Game not always umbrella species for conservation

[Cara J]

Conserving game species may not always provide trickle-down benefits for all species in ecosystems, according to new research. Sometimes, the effects of sustaining high numbers of these ungulates can cause mixed consequences, however more studies are needed on whether game species conservation helps nongame species before definitive conclusions can be made. A Clark’s nutcracker in the Piceance Basin in Northwest Colorado. ©Aaron Campbell “There’s this notion that habitat management that’s good for game species is good for all wildlife,” said Travis Gallo in a press release. Gallo is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University and lead author of a study published recently in Biological Conservation. “There’s a lot of money that goes into habitat management for game species, and we wanted to see if there were any synergies between game management and conservation of species that were not the target of management actions.” Gallo and Liba Pejchar, study co-author and assistant professor at Colorado State University, reviewed published papers and were surprised to find that there were very few studies that looked at the effects of managing game on ecosystems. “We found only 26 studies that measured the direct and [...]

 

Read more: http://wildlife.org/game-not-always-umbrella-species-for-conservation/