Scientists have figured out how the presence of the best predator affects the smaller ones. About informs University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Previous research has shown that cougars tend to overwhelm populations of medium-sized predators such as coyotes trying to avoid cougars. The decline in the coyote population allows other medium-sized predators to flourish. This has a complex cascade effect on many other species and is of great importance to the ecosystem.
To find out the relationship between cougars and smaller predators, scientists set up camera traps in two areas of the United States: south of the Santa Cruz Mountains in California and near the Fort Hood military base in Texas. The ecosystems of these places are very similar, but Texas does not have cougars. The analysis showed that coyotes are indeed extremely rare in areas where cougars live. Other predators also avoided them, but they often fell into the same camera trap as the cougars and passed by at a different time. What’s more, lynxes and foxes came into the cougar’s habitat more often than scientists expected.
In the absence of cougars, zoologists expected coyotes to have a similar effect: suppressing the lynx’s closest rivals and favoring the rest. It turned out that this was not the case at all – the presence of coyotes reduced the number of all medium-sized predators less than them. However, this suppressive effect was much weaker than that of lynxes on coyotes.
Thus, the scientists concluded that coyotes cannot replace cougars as the region’s top predators. What’s more, cougars leave behind lots of leftovers that allow scavengers to eat meat, from microbes to birds and other animals. Coyotes feed on smaller species and eat most of what they kill, leaving less for other creatures. This study is important for understanding the role of great predators in the ecosystem – biologists conclude that they should never be destroyed, even if they cause some discomfort to humans.
Source: Gazeta
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