TY - JOUR
T1 - Trophic downgrading of planet earth
AU - Estes, James A.
AU - Terborgh, John
AU - Brashares, Justin S.
AU - Power, Mary E.
AU - Berger, Joel
AU - Bond, William J.
AU - Carpenter, Stephen R.
AU - Essington, Timothy E.
AU - Holt, Robert D.
AU - Jackson, Jeremy B.C.
AU - Marquis, Robert J.
AU - Oksanen, Lauri
AU - Oksanen, Tarja
AU - Paine, Robert T.
AU - Pikitch, Ellen K.
AU - Ripple, William J.
AU - Sandin, Stuart A.
AU - Scheffer, Marten
AU - Schoener, Thomas W.
AU - Shurin, Jonathan B.
AU - Sinclair, Anthony R.E.
AU - Soulé, Michael E.
AU - Virtanen, Risto
AU - Wardle, David A.
PY - 2011/7/15
Y1 - 2011/7/15
N2 - Until recently, large apex consumers were ubiquitous across the globe and had been for millions of years. The loss of these animals may be humankind's most pervasive influence on nature. Although such losses are widely viewed as an ethical and aesthetic problem, recent research reveals extensive cascading effects of their disappearance in marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems worldwide. This empirical work supports long-standing theory about the role of top-down forcing in ecosystems but also highlights the unanticipated impacts of trophic cascades on processes as diverse as the dynamics of disease, wildfire, carbon sequestration, invasive species, and biogeochemical cycles. These findings emphasize the urgent need for interdisciplinary research to forecast the effects of trophic downgrading on process, function, and resilience in global ecosystems.
AB - Until recently, large apex consumers were ubiquitous across the globe and had been for millions of years. The loss of these animals may be humankind's most pervasive influence on nature. Although such losses are widely viewed as an ethical and aesthetic problem, recent research reveals extensive cascading effects of their disappearance in marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems worldwide. This empirical work supports long-standing theory about the role of top-down forcing in ecosystems but also highlights the unanticipated impacts of trophic cascades on processes as diverse as the dynamics of disease, wildfire, carbon sequestration, invasive species, and biogeochemical cycles. These findings emphasize the urgent need for interdisciplinary research to forecast the effects of trophic downgrading on process, function, and resilience in global ecosystems.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79960548631
U2 - 10.1126/science.1205106
DO - 10.1126/science.1205106
M3 - Review article
C2 - 21764740
AN - SCOPUS:79960548631
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 333
SP - 301
EP - 306
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6040
ER -