How Does Hurricane Irma Affect Endangered Species

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I listened to the science Friday about how Hurricane Irma could affect Florida’s endangered species. This topic interested me for a number of reasons. While following Hurricane Irma I had seen a lot about how pets and livestock were getting moved and taken care of, but I never heard anything about how Irma affected the native and endangered species. Also, I go fishing in Florida every winter so I was interested on how the Hurricane would affect endangered fish after seeing pictures Tampa Bay empty and water in the streets of Miami. The guest on this show was Danielle Overcheck who is post doctoral associate at the institute of water and the environment at Florida International University. The other guest was Kenneth Meyer, who is the executive …show more content…

There’s also problems with species outside of Florida. The problem with exotic plant species in the Virgin islands and Caribbean was intriguing. After the majority of plant species are wiped out by Irma, the exotic plant species will grow back quickest and dominate the area. Also the steep islands in the Caribbeans sediment will be brought into the coral reefs and seagrass beads. This was interesting that the people in the Caribbean would have to monitor different species and areas after a Hurricane. The most interesting topic in this segment was when Meyer explained how species can withstand huge natural disasters and end up right where they were started. Yet species remain to decline because of things humans are doing. I think that humans are more worried about endangered species in Florida right now because of the Hurricane, when the real problem is in the long run and what humans do every day. In my opinion I think animals are engineered to survive disasters, the weak and young animals are the ones who won't survive the hurricane. For example, the young butterflies who are in a cocoon close to the ground will be washed away. Not all areas will be harmed the