animals in the same environment as well. If the sparrow
becomes extinct, it’s like a chain missing a link. It falls apart.
Food chains and food webs are an incredibly important part of an
ecosystem. It keeps each organism in balance so no population
gets too large or too small. If the sparrow suddenly went extinct,
it would have a devastating impact on its own food chain or food
web.
While such a small bird may not have a huge impact on a global
scale, the complete annihilation of it would affect all the
organisms that are part of the same food web, which would
slowly ripple out to affect many other species, some not even in
the same ecosystem. For example, the worms and grasshoppers the sparrow eats so often would start to overpopulate. This could cause other species to become overcrowded, and die off from the lack of room or lack of food, because the insects deplete their food source as well. Not only would it affect the animals, but plant species as well.
The overpopulation of insects and grasshoppers could strangle the roots of the plants, causing them to be wiped out completely in that particular ecosystem. With the sparrow gone, the predators of it would lose one of their main food sources. Some of these predators include the spotted skunk, striped skunk, and even the feral hog. Most of these predators prey upon the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow’s eggs, but it is sometimes the adult birds themselves. (Pranty & Tucker, 2006) While it may seem odd to want to save the very predators that are killing the sparrow, it is a necessary way of life to keep all of the species in the same ecosystem thriving and in balance. To keep the chain from falling apart, we must make sure we have every link.
