Veggie-Might
Move over, wolves. Researchers have shown that elephants, zebras, and other large herbivores may also play a vital role in maintaining the food chain.
American scientists tested the importance of large veggie eaters by erecting electric fences around an area in central Kenya. The fences, which stayed up for a year and a half, allowed researchers to track how trees, insects, and other plant and animal populations responded to life sans cattle, elephants, and other herbivorous mammals.
They saw some major changes, we learned from a Stanford University article.
"All of the species studied increased in abundance in the absence of large plant-eating mammals," said lead author Robert Pringle, a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford. These results are examples of what ecologists call cascading effects, he added.
If you’re wondering what the big deal is, read on:
"For years, ecologists debated whether cascading effects occurred in terrestrial environments, and even then, most studies centered around the activities of top carnivores, such as wolves," Pringle said. "While top predators are undeniably important to ecological function, this new study shows that large herbivores can also play critical roles."
That’s worrisome, given the decline of large herbivorous mammals around the globe.
Reading this study, we can’t help but think of the suggestion made in November by another team of scientists. Their idea, called “Pleistocene rewilding,” was to replenish the plains of the American midwest with large mammals such as lions, elephants and tortoises.
No word on that other vanishing breed, the corn-fed farm boy.
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