Climate change killing of large animals would accelerate – ElTiempo.com

A study published in the journal Science Advances’ first warns that the extinction of large animals has serious implications for ecological interactions, depleted forests and accelerates climate change.

The work done by Spanish researchers, Colombian and Brazilian Paulista State University (UNESP), together with scientists from England and Finland, shows that large animals maintain diversity and ecosystem services and therefore, their disappearance has “unexpected and devastating to the environment”.

Effects The first study examines what happens when large -the frugívoros that feed mainly disappear of fruit-, “that are crucial for reforestation and natural regeneration of forests,” explains the researcher of the Biological Station of Doñana and study co-author Pedro Jordano.

” And it is because of their diet, these animals such as toucans, tapirs, or large primates eat lots of fruits of plants, large seeds after defecate or regurgitate back into the forest and in suitable conditions for germination. That is, they are responsible for planting the forest, “says the researcher.

This does not only favor these animals but also to forests,” is what we call an ecological interaction mutual, ie, that favors both parties. “

The study, conducted in forests of southeastern Brazil, has shown that” forest areas without frugívoros have a capacity of storage much less carbon than forests that are well preserved, and therefore its potential to counteract the effects of climate change is much smaller, “says Jordan.
” The trees that have large seeds are trees large size, dense wood, which store more carbon, “says Mauro Galetti Professor Department of Ecology of the UNESP.

The work is important because it shows that the loss of these animals of degradation of ecological interactions that are crucial to the environment and generate a chain reaction.

“not only faced with the loss of charismatic animals, we face the loss interactions that maintain the proper functioning of key ecosystem services such as carbon storage, “says Jordan.

The findings are extrapolated to the entire planet, as more than 90 % of woody species of trees and shrubs from around the world and 60% of Mediterranean forests depend on frugivorous for conservation, Jordan recalls.

Therefore, the study proposes that reforestation programs and compensation for carbon emissions, so-called programs REED +, taking into account the ‘mutualism’ and contemplate these animals as a fundamental part of the ecosystem.

And To date, the REED + programs have only taken into account forest disturbances caused by man, such as logging and the presence of fuegos- regardless of which “are apparently intact forests may be defaunados and therefore can be degraded forests, “says Professor of Tropical Conservation Ecology at the University of East Anglia (UK), Carlos Peres.

The warning research and the importance of considering animals and their duties as a fundamental part of the woods.

“The actions of REDD should not be left alone to restore vegetation cover, but ecological processes. More ambitious targets should be set: not only to recover a forest but all the functionality of a forest, with all its elements, “proposes Jordanian

GDA / TRADE