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Emerging Ecosystems Change the Spatial Distribution of Top Carnivores Even in Poorly Populated Areas
Humans affect biological diversity and species distribution patterns by modifying resource availability and generating novel environments where generalist species benefit and specialist species are rare. In particular, cities create local homogenization while roads fragment habitat, although both pr...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4370498/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25799547 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118851 |
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author | Barbar, Facundo Werenkraut, Victoria Morales, Juan Manuel Lambertucci, Sergio Agustín |
author_facet | Barbar, Facundo Werenkraut, Victoria Morales, Juan Manuel Lambertucci, Sergio Agustín |
author_sort | Barbar, Facundo |
collection | PubMed |
description | Humans affect biological diversity and species distribution patterns by modifying resource availability and generating novel environments where generalist species benefit and specialist species are rare. In particular, cities create local homogenization while roads fragment habitat, although both processes can increase food availability for some species that may be able to take advantage of this new source. We studied space use by birds of prey in relation to human construction, hypothesizing that these birds would be affected even in poorly populated areas. We worked in Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina, which is experiencing a high population growth, but still having very large unpopulated areas. We related the presence of raptors with different sources of human disturbance and found that both the abundance and richness of these birds were positively associated with anthropogenic environments. These results are driven mostly by a strong association between the medium-sized generalist species and these novel environments (mainly roads and cities). This may create an imbalance in intra-guild competitive abilities, modifying the normal structures of top carnivore hierarchies. Indeed, the structure of raptor communities seems to be changing, even in poorly populated areas, with anthropogenic constructions seemingly producing changes in wild areas more promptly than thought, a cause for concern in ecosystems conservation issues. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4370498 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-43704982015-04-04 Emerging Ecosystems Change the Spatial Distribution of Top Carnivores Even in Poorly Populated Areas Barbar, Facundo Werenkraut, Victoria Morales, Juan Manuel Lambertucci, Sergio Agustín PLoS One Research Article Humans affect biological diversity and species distribution patterns by modifying resource availability and generating novel environments where generalist species benefit and specialist species are rare. In particular, cities create local homogenization while roads fragment habitat, although both processes can increase food availability for some species that may be able to take advantage of this new source. We studied space use by birds of prey in relation to human construction, hypothesizing that these birds would be affected even in poorly populated areas. We worked in Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina, which is experiencing a high population growth, but still having very large unpopulated areas. We related the presence of raptors with different sources of human disturbance and found that both the abundance and richness of these birds were positively associated with anthropogenic environments. These results are driven mostly by a strong association between the medium-sized generalist species and these novel environments (mainly roads and cities). This may create an imbalance in intra-guild competitive abilities, modifying the normal structures of top carnivore hierarchies. Indeed, the structure of raptor communities seems to be changing, even in poorly populated areas, with anthropogenic constructions seemingly producing changes in wild areas more promptly than thought, a cause for concern in ecosystems conservation issues. Public Library of Science 2015-03-23 /pmc/articles/PMC4370498/ /pubmed/25799547 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118851 Text en © 2015 Barbar et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Barbar, Facundo Werenkraut, Victoria Morales, Juan Manuel Lambertucci, Sergio Agustín Emerging Ecosystems Change the Spatial Distribution of Top Carnivores Even in Poorly Populated Areas |
title | Emerging Ecosystems Change the Spatial Distribution of Top Carnivores Even in Poorly Populated Areas |
title_full | Emerging Ecosystems Change the Spatial Distribution of Top Carnivores Even in Poorly Populated Areas |
title_fullStr | Emerging Ecosystems Change the Spatial Distribution of Top Carnivores Even in Poorly Populated Areas |
title_full_unstemmed | Emerging Ecosystems Change the Spatial Distribution of Top Carnivores Even in Poorly Populated Areas |
title_short | Emerging Ecosystems Change the Spatial Distribution of Top Carnivores Even in Poorly Populated Areas |
title_sort | emerging ecosystems change the spatial distribution of top carnivores even in poorly populated areas |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4370498/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25799547 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118851 |
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