Study ranks Florida among top places where rare wildlife not being protected
The Florida Keys and parts of the Panhandle rank among the most vulnerable places in the nation for wildlife in danger of disappearing, according to a new study published Monday.
By comparing protected lands to places where most rare and disappearing species live, scientists found the United States is doing a poor job of guarding the country’s biodiversity or even taking adequate steps to track where species live. Most national parks and conservation land are found in the west or areas, like the Everglades, inhospitable to human development. But the highest concentrations of potentially imperiled species — those rare lizards, fish and trees that live in small, specific ranges that can be found no place else— inhabit primitive forests and isolated waters in the Southeast that may face development threats.
National parks — long considered a key to conservation efforts — it turns out, may not be doing what you’d think.
“What we protected is the opposite of the patterns of species we should be most worried about,” said lead author Clinton Jenkins, a visiting professor at Brazil’s Institute for Ecological Research.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article17547776.html