Save The California Least Tern

          Not only is the California Least Tern a beautiful bird with aesthetic value, the species has existence value and bequest value as well as economic. The California Least Tern is a beautiful bird that should be saved so the next generations can see such a wonderful creature and benefit from the biodiversity it adds to, and the ecosystems that it enriches. The CA Least tern bird is an important part of the tourism industry in the Bay Area, which accounted for $9.3 billion dollars in SF last year (Woodlard, 2016). Tourism is an incredibly valuable source of income for the economy of SF; birds including the CA Least Tern bring beauty to the beaches of California. In SF there have been 24.6 million visitors in 2015 (SAN FRANCISCO TRAVEL REPORTS RECORD-BREAKING YEAR FOR TOURISM, 2016). California’s beaches bring in $2.3 billion in tax revenues for the federal government and provide about 883,000 jobs (King, 1999). Value is also generated from bird watching and education (Debare, 2016). Part of the reason so many people come to visit the Bay Area is for the beautiful wildlife in the ecosystems.

               The CA least Tern is a very important part of the beach ecosystems. Seabirds including the CA Least tern are valuable for: adding nutrients to the soil with their droppings, are a key part of the beach biodiversity, and clean up the beaches by feeding on washed up species (Importance of Birds, 2017). Seabirds are environmental indicators because of their representation of the top of the food chain; seabirds show changes in lower trophic levels or in the physic-chemical environment within their populations (Parsons, 2008).

             The Species are also highly affected by anthropogenic  pressures including overpopulation, climate change, and overexploitation (Parsons, 2008). With rising sea levels due to climate change, there is a higher chance of CA Least Tern chicks falling into the water and drowning due to nests too close to the edge (Hill, 2015). These birds are indicator species to the environment of physical parameters such as sea-surface temperature [SST], salinity, depth of thermocline of the marine ecosystem (Diamond). This is because their distribution as a species and feeding patterns are easily affected by changes that scientist can research and conclude important information to help the planet further (Diamond).

              CA Least Tern play a role in wetland ecosystems by feeding on them (Ecosystem accounting and the cost of biodiversity losses, 2010). Wetlands have many economic benefits including: flood control, providing food and freshwater, building materials, protecting on coastal erosion, carbon storage and sequestration, tourism and biodiversity (Ecosystem accounting and the cost of biodiversity losses, 2010). The California Least Tern keep the wetland ecosystems balanced and alive, and wetland ecosystems provide much economic value. Their main predators include bigger mammals such as raccoons and foxes which play important roles in ecosystems as species who clean up the beaches; if CA Least Tern go extinct such predatory species numbers will also decrease (California Least Tern, 2016).

              Birds like the Least Tern must be saved due to their key role in many religions and their cultural significance by acting as symbols of freedom (Importance of Birds, 2017) (Krech, 2011)!

              Restoring the California Least Tern’s habitat, by cleaning beaches and leaving them free of human and domestic animals activity, would not only be good for the bird, but for all the environment!

              Cleaning beaches and leaving it without trash, would prevent lovely animals, such as sea turtles and fishes from dying intoxicated or choked. Also, if factories stopped throwing toxins on the sea and soil, the air and water quality would be much better for all of us! Birds like the tern bring giant biodiversity to its habitat and they should be saved!

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