Importance of wild ungulates as ecosystem engineers for amphibian communities
Carolina Baruzzi (Avtor), Miha Krofel (Avtor)

Povzetek

As ecosystem engineers, ungulates can importantly alter the habitats where they live by changing plant cover, soil and water properties through wallowing, rooting, urinating, excreting, grazing and trampling. It is a common belief that wild ungulates, especially wild boar, Sus scrofa, represent a threat to amphibian communities due to disturbance caused while using water pools. On the other hand, ungulates could also create new aquatic habitats suitable for amphibians. So far these effects have been poorly understood. We conducted a pilot study to test whether ungulate engineering action affected amphibians% pool choice comparing amphibian species number in pools created and/or maintained by wild ungulates and pools that were fenced or, for other reasons, not used by ungulates. We observed that amphibians readily used pools also used by ungulates, although amphibian species richness in these pools was generally lower, especially when the pools were smaller. Our results suggest the need for further research and highlight the importance of wild ungulates as ecosystem engineers that create new aquatic habitats, as well as trade-offs connected with the presence of wild ungulate populations for amphibian communities. This has several management and conservation implications and prudent managers could use this understanding to incorporate ungulate management in their conservation programs targeting endangered wildlife that depends on habitats created or modified by these ecosystem engineers.

Ključne besede

ecosystem engineers;ungulates;amphibians;disturbance;habitat modification;

Podatki

Jezik: Angleški jezik
Leto izida:
Tipologija: 1.01 - Izvirni znanstveni članek
Organizacija: UL BF - Biotehniška fakulteta
UDK: 630*15
COBISS: 4983462 Povezava se bo odprla v novem oknu
ISSN: 1584-9074
Matična publikacija: North-Western Journal of Zoology
Št. ogledov: 844
Št. prenosov: 625
Ocena: 0 (0 glasov)
Metapodatki: JSON JSON-RDF JSON-LD TURTLE N-TRIPLES XML RDFA MICRODATA DC-XML DC-RDF RDF

Ostali podatki

Sekundarni jezik: Angleški jezik
Sekundarne ključne besede: ekosistemi;kopitarji;dvoživke;motnje;življenjski habitat;
Vrsta dela (COBISS): Delo ni kategorizirano
Strani: str. 320-325
Letnik: ǂVol. ǂ13
Zvezek: ǂiss. ǂ2
Čas izdaje: 2017
ID: 10925546