Coachella Valley
Fringe- Toed Lizard
Why is the Coachella Valley
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Fringe-Toed Lizard Important?
Nutrient Cycling
My Ecosystem Needs me!​
The Coachella Valley Fringe-Toed Lizard is a vital part of its ecosystem because of the many positive impacts it has on its ecosystem; few being the way they contribute to predator-prey population regulation, nutrient cycling, pest control, and attracting different species of animals to increase biodiversity. Without the Uma Inornata lizards, the Coachella Valley is in great danger of losing one of the most important species that promotes strong biodiversity. Learn more about this incredible species below!
Lose me, Lose Biodiversity!
Every single animal on planet earth plays an essential role in its ecosystem.. why do you think there are so many?! The Coachella Valley Fringe- Toed Lizard, is just one piece of the biodiversity puzzle, and without it, many other animals would have trouble adapting to the extinction of a truly vital species. These lizards promote strong biodiversity in their sandy ecosystem, and they are especially important because they are endemic, or isolated to just Coachella Valley. If we lost them, they would be gone forever, because they don't exist anywhere else!
I Regulate the Valley Floor!
Have you ever gone camping and woken up to bugs squirming around in your tent? It’s got to be one of the worst feelings… Thankfully, the Uma Inornata eats tens of thousands of creepy crawlers every year to help people avoid this uncomfortable experience! Their diet consists of ants, beetles, grasshoppers, sand-dwelling cockroaches, hemipterans, spiders, antlion larvae, caterpillars, sometimes flower buds, stems, leaves, and seeds of plants as well (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (2011). If we were to lose them there would be no pest control or effective way to regulate insect populations, and insects would be overpopulating the Coachella Valley Desert, and let’s be honest… no one wants that!
What Are my Values?
Intrinsic Value
The Uma Inornata lizard has intrinsic value, meaning that just like everything else that has evolved on our planet; from each individual animal to all species, each has the right to life because all living things are equally important. Some people believe that all animals eventually die through natural selection, however human activity impacts species extinction rates, which means that we are contributing to animal suffering(bbc citation). But at the very least all species were born to do a job in their ecosystems, which means humans have ethical responsibility to make sure they can. The Coachella Valley Fringe-Toed Lizard species is very vulnerable because of the way human activity has impacted its day to day life. Although losing one species may not seem environmentally important, everything that this lizard does to support its’ ecosystem would be lost (as mentioned above), and more importantly, we would lose this endemic species forever.
Another kind of intrinsic value is existence value, the Uma Inornata is important for this very reason. This species went through the process of evolution and deserves to be alive and has a place in the ecosystem. The species is only doing poorly now because of people’s interference with the population, this is unfair. They have a role in their ecosystem and it matters, without the lizard being there it would cause issues in the environment it inhabits. Not only does it belong there but the Uma Inornata is very well suited for its environment. The lizard is covered with skin that matches the Coachella Valley floor. This not only allows it to have better chances of survival and protect itself from predators, but also makes it look stunning. The lizard is able to run on its hind legs and this shows it’s entire back and body as it runs upright, this is when seeing the lizard is beautiful. It’s so abnormal to see something so special like this from a lizard making it even more important to ensure the safety of the Uma Inornata’s population.