Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, 60325 Frankfurt (Main), Germany.
Department of Biological Sciences, Goethe University, 60438 Frankfurt (Main), Germany.
Science. 2018 Jan 26;359(6374):466-469. doi: 10.1126/science.aam9712.
Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-range movements from areas with higher human impact. Global loss of vagility alters a key ecological trait of animals that affects not only population persistence but also ecosystem processes such as predator-prey interactions, nutrient cycling, and disease transmission.
动物的运动对于生态系统的功能和物种的生存至关重要，但人类活动对动物运动的影响尚未在物种层面上进行评估。利用一个独特的 GPS 追踪数据库，该数据库涵盖了 57 个物种的 803 个个体，我们发现，在人类足迹相对较高的地区，哺乳动物的运动范围平均只有在人类足迹较低的地区的一半到三分之一。我们将这种减少归因于个体动物行为的改变，以及具有长距离运动能力的物种从人类影响较大的地区被排除。全球范围的运动灵活性丧失改变了动物的一个关键生态特征，这不仅影响到种群的持续存在，还影响到捕食者-猎物相互作用、养分循环和疾病传播等生态系统过程。
