Our species
has 'disproportionate effect' on others, scientists say
Date: February 11, 2019
Source: SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry
Humans have
a "disproportionately huge effect" on the other species of
vertebrates that share Earth's surface with us, causing more than 25 percent of
the deaths among an array of species all over the globe, according to a
recently published study.
A team of
scientists from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in
Syracuse, New York, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture analyzed the deaths
of 42,755 animals that were reported in 1,114 published studies. They found
that 28 percent of the animals' deaths were directly caused by humans.
The study
was published in January in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.
"We all
know humans can have a substantial effect on wildlife. That we are only one
among over 35,000 species of terrestrial vertebrates worldwide yet responsible
for more than one-fourth of their deaths provides perspective on how large our
effect actually is," said co-author Jerrold L. Belant, the Camp Fire
Conservation Fund professor at ESF. "And that's just direct causes. When
you also consider urban growth and other land use changes that reduce habitat,
it becomes clear humans have a disproportionate effect on other terrestrial
vertebrates."
Belant
conducted the study with Jacob E. Hill, another ESF faculty member, and Travis
L. DeVault of the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
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