Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC) Calle Américo Vespucio s/n, 41092, Sevilla, Spain.
Ecol Lett. 2013 Feb;16(2):242-51. doi: 10.1111/ele.12035. Epub 2012 Dec 6.
Anthropogenic degradation of the world's ecosystems is leading to a widespread and accelerating loss of biodiversity. However, not all species respond equally to existing threats, raising the question: what makes a species more vulnerable to extinction? We propose that higher intraspecific variability may reduce the risk of extinction, as different individuals and populations within a species may respond differently to occurring threats. Supporting this prediction, our results show that mammalian species with more variable adult body masses, litter sizes, sexual maturity ages and population densities are less vulnerable to extinction. Our findings reveal the role of local variation among populations, particularly of large mammals, as a buffering mechanism against extinction, and emphasise the importance of considering trait variation in comparative analyses and conservation management.
人为导致的世界生态系统退化正导致生物多样性的广泛而加速丧失。然而，并非所有物种对现有威胁的反应都一样，这就提出了一个问题：是什么使一个物种更容易灭绝？我们提出，更高的种内变异性可能会降低灭绝的风险，因为一个物种内的不同个体和种群可能对发生的威胁有不同的反应。我们的研究结果支持这一预测，表明成年体重、幼仔数量、性成熟年龄和种群密度变化较大的哺乳动物物种灭绝的风险较低。我们的研究结果揭示了种群间（特别是大型哺乳动物）局部变异的作用，这是一种防止灭绝的缓冲机制，并强调了在比较分析和保护管理中考虑特征变异性的重要性。
