猎犬殖民对沿海哺乳动物捕食者的影响
Christian H Crosby1, Thomas A Schlacher2, Kathleen Kerwin3
1Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA. chris.crosby14@gmail.com.
Scientific reports
|August 1, 2024
概括
狼正在殖民北美沿海岛屿,影响像红狐和家猫这样的中间掠食动物种群. 它们的存在有助于通过控制中等掠食动物种群来恢复食物平衡,表明了动态的保护需求.
科学领域:
- 生态生态学 生态生态学
- 保护生物学 保护生物学
- 野生动物管理 野生动物管理
背景情况:
- 人类活动已经减少了顶峰捕食者种群,允许中等捕食者壮成长并破坏生态系统.
- 中间掠食者扩张可能会导致对本地猎物种群的不可持续的掠食.
- 重新引入顶级捕食者可能会恢复食物营养平衡.
研究的目的:
- 调查新型顶峰捕食者 (狼) 殖民对沿海屏障岛屿生态系统中中动物群落的影响.
- 评估小丑在规范红狐和家猫息地使用中的作用.
- 了解边缘生态系统中保护挑战的动态性质.
主要方法:
- 进行了为期18个月的摄像头陷研究,在108个地点进行了超过75,000小时和150万张图像.
- 利用两种物种占用和息地使用模型来分析捕食者相互作用.
- 红狐和家猫分布的量化空间模式,与猎犬的存在有关.
主要成果:
- 狼息地使用显著影响了红狐和家猫息地使用,证实了它们的顶级捕食者角色.
- 狼的存在是决定红狐空间分布的主要因素.
- 由新成立的顶级捕食者对中等捕食者的自上而下的控制.
结论:
- 狼在沿海屏障岛屿生态系统中充当顶级掠食者,影响中等掠食者动态.
- 新型顶级捕食者的出现凸显了生态系统的适应能力和不断变化的保护挑战.
- 保护策略必须考虑在不断变化的环境中捕食者和猎物之间的动态相互作用.
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