Carmona Carlos P, Tamme Riin, Pärtel Meelis, de Bello Francesco, Brosse Sébastien, Capdevila Pol, González-M Roy, González-Suárez Manuela, Salguero-Gómez Roberto, Vásquez-Valderrama Maribel, Toussaint Aurèle
Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Lai 40, 51005 Tartu, Estonia.
Centro de Investigaciones Sobre Desertificación, CSIC-UV, Carretera Moncada-Náquera, Km. 4.5 Apartado Oficial, 46113 Moncada (Valencia), Spain.
Sci Adv. 2021 Mar 26;7(13). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf2675. Print 2021 Mar.
Although one-quarter of plant and vertebrate species are threatened with extinction, little is known about the potential effect of extinctions on the global diversity of ecological strategies. Using trait and phylogenetic information for more than 75,000 species of vascular plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and freshwater fish, we characterized the global functional spectra of each of these groups. Mapping extinction risk within these spectra showed that larger species with slower pace of life are universally threatened. Simulated extinction scenarios exposed extensive internal reorganizations in the global functional spectra, which were larger than expected by chance for all groups, and particularly severe for mammals and amphibians. Considering the disproportionate importance of the largest species for ecological processes, our results emphasize the importance of actions to prevent the extinction of the megabiota.
尽管四分之一的植物和脊椎动物物种面临灭绝威胁，但对于物种灭绝对全球生态策略多样性的潜在影响却知之甚少。利用超过75000种维管植物、哺乳动物、鸟类、爬行动物、两栖动物和淡水鱼的性状和系统发育信息，我们描绘了这些类群各自的全球功能谱。在这些功能谱中绘制灭绝风险表明，生活节奏较慢的大型物种普遍受到威胁。模拟的灭绝情景揭示了全球功能谱中广泛的内部重组，所有类群的重组都比随机预期的要大，对哺乳动物和两栖动物尤为严重。考虑到最大物种对生态过程的重要性不成比例，我们的结果强调了采取行动防止大型生物灭绝的重要性。
