How can we help the Giant Anteater?

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species uses a number of criteria, such as population size and geographic range, in order to predict which species are most threatened by a possibility of extinction. Nevertheless, up until recently, little attention was devoted to the hazards and the anthropogenic activities that jeopardize biodiversity all over the world.

A recent study by Maxwell published in Nature focuses on assessing different threats an the magnitude of their impacts on biodiversity.

Before I reveal his findings, what is the major threat to biodiversity?

I know what you are thinking- because that’s what I thought too before reading Maxwell’s article: here we go with some more climate change chat, carbon emission, green house gases,  no more polar bears etc.

Something to fit in the christmas mood..

The results of his paper came to me as quite a surprise because he proved that the most serious threats to wildlife are over-exploitation and agriculture, while climate change only played a very minor role. 

In fact, rapid cropland expansion is threatening wildlife in dry savannah and grassland regions all over the world  and a total of 5407 species on the IUCN List are endangered by agricultural activities.

The role of soybean agriculture

I began to wonder the extent to which soybean agriculture is threatening biodiversity. Soybean agricultural expansion rate, associated with higher demand by the livestock industry, is unstoppable and possibly irreversible. The threats of this process need to be evaluated not only at a global scale, like Maxwell did, but also at a more regional scale in order to assess the gravity of the issue and propose more sustainable practices.

Barreto focused his research on the regional implications of soybean agriculture on the wildlife and ecosystems security in the Balsas municipality. By modeling future land-use change, he proved that by 2020 over 50% of the region and 13.4% of the areas currently covered by cerrado- dry savannah- will be exploited for agricultural purposes.

Map showing the expansion of agricultural land

As it is possible to see in the modeled map, habitats will become more fragmented and connectivity between ecosystems will decline. This is not only dangerous because it leads to higher competition over natural resources, leading to fewer species prevailing over the rest of wildlife, but also leads to a decline in breeding habitats. As a result, the population sizes of many endangered as well as currently not-endangered mammals and birds will rapidly decrease by 2020.

Birds such as the Rusty-backed Antwren and the Black-throated Saltor will decline in numbers as half of their population is bound to disappear within the next few years. The study also concludes that a third of local populations of Jaguars and Giant Anteaters, currently focal to great conservation efforts, will disappear by 2020.

The Giant Anteater

Why does the Giant Anteater never get ill?

Because he’s full of Antibodies

TheGiant Anteater is a highly adaptable mammal and it can not only be found in the cerrado, but also in forested areas thanks to its ability to climb trees. The presence of shelter is particularly important for this species, as they can dodge the hottest hours of the day and wait for the evening or the night to go hunting.

As woodlands are deforested and savannas are converted to cropland, the ability to hunt as well as rest becomes compromised, leading the Giant Anteater to its path to extinction. 

Table of the summary of Barreto's findings

 Conservation in Brazil

Despite having one of the highest concentration of wild species in the world, Brazil’s struggle between conservation and economic development remains an issue. A call for action by Barreto and his team is especially eye-opening as they explain that it is not the inherent processes of land-use change, but its current speed and scale that will cause major implications for conservation in the country.

The country has a whole cannot continue exploiting their natural resources in this manner, but what can be done?

The answer in itself is quite simple: understanding complexity. If scientists worked closer to local authorities to promote regional connectivity, they would be able to start building habitat networks across agricultural landscapes that would eventually benefit species across a variety of scales.

Habitat networks are crucial because one animal-like the Giant Anteater- could need to travel between three or four habitats just to survive. Further complexity is then added by trophic cascades, also called food chains. For instance, the Jaguar depends on the presence of its prey - the Anteater.

If conservation efforts are to be focused on rescuing the Jaguar, they will have to start considering landscapes as complex multi-dimensional matrixes of hunters, preys and habitats, rather than linear vectors of uni-spatial biodiversity.

Can we use planetary boundaries to rescue the Giant Anteater? 

Despite Maxwell's findings, Will Steffen only includes loss of forests and woodlands through land-system change as a threat to human society. However, land-system change at a local as well as global scale should be concerned with all systems not just forests. 

Diversity of interconnected habitats and species is crucial for biosphere integrity and it cannot be supported through a planetary boundary that effectively encourages afforestation as a geo-engeneering practice to counteract anthropogenic climate change. 

As a result, I believe the land-system change planet boundary should go back to it previous state as to when it was based on the maximum amount of land that could be converted to cropland, rather than the current boundary that is based on the maximum amount of forest that can be lost. There should also be some reccomendations as to how habitats surrounding the new cropland should be kept connected within a habitat network. 

If you are interested in finding out more about the Giant Anteater visit the WWF website and learn about their conservation strategies!