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A new study on ecology, conducted in North America, has disclosed that the decrease in ‘apex’ predators such as lions, wolves etc has triggered the increase in number of smaller predators such as baboons, which in turn is interrupting the ecological and economic cycle.
The study has revealed that there has been a steady decline in the numbers of large predators over the past 200 plus years, whereas the ‘meso-predators’, have grown by 60%.
The problem is global, growing and severe, scientists say, with few solutions in sight.
The study says that the numbers of lions and leopards in the Sub-Saharan African regions have depreciated to a great extent, which has paved the way for the growth of smaller predators like baboons.
In some cases children are now being kept home from school to guard family gardens from brazen packs of crop-raiding baboons.
"This issue is very complex, and a lot of the consequences are not known," said William Ripple, professor of forest ecosystems and society at Oregon State University (OSU).
"But there's evidence that the explosion of mesopredator populations is very severe and has both ecological and economic repercussions."
The researchers have also mentioned that the decline in the number of primary predators have occurred due to certain reasons like habitat disruption and hunting.
Many times this has been viewed positively by humans, fearful of personal attack, loss of livestock or other concerns.
But the growth of the smaller predators is posing threat to the natural cycle of the environment and ecology.
"I 've done a lot of work on wildlife in Africa, and people everywhere are asking some of the same questions, what do we do?" said Clinton Epps, assistant professor at OSU who is studying the interactions between humans and wildlife, according to an OSU release.
The problems are not confined to terrestrial ecosystems. Sharks, for instance, are in serious decline due to overfishing.
These findings were published in the October edition of Bioscience.
