Assessments of human impact on a natural environment aren't broad enough because they don't see effects on neighboring habitats, an Israeli researcher says. When development is planned, the environmental risks to plant and animal life in the region are considered, but what's environmentally acceptable for one area may be an environmental disaster for an adjacent one, Tel Aviv University researcher Guilad Friedemann said.
Indigenous species displaced by such development migrate to neighboring habitats and compete for space and food with significant impact on the species and resources that were already there, he said.
Friedemann studied two raptor species in the Judean Foothills, the long-legged buzzard and the short-toed eagle, a TAU release said Wednesday.
The long-legged buzzard had always made its home in the open spaces of the Judean Mountains, Friedemann said, using the mountain cliffs for nesting and hunting. But human activity caused the buzzards to migrate elsewhere, and they now make their nests in the trees of the Judean Foothills, threatening the nesting ground and food source of the short-toed eagle.
"Every time you have strong competition between two species, one is more successful," he says. "There is a negative impact on the weaker species.
"There needs to be a broader consideration not just of the directly affected area, but of neighboring areas as well -- especially if there is a species that will be forced to abandon the original area and seek out a new place to live," Friedemann says.
