BOISE, Idaho - Millions of pronghorn used to roam the West freely. But impediments like road and fences, as well as a changing climate, threaten the species' future.

A new web map explores the pronghorn's journey as it migrates the grasslands of the West.

Andrew Jakes - regional wildlife biologist in Northern Rockies, Prairies and Pacific offices for the National Wildlife Federation - said pronghorn need a connected habitat to thrive. And he noted that pronghorn aren't the only ones that flourish from habitat connectivity.

"Having a healthy and resilient ecosystem equates to having healthy and resilient rural communities," said Jakes. "It equates to having healthy water. It just equates to having really robust wildlife populations within these different ecosystems."

The website, known as a "StoryMap," is called On the Move and follows pronghorn migration from spring to winter. It was put together by the National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy.

Jakes said as many as 30 million pronghorn used to roam the West. After falling nearly to extinction in the early 20th century, numbers are now close to one million because of conservation efforts.

Kelsey Molloy is a rangeland ecologist for The Nature Conservancy. She said a suite of animals benefit from conservation of the grasslands.

"It's not just the pronghorn that benefit when we modify a fence," said Molloy. Mule deer are benefiting from that too. And when we make sure that a ranch stays intact, that means that grassland birds are benefiting too. So it's all connected."

Jakes said it's worth thinking about the landscape as a whole. He said pronghorn and other wildlife on the move don't think about whether they're on public or private lands or in the United States or Canada.

"So it's worth working with all these different entities to sustain this really important ecosystem," said Jakes.

Jakes noted that grasslands are the most imperiled ecosystem in the world.

New research suggests Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction event, on par with the one that ended the age of dinosaurs, already is under way.

Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the recent findings add to a growing pile of troubling news, including projections more than a million species are likely to be lost in coming decades due to human activity.

Greenwald emphasized it is a problem because species make up ecosystems, and ecosystems provide critical services for people.

"They clean our air, they clean our water, they moderate climate, they cycle nutrients, they pollinate crops," Greenwald outlined. "As we lose more and more species, we begin to lose those ecosystem functions."

Scientists studied extinction rates for invertebrate species including snails, clams and slugs, in part because vertebrate species such as birds and mammals received the lion's share of attention in the past. Researchers contended their work answers skeptics who have argued extinctions are happening at roughly the same rates occurring as a natural part of evolution.

Habitat loss because of human activity is seen as a major driver of species loss, with climate change acting as an increasingly potent accelerant as fossil fuels continue to burn.

Greenwald noted while it is true species have gone extinct in the past, the sheer scale of species loss over such a brief time period is alarming.

"Because of all the changes that people are causing on the planet, species are now going extinct much, much, much faster," Greenwald explained. "That should be a cause for concern; essentially, we are fouling our own nest."

Researchers called for biologists to collect and document as many species as possible before they disappear. Greenwald believes conservation efforts also should be a priority. He pointed to the black-footed ferret as one example of what can be done to save species on the brink of extinction.

"We were able to find a small population in Wyoming, and now we are working to save them," Greenwald stressed. "That's what we can do as people; we can undo this. We can save species if we protect them, and we take this problem seriously."

Recent data on ocean conditions could be good news for struggling salmon in the Northwest. But advocates for the species warn this isn't enough to stop their alarming slide.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is expecting ocean waters to remain cold and more food abundant for the fish along the West Coast. However Miles Johnson, senior attorney with Columbia Riverkeeper, noted this doesn't necessarily mean better conditions for a crucial part of their lives - in the rivers where salmon spawn.

"It's good to be in a good cycle," said Johnson. "But what this is is an opportunity to fix the problems that we have in the freshwater and jumpstart some kind of recovery. It's not going to get us out of the hole that we're in."

Climate change is another factor. A recent study from Columbia University's Earth Institute shows land temperatures are increasing 2.5 times faster than ocean temperatures, meaning wildlife in land and river systems are more vulnerable to the warming climate.

Johnson said the biggest impediments for endangered salmon species are the four dams on the lower Snake River. He said the dams turn the river into dangerously hot lakes for the migrating fish, and the quickest and most effective way to remedy this is by breaching them.

"This is not anything that we've arrived at quickly or rashly," said Johnson. "This is the conclusion that most of the scientific community has come to after trying basically everything else. It's just clear that Snake River fish aren't going to recover with those four dams in place."

Opponents of dam removal say they provide irrigation, renewable energy and transportation to the region.

Johnson said the ocean will go through cycles of good and bad years for salmon and that we should act to save them from extinction while conditions are favorable.

"And they will recover if we give them half a chance," said Johnson. "We've seen it over and over again in different contexts."

It doesn't get the kind of attention afforded the endangered monarch butterfly, but without the Mexican long-nosed bat, ingredients for one of America's favorite cocktails would be in short supply.

The bat made the top 10 list of imperiled species in a new report highlighting the urgent need to address biodiversity loss and global warming.

Kristen Lear, endangered species interventions specialist for the group Bat Conservation International, said the night-feeding mammal is the main pollinator of a plant used to make margaritas.

"They feed on these gigantic agave plants, which we probably all know of from making tequila and mezcal," Lear explained. "But climate change is a big thing impacting their foraging resources."

Lear pointed out in addition to climate change, development and agriculture expansion have caused a loss of wild agave habitat. The monarch butterfly also made the imperiled-species list, as did the Florida Key deer and Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog.

Derek Goldman, national field director and Northern Rockies senior field representative for the Endangered Species Coalition, said the "Last Chance" report illustrates climate-change caused drought, deforestation and more intense storms don't just affect people.

"And what we're really doing here is drawing the connection that increasing greenhouse gases and carbon pollution that's driving global climate change is also impacting biodiversity and creating a biodiversity crisis," Goldman asserted.

It is estimated only 5,000 Mexican long-nosed bats remain, according to Lear. She noted females only give birth to one pup per year, making it difficult for populations at risk to recover.

She added with their 700-mile range, extending from central Mexico to the Big Bend of Texas and the New Mexico Bootheel, there are things people on the migration route can do to help.

"You can plant agave plants, and those agave plants will eventually flower and feed the bat," Lear suggested. "Many people put out hummingbird feeders, which obviously attract hummingbirds but also at night attract these nectar-feeding bats."

Member groups of the Endangered Species Coalition who nominated the report's 10 imperiled species are calling on elected leaders to take bold action to protect the planet and all its inhabitants.