Certain species have an irreplaceable ecological role.
They disperse seeds, ensure the pollination of rare plants, feed on invading insects… and are the only ones to do so in their ecosystem.
Hence the importance of
"taking into account their ecological originality in conservation programs"
, argue scientists from the CNRS, the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity and the universities of Grenoble and Montpellier, in a published study. October 8 in the journal
Nature Communications
.
Read also:
Biodiversity: "We have no more time to waste"
"Today, a species is considered rare because its population is scarce or its geographical distribution is very limited, but not because of its unique role in the ecosystem"
, regrets Nicolas Mouquet (CNRS), scientific director of the Center for Synthesis and Analysis on Biodiversity.
With an international team, the researcher identified the most unique in a database grouping together most of the species.
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