Ever wonder if megafauna benefits or destroys the environment?
Ever wonder how to even measure such a thing?
NewScientist (2 September 2017) has a short report on the subject of megafauna:
Sometimes those benefits are intended. For instance, giant tortoises from Aldabra in the Seychelles have been installed on Mauritius to replace their extinct counterparts and spread the seeds of native trees.
At other times, it has just happened. In his Master’s thesis, [Erick Lundgren of Arizona State University] describes the behaviour of wild donkeys or “burros” in the Sonoran desert, US. They dig down to uncover underground water that can then be drunk by dozens of native bird and mammal species. When native megafauna disappeared, nothing remained in the area with the ability to do that.
I suppose the measurement stick might be the sheer bulk of life enabled by any particular species. It seems a bit crude. It’s hard to understand how the lack of access to water would be of “benefit” to the ecology of the area, though.
