Page 29 - bon-dia-aruba-20200808

A29
SCIENCE Saturday 8 auguSt 2020
Not easy eating green: Herbivores most at extinction risk

BY SETH BORENSTEIN the immense importance of
AP Science Writer geographic range, which is
Although scientists often key for predators.
worry most about the loss But University of Miami bi-
of the world's predators, a ologist Mauro Galetti, who
comprehensive new study also wasn't part of the
finds that plant-eating her- research, said Atwood's
bivores are the animals study is important, makes
most at risk of extinction. sense and "changes our
About one in four species biased idea that conserva-
of herbivores, 25.5%, are tion projects should focus
considered threatened, mostly on top predators."
endangered or vulnerable Large herbivores are cru-
by the International Union cial, especially in places
for Conservation of Nature like forests, Galetti said in
(IUCN), the world's scien- an email. "A world with-
tific authority on extinction out herbivores would be
risk, according to a study a disaster for any natural
in Wednesday's journal Sci- ecosystem."q
ence Advances.
By comparison, 17.4% of
the predators and 15.8% of
omnivores were at risk, said
study lead author Trisha At-
wood, an ecologist at Utah
State University.
Researchers analyzed In this Friday, March 3, 2017, file photo, a female green sea turtle nicknamed Bank swims in a pool
data for 22,166 species of at Sea Turtle Conservation Center n Chonburi Province, Thailand.
animals with backbones, Associated Press
including the type of ani-
mal (reptile, bird or mam- white rhinoceros in the wild highest extinction propor- wood said.
mal), geographic location, died in 2018, but scientists tion. Atwood went into Size may be part of the rea-
habitat and size. And in are scrambling to save the the study thinking that the son herbivores are more at
just about every way ex- species with donor embry- predators were most at risk. risk, the ecologist said. Of-
amined, they found plant- os. However, she said the data ten, herbivores are bigger
eaters were the most at risk, The study focused on pro- — which included land and and need to eat more and
especially in forest ecosys- portionality, not raw num- water species, but not fish require more land and their
tems. bers of species at risk. There because of inadequate in- habitats are becoming
"The implications for this are are many more predator formation — pointed clear- smaller, she said. Predators
huge," Atwood said. "We species, so there are more ly at herbivores. and omnivores have wider
need to think about herbi- vulnerable predators in to- Predators, she added, also ranges and that helps them
vores as being kind of the tal, but a larger share of are in trouble, but not as survive.
poster child of extinction." herbivores are in trouble. much as herbivores they Duke University conserva-
So instead of polar bears Scientists even examined often eat. Extinction causes tion scientist Stuart Pimm,
and tigers, think of plant- the presumed diets of more — invasive species, climate who wasn't part of the
eaters like rhinos and green than 2,000 species no lon- change and habitat loss — study, said his problem with
sea turtles, Atwood said. ger alive and found that hit herbivores harder than Atwood's research is that it
The last male northern herbivores again had the animals with other diets, At- doesn't take into account

Poop scoop: Satellite images reveal

Antarctic penguin haunts

BERLIN (AP) — British sci- on the ice that indicated
entists say there are more large amounts of guano, or
emperor penguin colonies penguin poop.
in Antarctica than previ- "(They) only take the over-
ously thought based on all population count up
evidence of bird droppings by 5-10% to just over half a
spotted from space. million penguins or around
A study published Wednes- 265,500 – 278,500 breeding
day by scientists at the Brit- pairs," he said.
ish Antarctic Survey count- Emperor penguins are vul-
ed 61 emperor penguin nerable to the loss of sea
colonies dotted around the ice predicted to occur
southernmost continent, 11 because of man-made
more than the number pre- global warming. Some re-
viously confirmed. searchers suggest the num-
Scientists used images from ber of colonies could drop Markings points to a patch of penguin guano on an image cap-
Europe's Sentinel-2 satellite by more than 30% by the tured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite mission Aug. 26,
mission to look for smudges end of the century.q 2019.
Associated Press