Plague bacterium as a transformer species in prairie dogs and the grasslands of western North America
© 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.
| Publié dans: | Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology. - 1989. - 29(2015), 4 vom: 13. Aug., Seite 1086-1093 |
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| Format: | Article en ligne |
| Langue: | English |
| Publié: |
2015
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| Accès à la collection: | Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology |
| Sujets: | Journal Article Cynomys Yersinia pestis ecosystem function especies invasoras función del ecosistema invasive species perturbaciones tróficas trophic perturbations |
| Résumé: | © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology. Invasive transformer species change the character, condition, form, or nature of ecosystems and deserve considerable attention from conservation scientists. We applied the transformer species concept to the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis in western North America, where the pathogen was introduced around 1900. Y. pestis transforms grassland ecosystems by severely depleting the abundance of prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) and thereby causing declines in native species abundance and diversity, including threatened and endangered species; altering food web connections; altering the import and export of nutrients; causing a loss of ecosystem resilience to encroaching invasive plants; and modifying prairie dog burrows. Y. pestis poses an important challenge to conservation biologists because it causes trophic-level perturbations that affect the stability of ecosystems. Unfortunately, understanding of the effects of Y. pestis on ecosystems is rudimentary, highlighting an acute need for continued research |
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| Description: | Date Completed 15.04.2016 Date Revised 05.05.2022 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1523-1739 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/cobi.12498 |