I don’t have a degree in biology. In fact, the only classes in biology that I have taken so far are Life Sciences 1 and my freshman GE cluster on the evolution of the cosmos and life. That said, it seems two classes at UCLA have given me a better understanding of conservation biology than the people in charge of managing the federal endangered species list.
Last month I was surprised to learn that the Department of the Interior removed the gray wolf out from under the protection of the Federal Endangered Species Act. Their argument is that the wolf populations have rebounded and are now high enough in number ““ only 1,500 in the Rocky Mountain area where there used to be hundreds of thousands of wolves ““ to sustain themselves. Now, in light of these claims, state governments are organizing hunting trips to “control” these populations.
The problem is that many scientists disagree with such a claim and are worried that without further protection the gray wolf will face problems in the future. Due to such opposition from the scientific community, gray wolves should remain protected until conservation biologists feel gray wolves have truly rebounded.
Indeed, populations in these states, according to biologists, have yet to reach the right number to sustain genetic diversity. For instance, the government has strangely come up with the seemingly unscientific notion that each state only needs to have 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs, an idea conservation biologists contest.
“Population viability models can be used to predict how long a population can survive given current or future conditions,” said Robert Wayne, UCLA ecology and evolutionary biology professor, who has studied genetic diversity in gray wolves. “Most any model would predict a mostly isolated population of 100 wolves, with only 10 breeding pairs or less would not survive long into the future and become inbred, and lose substantial amounts of genetic variability.”
For conservation biology, the idea of genetic diversity is key. Essentially, a population needs a certain amount of diversity in the gene pool in order to avoid problems of inbreeding depression. For instance, in Florida, the population of the Florida panther was so small that inbreeding occurred and many panthers had heart and reproductive problems.
The fear of conservation biologists is that without enough wolves in the western United States, these wolf populations may face similar problems. Thus, rather than taking the wolves off of the endangered species list because of a false claim that there are enough wolves to sustain these populations, the federal government should keep them on the list until they reach numbers that scientists feel can sustain a viable population.
Furthermore, another reason for the proposed culling is that wolves prey on livestock in the area. Historically, people have wrongly viewed wolves as menaces that threaten livestock production. Thus, to combat this negative image, the Defenders of Wildlife, an organization founded to promote wildlife conservation, have set up the Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Trust that would offer compensation to ranchers who have livestock killed by wolves.
The trust offers up to $3,000 per animal killed, or the theoretical price of an adult animal on the market. Therefore, the claim that wolves must be hunted to prevent them from preying on livestock in the area also ignores the fact that ranchers are compensated for any such preying.
In fact, wolves as predators are a keystone species in their habitats, meaning that they play a vital role in the ecosystem. For instance, wolf kills are also sources of food for scavengers like ravens and bears. Furthermore, wolves kill elk in the region and thus have an effect on plant life since elks are herbivores.
Thus it seems that a scientific analysis almost demands that these animals be put back under protection. Following the announcement that the gray wolf would be taken off the endangered species list, Earthjustice began writing up a lawsuit to require the government to continue protection of the animal.
There are many examples of problems in conservation of wildlife today, from polar bears in danger of going extinct to tigers facing a similarly grim future. That said, gray wolves in North America have benefited from being on the endangered species list and they are an example of successful recovery.
Rather than simply patting ourselves on the back for this success and forgetting about gray wolves, we must continue to protect them so that they do not face problems again in the future.
E-mail Margolis at mmargolis@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.