BIO 3115 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Overexploitation, Bushmeat, Introduced Species
3 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
37% of all endangered vulnerable and rare species of vertebrates are threatened by overexploitation, including fur bearing animals (giant otter, most species of cats) elephants (for ivory), virtually all species of rhinoceros (for aphrodisiacs) Overexploitation often features a direct removal of individuals form a population: hunting or harvest (directly or indirectly) Overexploitation on a global scale: the great whales. Species transference: start by harvesting the most valuable whales, and when that supplies runs low you switch to the next species. In this instance the major threat to the decline of these species (harvesting) was known, and was mitigated and the consequence was that many of the populations have rebounded. Sharks are top predators, thus they are already rare. Don"t reproduce very fast, which will affect their growth rate. The level of removal that sharks are currently undergoing is very unstable. Estimated that 90% of the shark population has been removed and as top predators this will have trickle down effects.
