Predicting a future with fast, fertile and insectivorous small animals | Chronic

According to a study by researchers at the University of Southampton, small, fast-living, highly fertile, and insect-feeding animals will be predominant in a wide variety of habitats.

It is a global movement of biodiversity for the smallest birds and mammals that will take place over the next 100 years. These "Winners" They include rodents, such as the dwarf gerbil, and songbirds, such as the sparrow weaver, the researchers said, the DPA reported Friday.

At the same time, poorly adaptable and slow-moving species requiring special environmental conditions are likely to be the victims of extinction, such as the predatory eagle and the black rhinoceros.

The researchers pointed out that the average (median) body mbad of mammals would be specifically reduced by 25% over the next century. This decrease represents a significant and accelerated change from the 14% reduction in body size seen in species over 130,000 years (the last interglacial period) to today.

Rob Cooke, a postgraduate researcher at the University of Southampton and lead author of the work published in Nature Communications, said that "The biggest threat to birds and mammals is humanity, because habitats are destroyed because of our impact on the planet, such as deforestation, hunting, intensive farming, loneliness. urbanization and the effects of global warming. "

The research team focused on 15,484 living mammals and terrestrial birds and examined five characteristics related to the role of each species in the wild: body mbad, litter size, extent of the species. habitat, diet and intergenerational gap.

In addition, they have used the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Species to identify the animals most likely to disappear in the 21st century and modern statistical tools. to combine the useful data of biodiversity.