Ecosystem decline

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The term ecosystem deterioration (Engl. Ecosystem decay ) referred to in the ecology a hypothesis to explain habitat destruction . In contrast to the competing hypothesis of passive sampling , ecosystem decline denies linear changes.

Research history

The term ecosystem decay was coined by Thomas Lovejoy , who looked at forest islands that had remained after clearing in the Amazon . He realized that sunlight, which penetrated the normally dark undergrowth, damaged the plants, which were adapted to low-light conditions, and as a result monkeys and big cats also disappeared. The Lovejoy et al. (1984) hypothesis of ecosystem decay suggests that ecological processes are changing in smaller and more isolated habitats, so that more species are lost than would have been expected through habitat loss alone.

For a long time the hypothesis was in competition with the hypothesis of passive sampling proposed by Connor and McCoy (1979) , which suggests that species are lost in proportion to their abundance and distribution in natural habitats. On the basis of a meta study, Chase et al. (2020) confirm the validity of the ecosystem decline hypothesis. This suggests that the loss of habitat is largely underestimated if the competing hypothesis of passive sampling is accepted. According to this, species extinction is progressing faster than previously assumed.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomas E. Lovejoy et al .: Ecosystem decay of Amazon forest remnants . In: Matthew H. Nitecki (Ed.): Extinctions . The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1984, ISBN 0-226-58690-1 , pp. 295-325 .
  2. ^ Ilkka Hanski, Gustavo A. Zurita, M. Isabel Bellocq, Joel Rybicki: Species - fragmented area relationship . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . tape 110 , no. 31 , July 30, 2013, p. 12715-12720 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1311491110 , PMID 23858440 .
  3. ^ Edward F. Connor, Earl D. McCoy, The Statistics and Biology of the Species-Area Relationship . In: The American Naturalist . tape 113 , no. 6 , June 1, 1979, pp. 791-833 , doi : 10.1086 / 283438 .
  4. ↑ Gal Yaacobi, Yaron Ziv, Michael L Rosenzweig: Habitat fragmentation may not matter to species diversity . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . tape 274 , no. 1624 , October 7, 2007, p. 2409-2412 , doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2007.0674 .
  5. ↑ Jonathan M. Chase, Shane A. Blowes, Tiffany M. Knight, Katharina Gerstner, Felix May: Ecosystem decay exacerbates biodiversity loss with habitat loss . In: Nature . July 29, 2020, p. 1-6 , doi : 10.1038 / s41586-020-2531-2 .