Biodiversity science's missing species.

Abstract

This week in the United States, a Trump administration rule took effect that narrows the meaning of "harm" under the Endangered Species Act by abandoning a long-standing interpretation that recognized substantial habitat destruction as a way of injuring or killing protected wildlife. Actions that directly harm or destroy animals remain prohibited, but altering the places where they feed, shelter, or reproduce may no longer qualify as harm in the same way. This distinction makes little ecological sense. A species cannot be separated from the living system that sustains it. Destroy nesting trees, pollute a stream, or remove essential food plants, and the line between harming an animal and harming its habitat quickly collapses. This change is also not happening in isolation: The public comment period closes next week for the administration's proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which has limited road construction and timber harvesting across vast areas of national forest.