Habitat Destruction Is Affecting Canada's Wildlife

Introduction Habitat destruction is when the home of a species has been changed to the point where it no longer exists, and it is the number one threat to wildlife in Canada and other areas of the world. So much so that it is the main reason for half of Canada’s wildlife being in decline. Habitats can be destroyed through fragmentation, deforestation and pollution among other things. Regardless of how the habitats are destroyed loss of any habitat is extremely harmful to not only the species that live in it but to the environment and humans alike.

Human Causes There are many human activities that contribute to habitat loss which can be divided into three different categories habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation.

Half of Canada’s wildlife is in decline and it is believed that habitat destruction is the main culprit. It has caused the endangerment of many Canadian species such as the woodland caribou, the spotted owl, the sea otter, the leatherback turtle, the polar bear and many others. Between deforestation and climate change it affects a vast amount of species in every Canadian environment. In northern Canada the polar bear is facing habitat destruction through climate change as it has already lost several weeks of it’s hunting season. In around 70 years all of the arctic sea ice could disappear, and polar bears would go with it. Habitat destruction also greatly effects the spotted owl population in British Columbia. In 1880 there were five hundred pairs of spotted owls in Victoria’s forests and now there are just six. This drastic decrease is mainly caused by the destruction of ancient forests in British Columbia and is proof of the impact a habitat has on it’s species. Almost every other Canadian species is somehow impacted by habitat destruction as well being that it is a phenomenon which is spreading throughout the

As previously mentioned, habitat destruction decreases the number of pollinators we have in our environment, not only are these pollinators crucial to forests, but they are crucial to our agriculture industry. Around 80% of our crops heavily rely on these pollinators to flourish and without them farmers would have a difficult time providing for the growing population. Reduction of species diversity through habitat destruction can also indirectly impact humans. For example, if a predator of the mosquito went extinct that would result in more mosquitos and mosquito larvae. This would not only cause us to get more bug bites, but it would further increase the spread of diseases such as malaria. Finally, habitat destruction can also affect our medical advancement. Humans are testing new plant species constantly to see if they have any medicinal properties or if they have the potential to cure a disease; however, we lose many plant species through habitat destruction and for all we know one of the species that we lost could’ve cured a variety of diseases in