The ecological role of large carnivores

Following on from my last post in which I explored the status of lions in West Africa, I thought it would be useful to discuss more generally the status of large carnivores. To do this I’ll refer to a paper that was recently published in Science magazine, that reports the current understanding of the ecological roles large-carnivore species play in ecosystems, and explores the implications of their decline across the world.

The science bit

The order ‘Carnivora’ consists of 245 terrestrial species, that can be found in most of the earth’s major habitats. Carnivores are naturally rare because of their position at the top of the food web however, this paper reports that during the previous two centuries, many carnivores have experienced substantial population declines, geographical range contracts and serious habitat fragmentation. In fact, 61% of large carnivores are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are threatened – with 77% classified as undergoing continuing population declines.

The ecological role of large carnivores

There is plenty of evidence to show that large carnivores, such as lions as leopards, have substantial effects on the structure and function of some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems. Because these animals are at the top of the food chain, any changes to their populations will affect all other animals in the ecosystem, in a process of trophic cascade. This makes the conservation of these animals even more crucial because if they disappear then there could be severe consequences, spanning entire ecosystems!

This man talks about the importance of large animals - basically the same as I've been saying here, but just on a whole new level of enthusiasm. Watch and you'll see what I mean! Note the hands (difficult to ignore)

The paper states that our tolerance to these large carnivores needs to be increased if their populations are to be maintained. Human society needs to learn to coexist with these animals, but this will be a huge societal challenge. I wonder whether humans are guilty of competition? We too occupy a position at the top of the food chain and perhaps it is in our instinct to defend ourselves against these large carnivores or competitors. Irrespective we need to take responsibility for large carnivore populations to ensue that potentially devastating effects are not felt across whole ecosystems. We need to come up with creative solutions to maintain viable populations whilst also managing the need for increasing stock production to feed our increasing population. Perhaps allocation of protected areas (PAs) is the answer however in my opinion this doesn't seem very sustainable - after all, we can't do this forever and surely there are moral and ethical implications involved with confining these creatures in captivity? Humans need to learn to live alongside, or coexist with large carnivores, but first we need to deal with our fear!