If I were in charge of designing a conservation strategy, I would emphasize protecting whole communities or ecosystems rather than protecting individual endangered species. To elaborate on my point, I would like to take the example of the desert tortoise. The desert tortoise is among the endangered species known in the United States and is listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.
These species are facing challenges as a result of unchecked habitat loss, especially due to human activities. Additionally, as the numbers are decreasing, the desert tortoise has also suffered from disease and predation. The desert tortoise is a wildlife species that has been around for millions of years and with direct evolutionary links to the dinosaurs.
Therefore it is important to note that while protecting threatened and endangered wildlife species is essential, individual species such as the desert is unable to survive in the absence or the conservation of entire desert ecosystems. Ecologists need to look into the issue of biodiversity protection is a critical one since the loss of wild places is occurring extremely rapidly. For example, in Canada, over 100 hectares of wilderness are lost each hour which is directly exerting pressure on the populations of over 300000 species of plants and animals.
If the entire habitat is not protected, the entire population of plants and animals, including the unique species, would be wiped out. Another important reason for the conservation of the entire ecosystem is the reason that each species is interdependent on another species in some way or the other. For example, the Monarch butterfly requires the milkweed plants on which it multiplies in number.
The caribou need to feed on lichens and mosses of tundra plains for their survival. The endangered piping plover needs a nesting site on fairly sloping beaches scattered with rocks and shells. Therefore, the answer to the question it is good to protect individual species or to protect ecosystems and habitats is always YES.