IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Monterroso, P.; Garrote, G.; Serronha, A.; Santos, E.; Delibes-Mateos, M.; Abrantes, J.; de Ayala, R.P.; Silvestre, F.; Carvalho, J.; Vasco, I.; Lopes, A.M.; Maio, E.; Magalhaes, M.J.; Mills, L.S.; Esteves, P.J.; Simon, M.A.; Alves, P.C. | |
| Disease-mediated bottom-up regulation: an emergent virus affects a keystone prey, and alters the dynamics of trophic webs | |
| 2016 Scientific Reports (6): 1-9 | |
Emergent diseases may alter the structure and functioning of ecosystems by creating new biotic interactions and modifying existing ones, producing cascading processes along trophic webs. Recently, a new variant of the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV2 or RHDVb) arguably caused widespread declines in a keystone prey in Mediterranean ecosystems - the European rabbit (_Oryctolagus cuniculus_). We quantitatively assess the impact of RHDV2 on natural rabbit populations and in two endangered apex predator populations: the Iberian lynx (_Lynx pardinus_) and the Spanish Imperial eagle (_Aquila adalberti_). We found 60-70% declines in rabbit populations, followed by decreases of 65.7% in Iberian lynx and 45.5% in Spanish Imperial eagle fecundities. A revision of the web of trophic interactions among rabbits and their dependent predators suggests that RHDV2 acts as a keystone species, and may steer Mediterranean ecosystems to management-dependent alternative states, dominated by simplified mesopredator communities. This model system stresses the importance of diseases as functional players in the dynamics of trophic webs. |
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