Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Future Of Animals
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Future Of Animals
Researchers at the University of Southampton have forecast a global shift towards smaller birds and mammals over the next century.
According to the research team, small, fast-lived, highly fertile, and
insect-eating animals, which can thrive in all sorts of habitats, will
predominate in the future. Rodents and
songbirds are examples of the so-called ‘winners.’ Less adaptable, slow-lived species, requiring
specialist habitats, will be more likely to face extinction. Among the so-called ‘losers’ are the black
rhino and the tawny eagle.
The researchers focused on more than 15,000 living mammals and birds and considered the following five characteristics: body mass, breadth of habitat, diet, litter or clutch size, and length of time between generations. Using this data and data from the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, the researchers used modern statistical tools to project and evaluate the loss of biodiversity.
The study, which was recently published in the journal Nature
Communications, predicts that the average body mass of mammals will
collectively decline by 25% over just the next 100 years. Over the past 130,000 years, the average body
size of mammals only declined 14%.
This substantial downsizing of animals is forecasted to occur due to
the effects of ecological change. But, according to the study’s lead author,
the loss of these species, which perform unique functions within the global
ecosystem, may ironically wind up being a driver of change as well.
The researchers hope future studies will further explore the long-term
effects of species extinction on habitats and ecosystems.
**********
Web Links
Study predicts shift to smaller animals over next century
Photo, posted April 6, 2013, courtesy of Nic Trott via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
View all episodes
By Randy Simon
4.7
1515 ratings
Researchers at the University of Southampton have forecast a global shift towards smaller birds and mammals over the next century.
According to the research team, small, fast-lived, highly fertile, and
insect-eating animals, which can thrive in all sorts of habitats, will
predominate in the future. Rodents and
songbirds are examples of the so-called ‘winners.’ Less adaptable, slow-lived species, requiring
specialist habitats, will be more likely to face extinction. Among the so-called ‘losers’ are the black
rhino and the tawny eagle.
The researchers focused on more than 15,000 living mammals and birds and considered the following five characteristics: body mass, breadth of habitat, diet, litter or clutch size, and length of time between generations. Using this data and data from the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, the researchers used modern statistical tools to project and evaluate the loss of biodiversity.
The study, which was recently published in the journal Nature
Communications, predicts that the average body mass of mammals will
collectively decline by 25% over just the next 100 years. Over the past 130,000 years, the average body
size of mammals only declined 14%.
This substantial downsizing of animals is forecasted to occur due to
the effects of ecological change. But, according to the study’s lead author,
the loss of these species, which perform unique functions within the global
ecosystem, may ironically wind up being a driver of change as well.
The researchers hope future studies will further explore the long-term
effects of species extinction on habitats and ecosystems.
**********
Web Links
Study predicts shift to smaller animals over next century
Photo, posted April 6, 2013, courtesy of Nic Trott via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
More shows like Earth Wise
View all
Stuff You Should Know
78,636 Listeners
Freakonomics Radio
32,100 Listeners
Planet Money
30,666 Listeners
Hidden Brain
43,528 Listeners
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
38,856 Listeners
Living on Earth
466 Listeners
Science Quickly
1,396 Listeners
Nature Podcast
766 Listeners
BirdNote Daily
1,255 Listeners
The Academic Minute
29 Listeners
Science Magazine Podcast
821 Listeners
Science Friday
6,435 Listeners
The Book Show
33 Listeners
Everything Explained
20 Listeners
The Daily
111,948 Listeners
The Media Project
39 Listeners
The Roundtable
159 Listeners
51 Percent
14 Listeners
A New York Minute in History
50 Listeners
The Capitol Connection
22 Listeners
The Legislative Gazette
11 Listeners
Short Wave
6,564 Listeners
The Ezra Klein Show
15,950 Listeners
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
1,736 Listeners