Long-term concentration of tropical forest nutrient hotspots is generated by a central-place apex predator.

Autor: de Miranda EBP; The Peregrine Fund, 5668 West Flying Hawk Lane, Boise, ID, 83709, USA. mirandaebp@gmail.com.; Centre for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, P/Bag X01, Pietermaritzburg, 3209, South Africa. mirandaebp@gmail.com., Peres CA; School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR47TJ, UK.; Instituto Juruá, Manaus, Brazil., Oliveira-Santos LGR; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Av. Costa e Silva, Campo Grande, MS, 79070-900, Brazil., Downs CT; Centre for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, P/Bag X01, Pietermaritzburg, 3209, South Africa.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2023 Mar 17; Vol. 13 (1), pp. 4464. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Mar 17.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31258-8
Abstrakt: Apex predators typically affect the distribution of key soil and vegetation nutrients through the heterogeneous deposition of prey carcasses and excreta, leading to a nutrient concentration in a hotspot. The exact role of central-place foragers, such as tropical raptors, in nutrient deposition and cycling, is not yet known. We investigated whether harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja) in Amazonian Forests-a typically low soil fertility ecosystem-affect soil nutrient profiles and the phytochemistry around their nest-trees through cumulative deposition of prey carcasses and excreta. Nest-trees occurred at densities of 1.5-5.0/100 km 2 , and each nest received ~ 102.3 kg of undressed carcasses each year. Effects of nests were surprisingly negative over local soil nutrient profiles, with soils underneath nest-trees showing reductions in nutrients compared with controls. Conversely, canopy tree leaves around nests showed significant 99%, 154% and 50% increases in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively. Harpy eagles have experienced a 41% decline in their range, and many raptor species are becoming locally extirpated. These are general examples of disruption in biogeochemical cycles and nutrient heterogeneity caused by population declines in a central-place apex predator. This form of carrion deposition is by no means an exception since several large raptors have similar habits.
(© 2023. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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