Twenty most important animals that might save our planet’s ecosystems

A paper just published in the journal Ecography identifies the impact of animals on global ecosystem processes. Researchers used data from the International Union for the ConservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More of Nature (IUCN). From these data, they identified twenty animals that could save half the world’s landscapes.

Research approach

Firstly, they constructed a map of places where large mammals weighing more than 15kg once occurred. This was a total of 298 species. Second, they worked out where only 1-3 species are now missing. These locations are likely to be more successful for reintroductions. Then, finally, the scientists tallied up areas where only one candidate mammal would be needed to complete the original set.

What’s particularly interesting about this paper is that it is one of the very few to simply presume that animals are necessary for ecosystem stability. The opening paragraph of the abstract reads:

‘Assemblages of large mammal species play a disproportionate role in the structure and composition of natural habitatsWhat is habitat for animals and people? Habitat, hence the word "habitable" describes the natural surroundings in which any animal (or human) lives, that houses basic needs, such as food and shelter. Vegetation, for example, is habitat for animals. On its own, habitat is not necessarily stable or sustainable, which is why it differs from an ecosystem. Habitat in disrepair More. Loss of these assemblages destabilizes natural systems, while their recovery can restore ecological integrity’. 

This allows the authors to focus on the more important issue. In other words, restoring populations of just a few animals, is sufficient to address half of the planet’s ecosystem malfunction.

Not only does this place attention on the restoration of important systems but recognises that animals themselves build ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More.

Some of the most powerful studies are the most simple. Save animals and we save the planet’s ecosystems on which we all depend for our future.

I look forward to seeing more and more publications like this in the near future. Finally we are beginning to wake up to the awesome power of animals to restore a habitable world.

Table 1: The list of species that, if their populations are restored, could save more than half of the world’s ecosystems.