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Causes and consequences of lags in basic and applied research into feral wildlife ecology: the case for feral horses
Basic and Applied Ecology ( IF 3.8 ) Pub Date : 2021-03-20 , DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2021.03.011
P.N. Boyce , J.D. Hennig , R.K. Brook , P.D. McLoughlin

The biomass of feral wildlife is eclipsing that of native wildlife in many parts of the world. Consequently, feral species are playing an increasingly important role in ecological community dynamics. Artificially selected life-history traits of wild but once domesticated species can elicit population dynamics that differ substantially from that of native species. Yet, we continue to lag in our understanding of the ecology and evolution of feral species with direct consequences to resource management and biodiversity conservation. In part, this is because basic and applied research into the ecology of feral wildlife is fraught with social and political challenges unique to science. Feral populations of companion animals or livestock, especially, can evoke strong emotional reactions among advocacy groups, particularly around issues of animal welfare and management policy. Managers tasked with controlling feral populations are often bound by social license, including legislative restrictions, incomparable to that of other wildlife, and harassment or litigation of researchers and managers is not uncommon. Further, research and management of feral species is often delegated to agricultural instead of wildlife government agencies with clear differences in mandate, staff education, and training. Using examples primarily from feral horses in North America, we show how scientists conducting research independent of the management process can find themselves placed between managers, advocates, and opponents of feral species, implicitly tasked with satisfying multiple and often contradictory interests of stakeholders, sometimes with direct and litigious interference. These barriers are exacerbated by inter-disciplinary tendencies to dismiss the importance of basic and applied ecological research into feral species, despite its relevance to sound decision-making. Feral species therefore possess politically and biologically facilitated asymmetries that favor persistence, growth, and expansion relative to native wildlife, while the timely study of these characteristics in nature continues to suffer from ideological opposition.



中文翻译:

野生野生动植物生态学基础研究和应用研究滞后的原因和后果:野生马的情况

在世界许多地方,野生野生生物的生物量已超过原生野生生物的生物量。因此,野生物种在生态群落动态中发挥着越来越重要的作用。人工选择的野生但曾经驯化的物种的生活史特征可以引起与原生物种大不相同的种群动态。然而,我们继续落后于对野生物种的生态和进化的了解,这直接影响到资源管理和生物多样性保护。在某种程度上,这是因为对野生野生动植物生态学的基础研究和应用研究充满了科学独有的社会和政治挑战。伴随动物或牲畜的野生种群尤其会引起倡导团体之间强烈的情感反应,特别是在动物福利和管理政策方面。负责控制野生种群的管理人员通常受到社会许可的约束,包括与其他野生动植物相比无可比拟的立法限制,对研究人员和管理人员的骚扰或诉讼并不少见。此外,在授权,员工教育和培训方面存在明显差异的情况下,野生物种的研究和管理通常委托农业部门而不是野生动植物政府机构进行。通过使用主要来自北美野马的例子,我们展示了科学家如何进行独立于管理过程的研究,可以发现自己处于野性物种的管理者,拥护者和反对者之间,暗中承担着满足利益相关者的多重且常常是矛盾的利益的任务,有时会受到直接和诉讼的干扰。尽管跨学科的趋势与合理的决策相关,但跨学科的趋势加剧了这些障碍,从而使人们无视基础和应用生态学研究对野生物种的重要性。因此,野生物种具有政治和生物学上的不对称性,有利于相对于本地野生生物的持久性,生长和扩展,而对自然界中这些特征的及时研究继续受到意识形态的反对。

更新日期:2021-04-12
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