Other Subject Guides

Endangered Species

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Endangered Species

Endangered species, any species that is at risk of extinction because of a sudden rapid decrease in its population or a loss of its critical habitat. Roughly 99 percent of threatened species are at risk because of human activities alone. By the early 21st century it could be said that human beings (Homo sapiens) are the greatest threat to biodiversity. The principal threats to species in the wild are:

Habitat loss and degradation
Spread of introduced species
The growing influence of global warming and chemical pollution
Unsustainable hunting
Disease

'Endangered species' 2019, Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Library Resources

eReserve

CSIRO Image Library

Web Resources

Disease

Habitat Loss

Climate Change

Invasive Species

Sustainable Hunting

Library Resources

On the shelves

Collection highlights

Engdal, Eskil, Saeter, Kjetil, 2016, Catching Thunder: the true story of the world's longest sea chase, Zed, London.
McGaven, George C., 2006, Endangered: wildlife on the brink of extinction, Firefly Books, New York.
Owen, David, Pemberton, David, 2005, Tasmanian devil: a unique and threatened animal, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, N.S.W.
Pyers, Greg, 2008, Pests, Echidna Books, Port Melbourne, Vic.
Tait, Malcolm, 2006, Going, going, gone?: Animals and plants on the brink of extinction and how you can help, Think Books, London.

eBooks

You will need your user name and password to log onto the following:

Britannica eStax

Mammals

Issues in Society

There is also a hard-copy of each of these books on the Library shelves:

Ocean conservation and management Volume 398
Saving the Great Barrier Reef Volume 436
Threatened Species Volume 362

Reference resources

On the shelves

General Encyclopedia

World Book Encyclopedia [3 volumes]

Subject Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia of mammals [17 volumes]
Endangered wildlife of the world [11 volumes]
The MacMillan Encyclopedia of Australian Plants and Animals [9 volumes]

eReserve

Lawton, Graham 2018, 'The Call of rewilding. The idea of letting nature reclaim land has swept the West. But does it work?'New Scientist, no. 3199, 13 October, pp. 34-38.

CSIRO Image Library

The CSIRO Science Image Library has an extensive selection of images you can use in your assignments. They are available to download and copy under a Creative Commons licence. You must acknowledge and provide a citation to the CSIRO when you use any of these images.

Web Resources

General

International

Australia

Australian Government - The Department of Environment and Heritage: Threatened species & ecological communities
The Conversation: Australia's critically endangered animal species
Cosmos: Five endangered Australia animals you should know
National Geographic: Endangered species of the Photo Ark
The Nature Conservancy: Australia's endangered animals
Queensland Museum: Threatened species - Queensland's vanishing wildlife
Threatened Species Recovery Hub: Science for saving species
World Wildlife Fund: Conservation of endangered species - Australia
Zoos Victoria: Priority native threatened species

Tasmania

The Conversation: Australian endangered species: Spotted handfish
The Conversation: Let's stop Tasmania's swift parrots going the way of the dodo
Parks and Wildlife Service - Tasmania
Tasmanian Government - Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Management: Save the Tasmanian Devil Program
TWRC: Wombat Mange Management
University of Tasmania: New population of the world's rarest fish discovered off Tasmanian coast

Disease

International

BBC Earth:Ten shocking animal diseases that may threaten species
The Glasgow Insight into Science and Technology: Wild medicine; The art of disease control in endangered species
National Geographic: 'Kitty Litter' parasite is wiping out one of the earth's rarest seals
The Scientist: Canine virus, parasites kill 24 endangered lions in India

Australia

Australian Government - Department of Environment and Energy: Diseases, fungi and parasites in Australia
Australian Wildlife Management: Managing disease in wildlife populations

Tasmania

Tasmanian Government - Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Management: Animal biosecurity
Tasmanian Government - Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Management: Wombat mange FAQs
University of Tasmania: Fight against wombat mange
University of Tasmania - Menzies Centre: The immune response of the Tasmanian Devil & Devil Facial Tumor Disease

Habitat Loss

Australia

Australian Geographic: Habitat loss is devastating animal species
Australian Government - Department of Environment and Energy: Threatened species and ecological communities in Australia
The Conversation: Let's get this straight, habitat loss is the number one threat to Australia's species
National Parks Association of New South Wales: Habitat loss and decline of koalas
Oxford Academic - Journal of Plant Ecology: Little left to lose: deforestation and forest degradation in Australia since Europe colonization
University of New South Wales: Habitat destruction a dire threat to Australia's wildlife, scientists warn

Tasmania

Sciencing: How do humans affect Tasmanian devil habitats?

Australia - Ocean ecosystems

Australian Government. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority: Significant coral decline and habitat loss on the Great Barrier Reef
PMC. US National Library of Medicine - National Institute of Health: Biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef - how adequately is it protected?
University of Tasmania: Massive kelp forest experiment to beat habitat loss

Australia - Rewilding

Rewilding Australia

Europe - Rewilding

Rewilding Britain: Rewilding is all about...
Rewilding Europe: What is rewilding?
Rewilding Scotland

Tasmania - Rewilding

Rewilding Australia: Rewilding the Tasmanian devil

Successful rewilding

Knepp Castle, Sussex: Knepp wildland: rewilding in West Sussex
Yellowstone National Park: 1995 Reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone

Climate Change

International

Carbon Brief: Restricting global warming to 1.5C could 'halve' the risk of biodiversity loss
Columbia University - General Earth Institute: Climate change poses challenge to plants and animals
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change: The regional impacts of climate change
New Scientist: Global warming threatens millions of species
Scientific American: Climate change is becoming a top threat to biodiversity
WWF: 33% of world's habitat at risk from global warming

Australia

Australia's Science Channel: Loss of animal or plant species to climate change causes global 'extinction domino effect'
Australian Government - Department of Environment and Energy: Climate change impacts in Australia
Australian Museum: What are the impacts of climate change?
Business Insider Australia: 10 ways climate change is affecting changes to Australia's wildlife, according to science
The Conversation: Meet the Australian wildlife most threatened by climate change
Earth Hour: Half of animal and plant species at risk from climate change in world's most important natural places. Southwest Australia will be among the most affected places in the world.
Wet Tropics Management Authority: Climate change

Polar regions

Encyclopedia.com: Polar regions: climate change impacts
International Polar Foundation: The Polar regions: the first areas to be affected by climate change

Antarctica

Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition: Antarctic wildlife conservation
Columbia University - Earth Institute: Antarctica's wildlife in a changing climate
WWF - Australia: Antarctica

Arctic

The Canadian Encyclopedia: Endangered Arctic animals
National Snow and Ice Data Centre: Climate change in the Arctic
UN Habitat: Top 10 endangered animals in the Arctic Tundra region

Invasive Species

Australia

ABC Science: Australia's battle with the bunny
Australian Academy of Science: Australia's silent invaders
Australian Government: Australian Institute of Marine Science: Crown-of-thorns starfish
Australian Government: Department of Environment and Energy: Feral animals in Australia - Invasive species fact sheet [PDF 4 pages]
Australian Government: Department of Environment and Energy: Feral cats
Australian Museum: Introduced species: friend or foe?
Camel Scan: Camel damage - an overview
Ecological Society of Australia: Ecological impacts of invasive cane toads
Invasive Species: Feral horses
Live Science: Cane toads invade, conquer Australia
Northern Territory Government: Feral camel

Tasmania

Aussie Bee: What harm could exotic bumble bees do in Australia?
The Conversation: Oh deer: a tricky problem for Tasmania
Marine Education Society of Australia: Northern Pacific Seastar
Tasmanian Government - Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Management: Invasive species

Sustainable Hunting

International

Endangered Species Coalition: The Ivory trade
SBS News: How to stop poaching and protect endangered species? Forget the 'kingpins'.
Time: Research shows just how much hunting reduces animal populations
WWF: Eating the wild: Bushmeat crisis global, pervasive, and still a threat
WWF: Illegal wildlife trade

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Environmental Science (TASC Level 3) - An Introduction

In studying Environmental Science, learners develop their investigative, analytical and communication skills.

Learners apply these skills to their understanding of ecology and environmental issues in order to engage in public debate, solve problems and make evidence-based decisions about contemporary environmental issues in society.

TASC. Environmental Science. Level 3, ESS315118, 2020.

Course Information for TASC Environmental Science level 3 can be found here.

Library Resources

CSIRO Image Library

eReserve

Web Resources

Library Resources

The Library catalogue is a powerful searching tool that can quickly locate material in our collections.

Dewey Numbers

The following Dewey Number will locate material on our shelves:

333.7 Conservation of natural resources
363.7 Environmental science
577+ Biometric systems and ecosystems

Keyword searching

Enter a word or phrase into a basic keyword search. Some suggestions, with results could include:

Subject searching:

Science - Problems and exercises

Collection highlights

Cassedy, E.S, (2005), Prospects for sustainable energy: a critical assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Fox, A., Parish, S. (2007), Wild habitats: a natural history of Australian ecosystems, ABC Books, 2007.
Hinrichsen, D. (2011), The atlas of coasts & oceans: mapping ecosystems, threatened resources and marine conservation, Earthscan, London.
Lindenmayer, D, Blair, D, McBurney, L, Banks S. (2011), Forest phoenix: how a great forest recovers after wildfire, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Vic.
Maczulak, A.(2010), Biodiversity: conserving endangered species. Facts on File, New York.

eBooks

Issues in Society

Sustainable Land Management Volume 331
Plastic Pollution Volume 440

Reference resources

On the shelf

Endangered wildlife of the world. (1993) Marshall Cavendish. New York. [11 volumes]
International wildlife encyclopedia, (2002), 3rd ed., Marshall Cavendish, New York. [22 volumes]
Rainforests of the world, (2002), Marshall Cavendish, New York. [11 volumes]

CSIRO Image Library

eReserve

Denholm, M., 2016, 'Fighting to keep the lights on: events align to plunge Tasmania into an energy crisis', The Australian, Tuesday March 15, p. 11.

Web Resources

Be careful what you download and use from the Internet.

Before using information from a web address ensure you are looking at a publication from a legitimate source. Material from the Internet often does not acknowledge the author or creator, does not cite references or footnotes, or include any type of bibliography or reference list. Use this type of material with caution. As part of your research process you need to sort out the reliable sources from the less trustworthy sites.

If in doubt always check with your teacher. For further information read the Library Fact Sheet Evaluating Information from the Web.

Alternative energy - National Geographic
CSIRO
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
Environmental Protection Agency - Tasmania
Geoscience Australia
Global Climate change: Vital signs of the Planet - NASA
Great Barrier Reef Maine Park Authority
Pacific Fishery Management Council
Parks & Wildlife Service - Tasmania
What is Biodiversity? National Wildlife Federation
World Wildlife Fund for Nature

Faculty resources: All material purchased for the teachers in the Science Faculty is also available for student use if it is not required by the teachers. The resources are kept in the Library and can be found by using the Library catalogue.

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Endangered Species