The Limit to the Density of Species (A Reflection on Human Intervention in Conservation and Its Effects)

Human actions on the natural environment cannot always be considered as impacts resulting from their behavior to survive. Many of these activities have caused irreversible damage and changes in the landscape, flora, and fauna. By contrast, several actions, carried out “a priori” with the best intention, to help in the conservation of species considered in danger, have caused a dangerous decompensation. Aid for the recovery of some species of birds has led to their overpopulation. The artificial contributions of food, always in the same places, have caused an excessive increase in the number of griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus), which has produced the reduction of other endangered species, such as the black stork (Ciconia nigra) and the Bonelli’s eagle (Aquila fasciata), which have been displaced from the rocks in which they nested due to the harassment of a greater number of vultures. Besides, vultures are attacking domestic livestock at the most defenseless times, such as during calving. Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) has become out of control in numbers in Europe. The two classic breeding areas, La Camargue (France) and La Laguna de Fuente de Piedra (Spain) have produced an enormous annual number of individuals that are distributed among the few lagoons of Mediterranean Europe. The wetlands are devastated by the flamingo, which removes the mud and prevents sunlight from reaching the underwater vegetation, turning these lagoons into dead water, having to be abandoned (temporarily) by most aquatic species, including the flamingo. The shortage of food resources of natural origin, for such a disproportionate number, has caused the flamingo to invade the rice fields, accepting its grain as a substitute for the invertebrates that it habitually consumed, and which are now scarce. The same is the case with the white stork (Ciconia ciconia) in southern Europe. The increase in their population has reduced the number of reptiles and amphibians, bringing several of their species to the brink of extinction. Storks have varied their prey spectrum, consuming carrion, and preying on Montagu’s harrier (Circus pygargus) brood. In these cases, and many others, the theory of “the more the better” is not valid. If we want to make the protection of some species compatible with the conservation of others, it seems necessary to redirect some situations …