Ecological Reasons for Endangerment
Specific Reasons
These sparrows have been robbed of their home, ecosystem, and way of life. The habitat loss and destruction due to human causes has resulted in the rapid decline of this species. Businesses have chosen to convert the central and south dry prairies of Kissimmee, Florida into land for pasturing and agriculture, which destroys the sparrow’s home. It is a known fact that when an animal's habitat is destroyed, the abundance of the species declines. When the land is converted into pastures and land for agriculture, it destroys the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow nests, eggs, and newborn sparrows (Audubon Florida News, 2012).
These birds are a mere 13 centimeters tall and camouflage well into their environment, thus making it hard to spot them, let alone protect them (Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, 2015). They are scattered throughout this dry prairie where 85% of Florida's has already been converted into pasture and land for agriculture (Audubon Florida News, 2012).
The sparrow has a low genetic diversity, meaning that since there are so few in the wild, there is much less chance for them to evolve and grow to adapt to their ever-shrinking environment.
Human's are the Predator
Since the dawn of time, humans have been destroying wildlife directly and indirectly due to their own selfish needs. Specifically, humans have been contributing to these premature causes of extinction, H.I.P.P.C.O., despite knowing the damages that they cause. Saving a species might require a person to consume less red meat, but this may seem like a preposterous idea to many people. This selfish attitude that some humans have is directly causing certain species to become extinct.
H.I.P.P.C.O. is an acronym for the six ways that humans increase extinction rates for species, otherwise known as premature extinction. Unfortunately, the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow falls under several of these categories.
Habitat Destruction: Humans have been converting the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow habitat, dry prairie, into land for pasturing and agriculture which in turn is destroying it and making it uninhabitable.
Invasive Species: The Fire Ant and the Brown-headed Cowbirds are eating the sparrow’s babies and causing a steep decline in the species numbers.
Population: The greater the increase in human population, the higher the demand for urbanization of this land becomes, and the sparrow’s limited habitat becomes even smaller.
Pollution: Coal exhaust negatively affects the anatomy of all bird species by permanently damaging their respiratory system.
Climate Change: Climate change does not directly affect this particular bird, but in general climate change causes a vast amount of greenhouse gas emissions, which could possibly eradicate ¼ of all bird species, contributing to their extinction.
Overexploitation : Overexploitation is the overuse of wildlife and species to serve other purposes; such as clothing, food, medicine, etc. Overexploitation does not apply to this particular bird.
Greed Trumps Humanity
These petite omnivores may be a specialist species, they have a narrow niche, but that does not mean they deserve to be driven out of their habitats because farmers want to graze more cows. We already have enough cows on this Earth, currently there are approximately 1.5 billion cows, which produces about 600 billion liters of methane per day (How Much Methane Does A Cow Actually Produce?, 2014). Ergo we clearly do not need any more cows on this Earth than what already exist. But of course many people do not care that these precious birds are being overlooked due to the large demand for beef in this country.
They Cannot Adapt to Destruction
These sparrows have very specific nesting requirements and are endemic species, meaning they are only found in one place in the world. They can only thrive in the south and central prairies of Kissimmee, Florida. This species has become seriously endangered due to habitat destruction, and obviously these birds cannot adapt to this altered environment. By destroying their habitat they are dying one by one, and will never return if we do not stop destroying their habitat.
Although these species are k-strategists, meaning they reproduce more slowly, they should not be dying as rapidly as they currently are. These precious birds lay their eggs on the comfortable ground of the prairies under palmettos, or in grass lumps. They lay 3-5 eggs and the incubation period lasts for about 11-13 days, and then they leave the nest 9-10 days later (National Audubon Society, 2012). However, this does not always happen. Due to the destruction of their habitat some of these nests, eggs, and hatchlings are destroyed before they even get a chance to survive.
Not only are we killing these birds and taking away their habitat, but we are affecting other organisms in this environment as well. The bodies of these birds act as homes to other organisms, this special relationship is also known as parasitism.
