Endangered Means There Is Still Time

Ecosystems

Biodiversity 

Extinction

Endangered Species Act

What You Can Do

Resources

Kid's Corner

ALL IMAGES USFWS

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's mission is to work with other people to protect and recover endangered and threatened species, so they no longer need protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Biodiversity includes variety within genes (DNA), species, and ecosystems.
None are alike.

To understand what is meant by biodiversity in the gene pool, just look around you. Each person is composed of genes that when woven together form a unique individual.

No two of us are exactly alike. The American people recognized that the various species of fish, wildlife, and plants are of aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to all of us.

We know that the loss of just one plant species can cause up to 30 other species to disappear with it.

Why?

Species are linked and dependent upon each other within their ecosystems

Unfortunately, we are losing this incredible diversity of species at an alarming rate.

The purpose of the Endangered Species Act is to conserve and protect threatened and endangered species and the ecosystems they depend on to survive.

This site from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered Species Program demonstrates how loss of habitat and ecosystems can lead to a decline in biodiversity, and how the Endangered Species Act helps prevent extinction.

Continue>>