Science. Feral rats, cats, dogs, and pigs are the greatest threat to the biological diversity on earth.
They have wiped out more species on earth than all other destructive forces, including human hunting, deforestation and climate change.
results of a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
the Researchers, who were led by the australian biologist Tim Doherty, has reviewed all of the species of mammals, birds and reptiles, which have been eradicated in the last 500 years, i.e. since the year 1500.
The notes that a very large proportion of these were species with limited occurrence within a single area, usually an island.
The hardest hit are the islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific ocean, and Madagascar and Australia.
Fyrvaktarns cats
There were many species that lacked the ability to protect themselves against invasive animals – rats, cats, dogs, pigs, and mungoer, foxes and weasels – that the people brought with them and released.
can be found Here, among others, the remarkable svinfotade punggrävlingen in Australia, which likely was wiped out by the introduced rödrävarna, and the small, unique klippsmygen on StephenÂs Island outside of New Zealand who were wiped out by cats that fyrvaktarna on the island brought with them.
According to the researchers, the analysis has a total of 87 species of birds, 45 species of mammals and 10 reptiles died out because of the invasive, feral animal rampage.
Destructive companion
This is 58 per cent of all the birds, mammals and reptiles extinct since 1500 – a staggeringly high percentage, in other words.
No other factor has been equally destructive. Hard hunting, deforestation, cultivation and boskapsdrift have all claimed their victims, but not even together they reach up on the cats and the rats ‘ level.
It does not stop there. In the worst case, the number of victims to be harvested. A total of 596 species of mammals, birds and reptiles in the international as the red list are today at risk because of the invasive animals that we spread over the earth. Tough measures against the later would in other words make big profits in the artskyddsarbetet.
the FACTS
Invasive problemdjur
a Total of 30 mammal species that we humans spread over the earth usually are listed as invasive, which means that they have a sharply negative impact on ecosystems.
Their rampage in sensitive ecosystems has led to 87 species of birds, 45 species of mammals and 10 reptiles become extinct.
The worst problemdjuren are four species of rats, domestic cat, dog, pig, indian mongoose, red fox and ermine.
the Rats have mainly spread death among the smaller species of birds on remote islands. Cats, dogs and pigs are difficult marauders in many places around the world.
The indian mungon is a problem in the Caribbean and Hawaii. The red fox has wiped out several species of marsupials in Australia, and ermine have displaced several native bird species in New Zealand.
Source: the journal PNAS.
TT
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