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Feral horse activity reduces environmental quality in ecosystems globally
Biological Conservation ( IF 5.9 ) Pub Date : 2020-01-01 , DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108367
David J. Eldridge , Jingyi Ding , Samantha K. Travers

Abstract Feral horses occur on several continents, across a wide range of terrestrial biomes, and have had marked impacts on ecosystems worldwide. Despite their oft-reported negative impacts on plants and soils, a global synthesis of their effects has not been attempted. Here we present a meta-analysis of the global impacts of feral horses on ecosystem structure, function and composition using data from 78 studies across five continents. Two-thirds of these studies were from North America (47%) and Oceania (21%), and most studies examined feral horse effects on plants (58%) or soils (35%). Feral horse activity reduced environmental quality by 13% overall, and the magnitude of this decline increased with increases in the intensity of horse activity. Feral horse activity strongly reduced measures of ecosystem function by 19% on average, and had variable effects on composition, with measures of composition most strongly increased (by 21%) at arid sites. There were no overall effects of feral horse activity on ecosystem structure, with insufficient data to assess effects on plant height and cover. We found that feral horse activity had negative effects on soil, increasing erosion (by 31% on average) and reducing plant biomass and litter cover (by 25% and 31% on average respectively). Increases in soil physical properties generally intensified with increasing aridity. Given the generally negative effects of feral horses on ecosystems worldwide, resource managers and governments need to balance the needs of maintaining healthy functional ecosystems and their biota with social- and cultural-driven commitments to maintaining free-ranging herds of feral horses.

中文翻译:

野马活动降低了全球生态系统的环境质量

摘要 野马出现在几个大陆,跨越广泛的陆地生物群落,对世界范围内的生态系统产生了显着影响。尽管经常报告它们对植物和土壤的负面影响,但尚未尝试对其影响进行全球综合。在这里,我们使用来自五大洲的 78 项研究的数据,对野马对生态系统结构、功能和组成的全球影响进行了荟萃分析。这些研究中有三分之二来自北美 (47%) 和大洋洲 (21%),大多数研究检查了野马对植物 (58%) 或土壤 (35%) 的影响。野马活动使环境质量总体降低了 13%,而且这种下降的幅度随着马活动强度的增加而增加。野马活动使生态系统功能指标平均降低了 19%,并且对成分有不同的影响,在干旱地区,成分测量最强烈地增加了(增加了 21%)。野马活动对生态系统结构没有整体影响,没有足够的数据来评估对植物高度和覆盖的影响。我们发现野马活动对土壤有负面影响,增加侵蚀(平均 31%)并减少植物生物量和凋落物覆盖(分别平均 25% 和 31%)。土壤物理性质的增加通常随着干旱程度的增加而加剧。鉴于野马对全球生态系统的普遍负面影响,资源管理者和政府需要在维持健康功能生态系统及其生物群的需求与社会和文化驱动的维持野马自由放养群的承诺之间取得平衡。
更新日期:2020-01-01
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