アフリカの生態系における大型肉食動物絶滅のカスケード効果

Justine L Atkins¹, Ryan A Long², Johan Pansu^3,4,5

¹Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. jlatkins@princeton.edu rpringle@princeton.edu.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|March 9, 2019

まとめ

捕食者の減少によりブッシュブックの棲息地と食生活が変化しました捕食のリスクの再導入はこれらの変化を逆転させ,迅速なトロフィックカスケード回復を示した.

科学分野:

エコロジー
野生生物保護
行動エコロジー

背景:

頂点の捕食動物の人口は世界的に減少しており生態系に影響を及ぼしています
肉食動物がいないと草食動物の行動が変化し生息環境が変化します
大きな哺乳類のシステムでの実験的証拠は稀です.

研究の目的:

捕食者の減少が草食動物の行動や生息地の利用に与える影響を調査する
捕食のリスクをシミュレートすることで,これらの変化の可逆性をテストする.
肉食動物の絶滅と再導入に反応する食物連鎖のダイナミクスを理解する

主な方法:

ゴロンゴサ国立公園で研究されたブッシュブック (Tragelaphus sylvaticus) が,ヒョウと野生の犬が絶滅した後に.
樹木のない洪水地帯へのブッシュブックの拡大と,水草 (Bergia mossambicensis) を抑制する新しい食事の消費を観察した.
行動の逆転性を評価するために実験的にシミュレートされた捕食リスク

主要な成果:

ブッシュバックは捕食者がいない状態で行動や食生活を変化させました
シミュレートされた捕食リスクは,ブッシュブックの観察された行動の変化を成功裏に逆転させました.
肉食動物の絶滅は食物連鎖の混乱を引き起こし回復は急速な回復の可能性を示した.

結論:

人為的な捕食者の絶滅は獲物の行動とトロフィの相互作用を急速に変化させることができる.
肉食動物を再導入することで生態系を回復できます
これらのダイナミクスを理解することは野生生物の保護と生態系の管理に不可欠です

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