Badger Meles meles as Ecosystem Engineer and Its Legal Status in Europe

Animals

Blanka Wiatrowska¹  Przemysław Kurek²  Agnieszka Ważna³  Krzysztof Nowakowski³  Jan Cichocki³  Łukasz Piechnik⁴  Barbara Seget⁴  Xosé Pardavila⁵ 

[1] Department of Forest Botany, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71D, 60-625 Poznań, Poland;Department of Plant Ecology and Environmental Protection, Adam Mickiewicz University, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 6, 61-614 Poznań, Poland;Department of Zoology, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Zielona Góra, Szafrana 1, 65-516 Zielona Góra, Poland;Functional and Evolutionary Ecology Group, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, 31-512 Cracow, Poland;Sorex Ecoloxia e Medio Ambiente S.L., Rúa das Barreiras 80/2, 15702 Santiago de Compostela, Spain;

关键词: European badger;    Mustelidae;    ecosystem engineer;    habitat creation;    ecosystem services;    seed dispersal;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ani12070898

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The European badger plays an important role as a natural factor shaping species diversity in forests. Its extensive setts can be used by many other animals as shelters. Soil perturbations in their setts support plant communities that differ from the matrix landscape. The badger is also an effective seed disperser. We investigated its role as an ecosystem engineer in preserving species diversity and discussed its legal status across Europe. In most European countries (69.3% of the continent), the badger is hunted, sometimes year-round. The hunting season lasting through winter until early spring may have a negative effect on badger populations, especially when cubs are born in February. Although this species is Red Listed in 19 European countries (with categories ranging from LC to EN), the badger is strictly protected by law in 30.7% of its European range. A reduction in badger populations may limit its ecosystem services (seed dispersal, topsoil disturbances, microhabitat creation). Much new data on the importance of badgers in ecosystem engineering has allowed us to reconsider how we manage badger populations.

【 授权许可】

Unknown