沙漠生态系统中的潜在灭绝级联:将食物网相互作用与社区生存能力联系起来
Adam J Eichenwald1, Nina H Fefferman2, J Michael Reed1
1Department of Biology Tufts University Medford Massachusetts USA.
Ecology and evolution
|February 16, 2024
概括
气候变化威胁到沙漠物种. 鸟类的灭绝导致的级联损失比哺乳动物或爬行动物的损失要少,这是由于鸟类的相互连接增强了生态系统的抵抗力.
科学领域:
- 生态生态学 生态生态学
- 气候变化生物学 气候变化生物学
- 保护生物学 保护生物学
背景情况:
- 沙漠生态系统面临着气候变化带来的大量物种丧失风险.
- 这些社区对物种丧失的抵御能力在很大程度上仍未得到量化.
- 鸟类正在从莫哈维沙漠消失,这促使人们对它们对生态的影响进行调查.
研究的目的:
- 构建和分析莫哈维沙漠的陆地食物网.
- 实证地评估鸟类灭绝对沙漠网络的级联影响.
- 将鸟类灭绝的生态影响与哺乳动物和爬行动物的生态影响进行比较.
主要方法:
- 为摩哈韦沙漠开发了一个有300个节点和4080个边缘的食物网模型.
- 由物种丧失导致的量化自下而上的二次灭绝.
- 评估了社区对不同脊椎动物群体 (鸟类,哺乳动物,爬行动物) 丧失的相对抵抗力.
主要成果:
- 与哺乳动物或爬行动物丧失相比,随机鸟类物种丧失的影响较小.
- 哺乳动物的灭绝导致了最多的连续灭绝.
- 鸟类物种之间的高度相互连接形成了一个子网,增加了网络对鸟类损失的抵抗力.
- 涉及居民鸟类的鸟类灭绝级联导致的二次灭绝比涉及所有鸟类物种的二次灭绝更多.
结论:
- 莫哈维沙漠的食物网表现出比哺乳动物或爬行动物损失的鸟类灭绝更大的抵抗力.
- 鸟类物种的相互联系为它们自身的种群减少提供了一定程度的弹性.
- 了解这些网络动态对于预测和减轻气候变化对沙漠生物多样性的影响至关重要.
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