hello tweets.

i thought you'd be interested in this....

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
<><><>Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!<><><>


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 22:18:51 -0800

>
> Environment [24]ENS -- Environment News Service
>
>
> By Cat Lazaroff
>
> WASHINGTON, DC, March 16, 2000 (ENS) - The United States is home to
> more than 200,000 species of plants and animals, about 10 percent of
> the worlds known species, a new book announced today. The new total -
> more than double previous official estimates of the nations species -
> is just one result of the most comprehensive analysis of U.S.
> biodiversity ever conducted.
>
> The bad news is - up to one third of the nations species are at risk.
> At least 539 species have already gone extinct or are missing. The
> single biggest threat to species survival is loss of habitat, with
> almost 60 percent of Americas landscape already severely altered.
>
> "The good news is - Americans enjoy an incredibly rich natural
> heritage, from rare fish surviving in desert oases, to the worlds
> tallest trees - Californias coast redwoods - to Hawaiis honeycreepers,
> colorful birds whose evolutionary story rivals that of the famous
> Darwins finches," says the reports lead author, Dr. Bruce Stein. "The
> bad news is that Americans risk losing much of this wealth if current
> trends continue."
>
> "Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States"
> was written by scientists from The Nature Conservancy, the nations
> largest private conservation group, and the Association for
> Biodiversity Information (ABI), a leading source for scientific
> information on rare and endangered species.
>
> The findings of this groundbreaking report, published as a 400 page
> book, were announced today at the Smithsonian Institutions National
> Zoological Park by Nature Conservancy president and CEO John Sawhill
> and ABI Board chair Mary Klein.
>
> The U.S. is revealed as one of the most diverse countries on an
> ecosystem scale, harboring a high percentage of the worlds broadleaf
> forests, temperate grasslands and Mediterranean climate vegetation. In
> fact, the U.S. supports a broader variety of large scale ecosystems,
> such as prairie and tundra, than any other nation on Earth.
>
> The assessment shows the U.S. is far richer in species and ecosystems
> than previously believed - a global center of diversity for many life
> forms. The report documents 204,700 species that have been described
> by science, including 768 birds, 799 fish, 416 mammals and over 15,000
> plants.
>
> The book is illustrated with maps pinpointing biodiversity "hot spots"
> around the U.S., including a special section on aquatic species and
> the difficulties they face. It points out the abundance of unique life
> forms found only in Americas streams, rivers and lakes.
>
> The nation is particularly rich in aquatic life, such as fishes,
> turtles, salamanders and mussels. More fishes are found in a single
> river in Tennessee, for example, than in all of Europe.
>
> "The United States is the clear world leader for entire groups of
> organisms, particularly those that depend upon fresh water," said
> Sawhill. "The United States turns out to be far more important
> ecologically that we had thought."
>
> The report draws on more than 25 years of information compiled by
> Natural Heritage programs from all 50 states. Operated in most cases
> by state agencies, Natural Heritage programs maintain databases that
> contain the most reliable scientific information on the condition and
> location of species across the country.
>
> For the first time, the information housed in each of the state
> Natural Heritage programs has been collected and analyzed from a
> national perspective, providing the most comprehensive look yet at the
> nations overall biological health.
>
> While not revealing the existence of any new species, the report draws
> together the best available information on all species groups,
> providing a better estimate of the nations biodiversity than any prior
> report.
>
> The most commonly cited estimate of the nations biodiversity was
> 100,000 species, published in the journal "Science" in 1995 by Dr.
> Edward Wilson, a Harvard University biologist and biodiversity expert,
> and a member of The Nature Conservancy's board.
>
> That estimate included only land and freshwater species. The new
> estimate of 200,000 species also encompasses the ocean environment and
> pays special attention to Hawaii, the most diverse state in the U.S.
>
> Yet Sawhill says even that estimate may be much too low, as scientists
> are just beginning to catalog the nations vast stores of insects and
> microscopic life forms.
>
> Every year, some 30 new species of plants are being discovered in
> North America, Sawhill says. "It points out the poor condition of our
> knowledge of these species," he says. "Thats the real point."
>
> As Wilson notes in his forward to the book, "Few people, including
> many scientists who specialize in biodiversity, have grasped the full
> magnitude of the American biota as summarized by the Precious Heritage
> authors."
>
> The report is intended to help guide land managers and legislators in
> making informed conservation decisions. "Youve delivered exactly what
> we need to save the best of whats left," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife
> Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark. "Now we have this book ...
> that brings the power of all Heritage Programs together at one time."
>
> "Just imagine what we can do for conservation now," said Clark.
>
> But the exceptional richness of the U.S. is in danger, with one-third
> of U.S. species at risk. Aquatic life is particularly vulnerable.
> Almost 70 percent of the nations freshwater mussel species and more
> than half its crayfishes are in trouble, for example.
>
> Alien species invasion, such as zebra mussels and Asian longhorned
> beetles, are second only to habitat loss as a cause of species
> declines.
>
> Yet there is still time to protect the nations natural heritage, the
> reports authors note hopefully.
>
> "For nearly 50 years, The Nature Conservancy has been committed to
> conserving Americas natural riches, from wetlands, to prairies, to
> barrier islands, so in some ways these findings confirm what weve
> believed all along," said Sawhill. "The news in Precious Heritage,
> both good and bad, provides us with an even greater impetus to protect
> these priceless landscapes for future generations of Americans."
>
> Towards that goal, The Nature Conservancy today announced plans to
> invest $1 billion in private funds over the next five years to protect
> sites considered critical to conservation around the U.S. and abroad.
> The group plans to devote $737 million to land protection, targeting
> 200 U.S. sites for outright purchase or conservation easements.
> Another $113 million will help manage and restore lands that have
> already been acquired.
>
> The remaining funds will go toward other important conservation
> initiatives, particularly the protection of freshwater ecosystems, as
> well as the creation of a conservation blueprint for The Nature
> Conservancys future activities.
>
> "Weve made outstanding progress toward mobilizing these funds," said
> Sawhill. "Over the first 18 months of this campaign, weve already
> raised $437 million."
>
> The Conservancy has been operating as a modern-day "Noahs Ark" for
> almost 50 years, acquiring and protecting land where rare and
> endangered plants and animals still cling to existence. In an effort
> to get out in front of the extinction curve, the Conservancy has
> broadened its conservation work in recent years to focus on protecting
> entire landscapes before their species become endangered.
>
> In 1999, the Conservancy and its partners in the Natural Heritage
> Network joined forces to create ABI, an independent nonprofit
> institution dedicated to producing top-quality scientific information
> for use in conservation planning. Precious Heritage is one of the
> first fruits of that venture.
>
> "Lack of knowledge about the condition and distribution of our species
> and ecosystems is one of the greatest impediments to protecting the
> nations extraordinary diversity of life," says Mary Klein, board chair
> of ABI. "By providing ready access to this critical information, ABI
> and the state Natural Heritage programs provide a vital tool for
> balancing efforts to meet the needs of our natural world with the
> needs of a growing human population."
>
> In the coming months, ABI plans to make much of the information from
> the report available as part of a searchable online database.
>
> "Precious Heritage" is available from the Oxford University Press.
>
>
> 34. http://ens.lycos.com/