User:Aileenzr/sandbox

Panthera onca
Humans are having a continual impact on these plants, along with other endangered animal species. According to Joe Zentner, the distribution of the Jaguar (Panthera onca)is all along the southwest of the United States (Zenter, n.d.). It's rare to see one of these animals because they are currently an endangered species. Just like the Organ Pipe Cactus, humans have become a significant threat. For example, with the construction of the border wall and hunting of the jaguar, their population is decreasing (Kutz, 2019). Since jaguars prey on livestock, farmers kill these animals to prevent this from happening. The development of the border wall is affecting the habitat and population of both these species. The wall will take over some of the lands that the organ pipe cactus covers. The effect that this has on the jaguars is that it's limiting their travel movement. Joe Zentner mentions in his article, " jaguars today are found in this country only in southern Arizona, and their existence there is precarious" (Zenter, n.d). To protect these animals, the United States put them under the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act is encouraging farmers to try to conserve their livestock, so Jaguars don't feed off of them.

Stenocereus thurberi
The Organ Pipe Cactus (Stenocereus thurberi) is essential to our ecosystem. This plant is also commonly called the Organ Pipe Cactus due to its resemblance to a pipe organ. This plant comes from the kingdom Plantae, Phylum Anthophyta, the class is the Dicotyledoneae, Order Caryophyllales, Family of the Cactaceae, Genus Stenocereus, and the species is Stenocereus thurberi. The Organ Pipe Cactus is known as "sweet pitaya or the sweet cactus fruit. It helps store water to help protect itself against the heat and the desert droughts (Wikipedia, 2019). They also offer proteins and some oils to the soil. Humans are having a continual impact on many different species, especially these plants. The development of the border wall is affecting the habitat and population of manyspecies. The wall will take over some of the lands that the organ pipe cactus covers. The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument helps protect the organ pipe cactus to flourish in ideal conditions.

Climate Changes
With the droughts that are affecting this region, it's impacting the population of many animal species. Chris McCreddy, Charles van Ripper III, Todd Esque, and Abigail Darrah mention that the threat that this drought is having on the bid population is being underestimated (McCreedy, 2015). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states that "climate change poses one of the greatest conservation threats of the 21st century" (System, 2020). Along with other environmental changes like wildfires, water shortages, and invasive species, it's causing harm to places like Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.

Cibola National Wildlife Refuge
Humans are using the resources that the Cibola Refuge has to offer. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, humans go wildlife watching, on nature trails, fishing, and hunting (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2019). This refuge takes advantage of the water resources that surround the park to assist in maintaining the land. Colton Gavin states that the expansion of the property in this refuge could benefit the "migratory bird and other wildlife" (Gavin, 2014). With the increase in land size, it would make more space for the habitats of those different species.

Droughts
Some threat affecting this area is the flow of the canal water. If this water completely stops flowing, then it will also affect the levels of the groundwater. Since the drought has become a concurring problem, it is affecting the water sources in this region. Farmer have to dig deeper to get groundwater. The deeper the dig for this water, the saltier the water gets, and the cost increases. Haley mentions that "thirty percent of what flows through open canals from the wells to the fields here either evaporates or soaks into the ground" (Nolde, 2020). A solution to this problem is to build more underground pipes. These pipes can help conserve more water for farmers to use to irrigate their land.