The extinction of large animals accelerates climate change – Vanguardia Liberal

The hunting, illegal trade and deforestation of forests is leading to the extinction of thousands of species of large animals around the world but we know what happens when these copies disappear?

A study published today in the journal Science warns Advances for the first time defaunation or extinction of large animals has serious implications for ecological interactions, impoverished forests and accelerates climate change.

The study, conducted by Spanish researchers, Colombian and Brazilian Paulista State University (UNESP), along 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 fruit-, “that are crucial for reforestation and natural regeneration of forests” disappear, explains the research professor Station Doñana Biological 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 fruit 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 a ecological interaction mutual, ie, that favors both parties. “

The study, conducted in forests of southeastern Brazil (some well preserved and others with little wildlife because deforestation and hunting), has shown that “forest areas without frugívoros have a storage capacity much lower carbon than forests are well preserved, and therefore its potential to counteract the effects of climate change is much lower, “says Jordan.

” The trees that have large seeds are large trees with dense wood, which store more carbon, “explains Professor Mauro Galetti Department of Ecology UNESP.

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

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

The findings are extrapolated to the entire planet, as more than 90 percent of the woody species of trees and shrubs worldwide and 60 percent of the Mediterranean depend on forests for conservation frugívoros , 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 it is that so far, the REED + programs have only considered forest disturbances caused by man, such as logging and the presence of fuegos- without realizing that “forests are apparently intact and can be defaunados therefore, can be degraded forests, “says the professor of Tropical Conservation Ecology at the University of East Anglia (UK), Carlos Peres.

The study warns that considering the importance of animals and their duties as a fundamental part of the woods.

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

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