<
https://theconversation.com/hydroelectric-dams-take-toll-on-endangered-big-cats-study-shows-173549>
"Big cats are among the most widespread top predators on Earth. Lions stalk
zebra in the African savanna, tigers ambush antelope in the forests of Asia and
jaguars hunt deer in the jungles of South America. They play an important role
in ecosystems by regulating the numbers of these herbivores, in turn, reducing
the deterioration of vegetated habitats and maintaining species diversity.
Tigers, lions and jaguars must cover large areas to find food, so they need a
lot of energy. As with many large carnivores, big cats are under threat from
habitat loss, which leaves them with less to eat. Their spread-out populations
and slow reproductive rates make them particularly vulnerable. While the
habitats in which big cats live range from boreal forests at high latitudes to
tropical rainforests at the equator, the causes of habitat loss are largely the
same: logging for wood and fuel, plantations, farming and urbanisation.
Aside from depriving wildlife of a home, forest loss also contributes to
climate change. It’s ironic then that hydroelectricity, which is being
developed worldwide (especially in South American and Asian countries) as an
alternative energy source to fossil fuels, is a big cause of deforestation.
Building hydroelectric dams has caused extinctions and spread diseases in
rivers globally, but the threat to ecosystems on land has largely been
overlooked. In a recent study, researchers from China and Portugal investigated
how existing and planned hydroelectric dams might affect two carnivores: the
near-threatened jaguar (with an estimated global population of 173,000) and the
endangered tiger (thought to number between 3,200 and 3,500 worldwide).
The distribution of jaguars and tigers has shrunk 50% and 93% respectively, but
the researchers found that hydroelectric plants pose a substantial risk of
further declines. They found 164 dams that already intersect the jaguar range
and 421 dams that do the same for tigers. This equates to one in five tigers
that are likely to be affected by dams, compared with one in 200 jaguars. Since
tiger numbers are already so low, this could have a considerable influence on
the population’s capacity to recover and may even result in local extinctions."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
