For example, predation can affect the diversity, abundance, and evolution of co-existing species, energy flows, and disease dynamics 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The strength and diversity of these predatory interactions often exert strong influence on the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Predation evolved as an ecological strategy to acquire energy and nutrients from a limited number of species vulnerable to attack. Moreover, continued overexploitation will likely bear profound consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function. These patterns suggest far more species are subject to human-imposed ecological (e.g., landscapes of fear) and evolutionary (e.g., harvest selection) processes than previously considered. Trait space analyses show that birds and mammals threatened by exploitation occupy a disproportionally large and unique region of ecological trait space, now at risk of loss. Exploitation for the pet trade, medicine, and other uses now affects almost as many species as those targeted for food consumption, and almost 40% of exploited species are threatened by human use. Assessed over equivalent ranges, humans exploit up to 300 times more species than comparable non-human predators. Analysing IUCN ‘use and trade’ data for ~47,000 species, we show that fishers, hunters and other animal collectors prey on more than a third (~15,000 species) of Earth’s vertebrates. Recognizing that the number, strength and diversity of predator-prey relationships can profoundly influence biodiversity, here we analyze humanity’s modern day predatory interactions with vertebrates and estimate their ecological consequences. Although humans have long been predators with enduring nutritive and cultural relationships with their prey, seldom have conservation ecologists considered the divergent predatory behavior of contemporary, industrialized humans.
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