Herbivores at the highest risk of extinction among mammals, birds, and reptiles

Atwood, Trisha B.; Valentine, Shaley; Hammill, Edd; McCauley, Douglas J.; Madin, Elizabeth M. P.; Beard, Karen H.; Pearse, William D.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb8458

Cited by 86 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Moreover, with trophic downgrading shown to interact with pre-existing anthropogenic threats such as pollution and habitat change (Estes et al 2011), and pressures becoming ever more prevalent globally (Halpern et al 2015), further integration of trophic level into predictive estimates of stressor number would provide greater insight into these relationships. Nevertheless, with recent work highlighting an increased risk of extinction in some herbivorous groups (Atwood et al 2020),…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body mass and latitude predict the presence of multiple stressors in global vertebrate populations

Noviello

McRae

Freeman

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Multiple stressors are recognised as a key threat to biodiversity, but our understanding of what might predispose species to multiple stressors remains limited. Here we analyse a global dataset of over 7000 marine, freshwater, and terrestrial vertebrate populations, alongside species-specific trait data, to identify factors which influence the number of stressors a species is subjected to at the population level. We find that body mass and latitude can both influence the number of stressors a population is subjected to across ecosystems, with large-bodied species tending to be more threatened, except terrestrial amphibians which show the opposite trend. Latitudinal forecasts predict higher stressor numbers between 20°N and 40°N, and towards the poles. Global stressor distributions suggest a link between human population centres and stressor frequency generally impacting larger-bodied species. Latitude and body mass hence provide key predictive tools to identify which vertebrate populations are likely to be highly threatened, despite the strength of these trends differing between ecological system and taxonomic class.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body mass and latitude predict the presence of multiple stressors in global vertebrate populations

Noviello

McRae

Freeman

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Human impacts were the primary driver of these extinctions and declines, though possibly in conjunction with climate change [1][2][3] . The world's remaining large-bodied herbivores are among the most threatened species on the planet 4,5 , leading to urgent calls to protect these species and to better understand their distinct ecological roles 6 .…”

Section: Background and Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The majority of functional trait data were collected from primary peer-reviewed literature (1,733 trait values from 456 articles), secondary peer-reviewed literature (1,294 values from 46 articles), or academic handbooks (1,099 trait values from 27 resources). Twenty-eight remaining resources consisted of theses (n = 39 trait values), databases (44), websites (39), conference proceedings (9), and grey literature (5). For transparency, justifications for trait designations (particularly relevant for extinct species) are described in the Notes columns and the highest quality evidence is ranked in trait-specific Reliability columns.…”

Section: Technical Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional traits of the world’s late Quaternary large-bodied avian and mammalian herbivores

et al. 2021

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Prehistoric and recent extinctions of large-bodied terrestrial herbivores had significant and lasting impacts on Earth’s ecosystems due to the loss of their distinct trait combinations. The world’s surviving large-bodied avian and mammalian herbivores remain among the most threatened taxa. As such, a greater understanding of the ecological impacts of large herbivore losses is increasingly important. However, comprehensive and ecologically-relevant trait datasets for extinct and extant herbivores are lacking. Here, we present HerbiTraits, a comprehensive functional trait dataset for all late Quaternary terrestrial avian and mammalian herbivores ≥10 kg (545 species). HerbiTraits includes key traits that influence how herbivores interact with ecosystems, namely body mass, diet, fermentation type, habitat use, and limb morphology. Trait data were compiled from 557 sources and comprise the best available knowledge on late Quaternary large-bodied herbivores. HerbiTraits provides a tool for the analysis of herbivore functional diversity both past and present and its effects on Earth’s ecosystems.

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“…A recent study found that the trophic group most strongly affected by changes in the plant community are herbivores [16]. Extinction risk ratings from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and recent extinctions suggest that herbivorous terrestrial vertebrates are indeed particularly vulnerable to extinction [17], a pattern that might in part be explained by the sensitivity of herbivores to bottom-up cascades. However, it remains unclear whether bottom-up cascades generally impact lower trophic levels more strongly [18], and whether bottom-up cascades and coextinctions played a role in the megafauna extinction events of the Late Pleistocene.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sahul’s megafauna were vulnerable to plant-community changes due to their position in the trophic network

Llewelyn

Strona

McDowell

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Extinctions stemming from environmental change often trigger trophic cascades and coextinctions. However, it remains unclear whether trophic cascades were a large contributor to the megafauna extinctions that swept across several continents in the Late Pleistocene. The pathways to megafauna extinctions are particularly unclear for Sahul (landmass comprising Australia and New Guinea), where extinctions happened earlier than on other continents. We investigated the role of bottom-up trophic cascades in Late Pleistocene Sahul by constructing pre-extinction (~ 80 ka) trophic network models of the vertebrate community of Naracoorte, south-eastern Australia. These models allowed us to predict vertebrate species’ vulnerability to cascading extinctions based on their position in the network. We tested whether the observed extinctions could be explained by bottom-up cascades, or if they should be attributed to other external causes. Species that disappeared from the community were more vulnerable, overall, to bottom-up cascades than were species that survived. The position of extinct species in the network – having few or no predators – also suggests they might have been particularly vulnerable to a new predator. These results provide quantitative evidence that trophic cascades and naivety to predators could have contributed to the megafauna extinction event in Sahul.

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Herbivores at the highest risk of extinction among mammals, birds, and reptiles

Cited by 86 publications

References 40 publications

Body mass and latitude predict the presence of multiple stressors in global vertebrate populations

Body mass and latitude predict the presence of multiple stressors in global vertebrate populations

Functional traits of the world’s late Quaternary large-bodied avian and mammalian herbivores

Sahul’s megafauna were vulnerable to plant-community changes due to their position in the trophic network

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