What is causing wildlife change? What is going on? I have lived in South Texas for thirty-five years. I have been told that the rice farmers are having more problem with wild hogs in the rice fields than ever. I have seen more snakes here than usual. The bat infestations are showing up more. The rat infestation in Houston is second only to New York. ?????

Best Answer

CHANGES IN WILD LIFE POPULATIONS

There are many reasons ,
Climatic changes are changing microbe populations ,many are dying out whilst others are becoming invasive.

This in turn affect the insect populations which affect those that eat them as well as changes in the flora . Vital links are disappearing affecting other species further along in the chain,or the food chain is undergoing changes.

90% of the feral (wild) bee population in the United States has died out.

Recent studies in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have shown that bee diversity is down 80 percent in the sites researched, and that %26quot;bee species are declining or have become extinct in Britain.%26quot; The studies also revealed that the numbers of wildflowers that depend on pollination have dropped by 70 percent.

If bees continue to die off so would the crops they support and with that would ensue major economic disruption and possibly famine.

Bees are not the only pollinators but if these things are happening to bees we can bet on it that other insects are also in trouble ,on top of this many people are spraying for mosquito`s ,with drastic effects .

Also change but most importantly loss of habitat
results in many species becoming extinct.

Of the earth%26#039;s estimated 10 million species, 300,000 have vanished in the past 50 years. each years, 3,000 to 30,000 species become extinct.

A lot of human activity is speeding that up since we tend to overpower all the other species in one way or another.

Kids with sling shots killing iguanas,and birds ,means that their food breeds with out control ,and result in plagues of caterpillars for example

Some reasons why animals are being wiped out ,in the forests are:

The hunting of exotic species for the consumer market
only about 10% of the animals caught survive

The hunting of animals for food by settlers

Forest fires ,that have started because of slash and burning of forest ,to clear the land for farming, had gotten out of control

The loss of Habitat because the conditions have changed ,e.g less humidity because of the surrounding farmlands ,or over pumping of rivers for human use(farming and utility)

Because of contamination of the waters ,

Expanding farming ,that has to keep pace with the expanding populations are very strong forces that encroach upon the rainforest%26#039;s,
clearing them for farming and settlement areas .

So here are big changes already and included in those changes are predators ,

If we see many snakes maybe it is because the eagles or other birds of prey are missing.

Wild pigs in Florida were introduced by man and have few natural predators so they will increase easily.

If there are too many bats their predators must also be missing

Rat infestations are common on a global scale because human trash and expanding settlement, which include drainage systems has thousand fold increased their breeding opportunities.

In Africa are plagues of Norwegian rats because the people killed all the snakes ,these are now protected and we have reintroduced mole snakes to combat this problem.

So changes in Wild life and Nature in General is because of climatic reasons and because of the invasive effects of the ever increasing humanity,and their actions .

Asker's Rating:

That was such a good lenthy answer, covering many aspects whitch My question needed. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Other Answers (12)

• I know what you mean...I am from upstate new york and it seems that most of the birds dont even bother flying south for the winters anymore because it is so much milder up here. We are becoming inundated with canadien geese, and canadien goose poop...whereas when I was a boy in the 50%26#039;s you only saw them fly over when they were heading south for the winters...pretty scary.
• Well, humans are taking over other animal%26#039;s habitats, so those animals inhabit %26#039;our%26#039; territory when they have nowhere to go. This has been going on for years, man destroying the environment, killing off entire species, and whatnot, which is an immoral thing of us to do.
• It is habitat destruction by people driving animals to live amongst humans as they have no place left to go. Larger predators such as mountain lions, and coyotes are wiped out resulting in a increase of their prey items..raccoons, skunks, rats, wild boars etc. Bats are actually great for the ecosystem, they are a great insect control, and help farmers by NOT having to spray harmful insecticides which may further affect the ecosystem negitively resulting in more unbalances that you speak of. Unless people stop destroying natural habitat or start making environmental corridors when building...the problems will just get worse.
• Take for instance the current fires in California. They are trying to put them out, but nature needs those fires to occur in order to maintain that environment for the native wildlife. Houses should never have been built there unless the people building realized that they would have to lose their house to fire every 10 to 15 years. And here I thought Californians were so %26#039;%26#039;nature conscious%26#039;%26#039;. It%26#039;s ironic don%26#039;t you think? They are putting out fires to destroy the ecosystem! LIFE
• evolution.
• Wildlife change is caused by aging... I%26#039;m getting too old to be chasing the wild chickies.