Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Humans Helping Grizzlies






David Suzuki- Founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, 1990

One of the most well known environmental organizations in Canada is the David Suzuki Foundation.  This is an organization that works hard to protect and maintain the well being of our planet. It wasfounded by David Suzuki in 1990. The David Suzuki Foundation works hard to protect all living things on our planet. In particular, an endangered species that they’re currently attempting to protect is the grizzly bear.
The grizzly bear’s population has been decreasing because of habitat loss, climate change, the decrease in population of salmon, and hunting. The grizzly bear  has a very large impact on the biodiversity of the ecosystem it lives in.  It is known as the “keystone” species because it greatly influences the diversity of other species that inhabit the same ecosystem it does.  The grizzlies do this by eating berries and insects and distributing seeds all over the ground to promote a variety of plant life, also by digging in the forests they help maintain the goodness of the soil. Additionally by eating salmon they spread nitrogen and other elements up streams into other habitats. Most importantly the grizzly bear is the top predator in the ecosystem and therefore has a very direct influence on the other livings in lower levels of the food chain. ( affecting the overall balance of the ecosystem)  For these reasons, grizzly bears are a species worth protecting. To help sustain the well being of grizzly bears we need to protect a lot of land, because of the large space they need to survive.  By doing this humans will protect many other plant and animal species in the area.
Grizzly Bears fishing for Salmon
Now you may be wondering how exactly humans are positively affecting these grizzly bears?  What are we doing to protect these magnificent creatures? Well, the David Suzuki Foundation has worked hard on raising awareness on this serous issue.  They’ve done this by not only listing numerous articles about the importance and endangerment of grizzlies on their website but they have provided people with very important facts, about the importance of the bears. Another thing the David Suzuki Foundation is doing is they are promoting a law against trophy hunting of grizzly bears in British Columbia. They are doing this by raising awareness, and by having a petition you can join right from the website.  Other organizations that are working to protect the biodiversity of ecosystems that grizzly bears dwell in are the Wildlife Conservation Society, who helps the species by tagging bears to monitor their migration patterns and dwelling places and working to protect their habitats,  and The Grizzly People , which is a foundation strictly dedicated to help sustain the grizzly bear population.  In conclusion, grizzly bears are a very important species that contribute to the biodiversity of any ecosystem they live in. Therefore it is of the upmost importance that humans work hard to protect the grizzly bear and the ecosystems they inhabit.

Grizzly Bear foraging for berries

















Refrences
" Grizzly People."  Website. 6 Oct, 2010.  < http://www.grizzlypeople.com/home.php>

" The Grizzly Bear." Wildlife Conservation Society. Website. 6 Oct, 2010.
" The Grizzly Story" The Vital Ground Foundation. Website. 6 Oct, 2010. <http://www.vitalground.org/The%20Grizzly%20Story>
" Grizzly Bears" The David Suzuki Foundation. Website. 6 Oct, 2010.  <http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/wildlife-habitat/science/critical-species/grizzly-bears/>
" Biology in your Backyard" USGS Science for a changing world. Website. 6 Oct, 2010.  <http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://biology.usgs.gov/cro/ScienceInYourState/Montana/images/Grizzly-bear.jpg&imgrefurl >
Blogs I Commented On