Environment: Endangered Species

The impact of humans on the natural environment has been profound, widespread, and generally negative.

An endangered species is a species of animal or plant that is seriously at risk of extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an organization funded by the European Commission, is regarded as a global authority on the world’s living species and maintains a list of the world’s endangered species. More than 8,000 scientists from 162 countries make up the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission, which designates as “threatened” any species falling within the critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable categories. These species are assigned categories based on the level of extinction risk. Identifying a species as threatened and assigning it to one of the related categories is a complicated process, involving the analysis of multiple interconnected variables. These include population size, geographic range, and the number of breeding adults. 

Risk Factors

Population Size

There are a variety of factors that put these plants and animals at risk. Most species placed on endangered lists have very small populations with a small number of breeding adults. In addition to being a problem in its own right, this can lead to a loss of genetic variation among species, since small populations of animals are forced to inbreed. The young are subsequently left vulnerable to disease and often fail to reach maturity.

Habitat

Habitat can also be a risk factor. From the clear-cutting of the Amazon rainforest for the purpose of grazing cattle to overhunting and overfishing, living species are under increasing strain in the modern world.  When humans build homes, office buildings, and fun parks, preserving space for plants and animals is frequently not a priority. Loss of habitat creates a ripple effect, with animals often deprived of shelter and primary food sources that end up placing them in a vulnerable state.

Range

A plant or animal's range is a function of its habitat and is also used to assess a population's survival risks. 

Environmental Factors

Finally, environmental factors such as pollution, a changing global climate, and increasingly extreme weather events are other factors placing a strain on the world’s plants and animals. Before a plant or animal is considered endangered, these factors are taken into consideration. Awareness of the problem leads to a search for solutions—and some measures are being enacted—although current trends suggest that the number of endangered species will only increase as time goes on.

The UK's Threatened Species

Note: Numbers reflect current estimates and may vary by source.

Top Three Endangered Mammals of the United Kingdom 

Scottish Wildcat

Critically endangered and at risk of extinction, the Scottish wildcat is only found in the Scottish Highlands, though it once roamed throughout the UK. This is the only native wild cat species remaining in the country. Resembling a large domestic tabby cat, the Scottish wildcat is distinguished by its thick tale that has black stripes and a blunt tip that is black in color. It can grow to about one meter (3 feet) long and is a solitary animal that is most active at night or at dawn and dusk. Due to its very small population, Scottish wildcats often cannot find a mate to breed with, instead breeding with wandering pet cats or feral cats, which leads to genetic hybridization. Essentially a watering down of a species’ gene pool, genetic hybridization of Scottish wildcats is a major problem due to an ongoing cycle of breeding between wild and domestic cat species—of which there are much higher numbers. While large and healthy populations can endure some hybridization, which is generally not a threat to an entire species, this is not the case with the Scottish wildcat. Additionally, diseases spread by feral cats are major threats to Scottish wildcats. Easily mistaken for feral cats, Scottish wildcats were also frequently shot in the past, killed by landowners who kept game birds preyed upon by cats.

Hedgehog

Loss of habitat is the main reason the hedgehog is critically endangered and at risk of extinction in the United Kingdom. Hedgehogs have pointy faces and a small, short-legged body covered in spines, and are able to roll into a ball when threatened. Hedgehogs need to forage for food and nest in woodland areas, so when that land is developed for use by humans, hedgehogs must seek out, and often fail to find, needed food and shelter. Another problem believed to have affected the hedgehogs is the reduction in length or outright removal of the country’s hedgerows, historically a defining characteristic of the countryside. These rows of closely planted shrubs or trees form natural fences to enclose or separate farm fields, and are where hedgehogs tend to travel along, seek shelter and food, and create nests.

Red Squirrel (aka Eurasian Red Squirrel)

Believed to be almost extinct in England, the red squirrel, with a reddish-brown coat, bushy tail, and tufted ears, is a critically endangered species in the UK. It is mainly found in Scotland and Ireland, with a small population in Wales. Native to the country, the red squirrel is now in competition for resources with the non-native North American grey squirrel, which was introduced in the 1800s. The larger-bodied grey squirrels can more easily digest seeds and acorns than red squirrels and spread a squirrelpox virus that red squirrels will die from but which grey squirrels are rarely affected by. Grey squirrels have multiplied in number and have proven more readily adaptable to a changing environment, essentially pushing out the smaller red squirrels. These are among the reasons the two species cannot co-exist. Additionally, red squirrels face a loss of habitat when woodlands are destroyed to accommodate an increased human population, while cats, foxes, and birds of prey will eat them.

Other Endangered Mammals of the United Kingdom

The European water vole, a semi-aquatic rodent native to the UK, is critically endangered and at risk of extinction. This is mainly due to loss of its river and stream habitats as well as from water pollution. The introduction of non-native species, many of which prey on native species, also affects some mammals, like how the American mink preys on water voles. Some of the same issues have also placed the Eurasian otter, Bechstein’s bat, and the hazel dormouse into the endangered category, especially loss of the country’s woodlands due to urban development. Disease is another issue that can drastically reduce a mammal population, as is the case with the European rabbit.

Endangered Fish of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom’s endangered fish—among them Atlantic salmon, cod, and whiting —are primarily affected by overfishing as well as water pollution. Freshwater species used for food are the most threatened along with several shark species that are sought out for their fins. These become shark fin soup, a Chinese delicacy that denotes status, with shark fins also used in traditional Chinese medicine. Though shark finning—where fins are cut off living sharks and the body dumped back into the sea— is illegal in the UK, the fins fetch high prices and lead to illegal fishing, which is likely to continue despite the UK’s plan to ban the import and export of detached shark fins. The building of dams impacts fish spawning, as many species travel up or downstream to lay their eggs. Other endangered fish species in the UK are the angel shark, Atlantic halibut, and the critically endangered European eel, sturgeon, and burbot. Some fish, including slow-moving, plankton-eating basking sharks, become bycatch—inadvertently caught marine species that become trapped and killed in fishing nets meant for other fish. Freshwater species that are limited to small populations in some river systems are endangered due to those very reasons, while drainage of wetlands and rivers are additional problems.

Endangered Plants of the United Kingdom

The main factor affecting the United Kingdom’s many endangered plants is loss of habitat, most often due to human activity. Among the country’s endangered plants are the Cotswold pennycress, spreading bellflower, crested cow-wheat, and meadow clary (meadow sage). Lesser butterfly-orchids along with the red helleborine orchid and lady orchid are also endangered. Destruction of woodland habitat is a key factor threatening the ghost orchid, which may already be extinct. Invasive species and those not native to the country also threaten the United Kingdom’s plant species. Additionally, fragmented areas of native vegetation, cut off through human development, face limited pollen and/or seed dispersal. When this occurs, plant regeneration is limited while inbreeding can lead to less tolerant species that are threatened by disease.

Endangered Invertebrates of the United Kingdom

Among the United Kingdom’s endangered invertebrates are the Cosnard’s net-winged beetle, tortoiseshell butterfly, southern damselfly, and the V-moth. The wart-biter cricket is at high risk for extinction due to loss of its grassland habitat and its food source that lives there. Aside from mollusks, other invertebrates—those species lacking a backbone—include sponges, jellyfish, corals, sea urchins, worms, insects, spiders, and many more. A wide number of factors affect these invertebrate species, including loss of habitat due to human activity, invasive and predator species, wetland drainage, dredging, pollution, and toxic sediment. Other endangered invertebrates in the United Kingdom include the cicada, believed to be limited to the New Forest in southeast England’s Hampshire County, located on the coast of the English Channel, the same area where the endangered bearded false darkling beetle lives, which is also limited to southeast England.

Article written for World Trade Press by Felicia Topp.
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