2015/08/20 by Chris T. Darimont, Caroline H. Fox, Heather M. Bryan +1 · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Apex predator #Biology #Dominance (genetics) #Ecology #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Evolutionary ecology #Marine and fisheries research #Population #Predation #Predator #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
paper · doi:10.1126/science.aac4249
openalex publication_date 2015/08/20 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Paradigms of sustainable exploitation focus on population dynamics of prey and yields to humanity but ignore the behavior of humans as predators. We compared patterns of predation by contemporary hunters and fishers with those of other predators that compete over shared prey (terrestrial mammals and marine fishes). Our global survey (2125 estimates of annual finite exploitation rate) revealed that humans kill adult prey, the reproductive capital of populations, at much higher median rates than other predators (up to 14 times higher), with particularly intense exploitation of terrestrial carnivores and fishes. Given this competitive dominance, impacts on predators, and other unique predatory behavior, we suggest that humans function as an unsustainable "super predator," which—unless additionally constrained by managers—will continue to alter ecological and evolutionary processes globally.