Kurek Przemysław, Piechnik Łukasz, Wiatrowska Blanka, Ważna Agnieszka, Nowakowski Krzysztof, Pardavila Xosé, Cichocki Jan, Seget Barbara
Department of Plant Ecology and Environmental Protection, Adam Mickiewicz University, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 6, 61-614 Poznań, Poland.
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology Group, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512 Cracow, Poland.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Mar 31;12(7):898. doi: 10.3390/ani12070898.
The European badger plays an important role as a natural factor shaping species diversity in forests. Its extensive setts can be used by many other animals as shelters. Soil perturbations in their setts support plant communities that differ from the matrix landscape. The badger is also an effective seed disperser. We investigated its role as an ecosystem engineer in preserving species diversity and discussed its legal status across Europe. In most European countries (69.3% of the continent), the badger is hunted, sometimes year-round. The hunting season lasting through winter until early spring may have a negative effect on badger populations, especially when cubs are born in February. Although this species is Red Listed in 19 European countries (with categories ranging from LC to EN), the badger is strictly protected by law in 30.7% of its European range. A reduction in badger populations may limit its ecosystem services (seed dispersal, topsoil disturbances, microhabitat creation). Much new data on the importance of badgers in ecosystem engineering has allowed us to reconsider how we manage badger populations.
欧洲獾作为塑造森林物种多样性的自然因素发挥着重要作用。其广阔的洞穴可供许多其他动物用作庇护所。洞穴中的土壤扰动支持着与周围基质景观不同的植物群落。獾也是一种有效的种子传播者。我们研究了它作为生态系统工程师在保护物种多样性方面的作用，并讨论了其在欧洲各地的法律地位。在大多数欧洲国家（占欧洲大陆的69.3%），獾会遭到捕杀，有时是全年捕杀。持续整个冬季直至早春的狩猎季节可能会对獾的种群数量产生负面影响，尤其是当幼崽在二月出生时。尽管该物种在19个欧洲国家被列入红色名录（类别从无危到濒危），但在其欧洲分布范围的30.7%内受到法律严格保护。獾种群数量的减少可能会限制其生态系统服务功能（种子传播、表土扰动、微生境创造）。关于獾在生态系统工程中重要性的许多新数据使我们能够重新思考如何管理獾的种群数量。
