Are humans really a ‘super predator’?
A recent study has revealed human hunting behaviour may be altering the ecological and evolutionary processes of the planet.
A recent study has revealed human hunting behaviour may be altering the ecological and evolutionary processes of the planet.
A team led by Dr Chris T Darimont, an associate professor of geography at the University of Victoria in Canada, compared the patterns of modern-day hunters and fishers with those of other predators that compete over shared prey. The team’s results indicate that humans typically exploit marine life at 14 times the rate of marine predators, and large carnivores at nine times the rate of their non-human predators.
Dr Darimont said: “Our wickedly efficient killing technology, global economic systems and resource management that prioritise short-term benefits to humanity have given rise to the human super predator. Our impacts are as extreme as our behaviour and the planet bears the burden of our predatory dominance.”
They examined every ocean and continent, except Antarctica, by predator type, ecosystem, region, and the individual’s placement within a food chain to reduce limitations, such as age classes, found in previous studies of the same nature. One of the most important finds of the study was that humans have a tendency to hunt the largest and most reproductive individuals in a given community – the opposite of non-human predatory behaviour. Predators typically kill the young, old, sick and weak individuals that aren’t critical to the growth and replenishment of that population. This research suggests humans overexploit the large reproductive adults – the most important contributors to population reproduction – jeopardising the future of that community and depleting their current numbers.
A current challenge for ecological science is to understand whether present and future exploitation levels are sustainable. Dr Darimont’s study suggests mimicking the behaviour of other predators could be a way of managing our sustainability levels to help prevent humans causing irreversible damage to our ecosystems and furthermore our future generations.
Paper: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6250/858
Author: Charlotte Allum recently finished her BSc in Zoology at the University of Southampton.
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