Threats to wildlife

Question 1

Direct threats

Answer 1

threats where the species is specifically targetted by humans for a particular reason

Question 2

Indirect threats

Answer 2

Threats where the species is effected as a byproduct of human actions; the animal itself isn’t directly killed, but other changes in factors may lead to it being threatened.

Question 3

Unsustainable exploitation

Answer 3

Example of a direct threat; the hunting or removing of a species over the rate at which it can reproduce. Some species have legal protection to prevent this. Exploitation can be for food, fashion, entertainment, traditional medicine.

Question 4

Changes in abiotic factors

Answer 4

Example of an indirect threat. These include things like water availability (eg from draining of wetlands), flooding valleys for reservoirs, dissolved oxygen in water from warm water waste, temperature change (result of climate change), water turbidity from pollution etc, physical dammage.

Question 5

Changes in biotic factors

Answer 5

Example of an indirect threat. These include a loss of pollinators, seed dispersal factors, food chain disruption, species hybridisation, habitat destruction, introduced species.