Ecological Consequences of Extinction
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Network of Conservation Educators & Practitioners Ecological Consequences of Extinction Author(s): Madhu Rao and Trond Larsen Source: Lessons in Conservation, Vol. 3, pp. 25-53 Published by: Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History Stable URL: ncep.amnh.org/linc/ This article is featured in Lessons in Conservation, the official journal of the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP). NCEP is a collaborative project of the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) and a number of institutions and individuals around the world. Lessons in Conservation is designed to introduce NCEP teaching and learning resources (or “modules”) to a broad audience. NCEP modules are designed for undergraduate and professional level education. These modules—and many more on a variety of conservation topics—are available for free download at our website, ncep.amnh.org. To learn more about NCEP, visit our website: ncep.amnh.org. All reproduction or distribution must provide full citation of the original work and provide a copyright notice as follows: “Copyright 2010, by the authors of the material and the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation of the American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.” Illustrations obtained from the American Museum of Natural History’s library: images.library.amnh.org/digital/ SYNTHESIS 25 Ecological Consequences of Extinction Madhu Rao* and Trond Larsen† * Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, NY, U.S.A., email [email protected] † Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, U.S.A., email [email protected] F. Laso F. Ecological Consequences of Extinction Lessons in Conservation http://ncep.amnh.org/linc 26 SYNTHESIS Table of Contents Introduction............................................................................................................27 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function....................................................................27 Influence of Community Structure on Ecosystem Function..................................27 Diversity-function Relationships and Hypotheses.................................................29 Assembly Experiments and Diversity-function Mechanisms...................................30 Patterns of Non-random Species Loss................................................................31 Consequences of Non-random Species Loss.........................................................31 Keystone Species....................................................................................................32 Keystone Species Versus Keystone Guilds.............................................................33 Time Scale..........................................................................................................33 Context Dependence.........................................................................................33 Trophic Interactions...............................................................................................34 Loss of Predators.................................................................................................34 Increased Herbivory........................................................................................34 Mesopredator Release....................................................................................34 Loss of Herbivores and Frugivores........................................................................35 Loss of Pollinators...............................................................................................35 Weak Interactors....................................................................................................37 Trophic Cascades....................................................................................................37 Species Co-extinctions...........................................................................................38 Ecological Extinctions............................................................................................38 Summary.............................................................................................................40 Literature Cited......................................................................................................41 Glossary.......................................................................................................47 Appendix: Ecological and Economical Contributions of Avian Functional Groups......50 Ecological Consequences of Extinction Lessons in Conservation http://ncep.amnh.org/linc SYNTHESIS 27 Ecological Consequences of Extinction Madhu Rao and Trond Larsen Introduction Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function Extinction is a natural process, but it is occurring at an unnatu- Some of the first ideas on how biodiversity affects the way rally rapid rate as a consequence of human activities. Humans ecosystems function are attributable to Darwin and Wallace, have caused the extinction of between 5-20% of the species who stated that a diverse mixture of plants should be more in many groups of organisms, and current rates of extinction productive than a monoculture (Darwin and Wallace, 1858; are estimated to be 100-1,000 times greater than pre-human Darwin, 1859). They also suggested the underlying biological rates (Lawton and May, 1995; Pimm et al., 1995). Overall, ac- mechanism: because coexisting species differ ecologically, loss celerated extinctions of species and loss of biodiversity are no of a species could result in vacant niche-space and consequent longer disputed issues in the scientific community. Although disruption of ecosystem processes maintained by that niche. much effort has gone into quantifying the rates of biodiver- Darwin and Wallace’s early hypothesis predicts that intact, sity loss for particular animal and plant groups, the impact of diverse communities are generally more stable and function such losses on ecosystems is less clear, especially when many better than less diverse communities. This hypothesis has pro- different kinds of plants and animals are simultaneously lost vided the basis for much of the later ecological research that (Raffaelli, 2004). In a review of the ecosystem consequences will be addressed in this synthesis. of bird declines, Şekercioğlu et al. (2004), report that 21% of all bird species are currently threatened or near threatened Influence of Community Structure on Ecosystem by extinction, and 6.5% are functionally or ecologically extinct. Function Their projections indicate that by 2100, 6-14% of all bird species will actually be extinct, and 7-25% (28-56% on oce- Several components of biodiversity are relevant to ecosystem anic islands) will be functionally extinct. These extinctions function, including: are likely to disrupt important ecosystem processes such as decomposition, pollination, and seed dispersal. 1) the number of species present (species richness); 2) their relative abundances (species evenness); Evidence from observational and experimental studies sug- 3) the particular species present (species composition); gests that species extinctions are likely to have far-reaching 4) the interactions among species (non-additive effects); and consequences including further cascading extinctions, disrup- 5) the temporal and spatial variation in these properties of tions of ecosystem services, and the spread of disease (Terborgh community structure (Symstad et al., 2003). et al. 2001; Şekercioğlu et al., 2004; Larsen et al. 2005). Ironi- cally, the accelerating effects of human activities on biodiver- In addition to their effect on ecosystem function, changes in sity can have direct consequences for ecosystem goods and these components of biodiversity influence the resilience and services that support human activities and life (Daily, 1997; resistance of ecosystems to environmental change (Chapin et Chapin et al., 2000). These services include the maintenance al., 2000). of soil fertility, climate regulation, natural pest control, and the provision of goods such as food, timber and fresh water. Species richness is important for ecosystem functioning for Ecological Consequences of Extinction Lessons in Conservation http://ncep.amnh.org/linc 28 SYNTHESIS several reasons, including higher complementarity of species’ final section of this synthesis. differing ecological roles. Several studies have used experi- mental species assemblages in an attempt to isolate the inher- Because species differ ecologically, the identity of species ent role of species richness for ecosystem functioning, such as present in a community (species composition) can strongly rates of primary productivity , nutrient retention, and decompo- influence ecosystem functions. For example, particular spe- sition of organic matter (Tilman et al., 1996). Many of these cies can have strong effects on ecosystem processes by directly studies seek to identify whether species richness is important mediating energy and material fluxes or by altering abiotic for function independently of other biodiversity components conditions that regulate the rates of these processes (Hooper such as species composition. and Vitousek, 1997). Keystone species are examples of species with large effects on ecosystem process and function. Changes in the relative abundance of species (or species even- ness) are more frequent than species loss and can have sig- Species interactions, including mutualisms, trophic interactions nificant consequences