Ecological Dynamics of Forest Mammals and Raptors

Forest mammals and raptors occupy pivotal roles in shaping the structure and function of wooded ecosystems. Through predation, nutrient deposition and habitat modification they influence plant regeneration, soil chemistry and community composition across spatial scales. Apex raptors often act as central-place foragers, concentrating nutrients around nest sites and creating biogeochemical hotspots that sustain understorey growth and invertebrate communities. Meanwhile, forest mammals—from small arboreal herbivores to large-bodied browsers—mediate seed dispersal, trophic interactions and the dispersal of symbiotic organisms such as epibionts. The balance of these processes is highly sensitive to forest cover, landscape fragmentation and human disturbance. Rapid deforestation not only undermines predator–prey dynamics and reduces breeding viability for forest specialists, but can also trigger thresholds beyond which key ecosystem functions collapse. Integrating insights from predator physiology, movement ecology and spatial modelling has thus become essential to inform conservation strategies that maintain both biodiversity and ecosystem services in tropical and temperate forests worldwide.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have revealed how harpy eagles, as central-place apex predators, drive nutrient heterogeneity in Amazonian forests. One investigation quantified the annual deposition of prey remains beneath nesting trees, finding unexpected declines in soil nutrients directly below nests but simultaneous increases in canopy leaf chemistry. This highlights a complex spatial redistribution of key elements influencing forest productivity. Another study established critical forest cover thresholds for eagle reproduction, demonstrating that feeding rates and fledgling survival decline sharply once landscape deforestation exceeds 50 percent. Above 70 percent loss, nesting ceases entirely, implying that large-scale forest conservation is indispensable for sustaining these apex raptors and the ecological functions they support.

Ecological Dynamics of Forest Mammals and Raptors publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in ecological dynamics of forest mammals and raptors across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Apex predator: A species at the top of the food chain with no natural predators, exerting strong control over prey populations and ecosystem structure.

Central-place forager: An animal that collects food and returns it to a fixed site (e.g. a nest), creating concentrated resource deposits.

Epibiont: An organism that lives on the surface of another living organism, often forming mutualistic or commensal relationships.

Species distribution model (SDM): A statistical tool that predicts the geographic range of a species based on environmental and occurrence data.

Forest fragmentation threshold: A critical level of habitat loss beyond which ecosystem functions—such as breeding success or nutrient cycling—collapse or become unsustainable.

References

1. Long-term concentration of tropical forest nutrient hotspots is generated by a central-place apex predator. Scientific Reports (2023).
2. On the move: sloths and their epibionts as model mobile ecosystems. Biological Reviews (2021).
3. Species distribution modeling reveals strongholds and potential reintroduction areas for the world’s largest eagle. PLOS ONE (2019).
4. Human-raptor conflict in rural settlements of Colombia. PLOS ONE (2020).
5. Tropical deforestation induces thresholds of reproductive viability and habitat suitability in Earth’s largest eagles. Scientific Reports (2021).