Underground species: What are and examples

Refer to some species of organisms such as umbrella species or species It refers to the need for these species to have large areas for their conservation, so that, when protecting these areas, those other species that inhabit them are also preserved.

The Definition of umbrella species and its importance He began to collect relevance within the biology of conservation following an article published by the biologist Bruce Wilcox in 1984, at Stanford University. Since then, species conservation projects based on this model and conservation strategy have been more and more Survival of smaller species’Under the umbrella or umbrella ‘ conservation of larger species.

When determining which species are significant to be considered as umbrella species, a series of previous requirements are determined. These requirements or Characteristics of umbrella species are:

• The geographical dimension of the area that represents the natural habitat of the species, since the extension of territory that occupies its habitat must be large enough to include the areas of other species that seek to protect.
• The position occupied by the umbrella species within the trophic chain, which according to its eating habits and the type of dams that determine its diet, will determine the importance of selecting it as a species umbrella.
• In addition, the rarity of the species, their state of conservation and their susceptibility to be at risk against environmental impacts, such as pollution and deforestation, must be valued.
• Finally, to know what other species interact and if they develop roles of competing species, dams or predators, in addition to considering other important aspects related to the behavior and reproduction of these species, it will be of great relevance to consider them umbrella species.

Do you want to name many of the Umbreguan species on the planet? In this section you will find a list with different types of umbrella species, which usually correspond to large animals, all of them vertebrates. Let’s look at this interesting group of umbrella animals according to the animal group to which they belong.

Mammals

• Iberian lynx (Lynx Parnidus)
• Ñu (Connochaetes taurinus)
• Jaguar (Panthera onca)
• Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus)
• Tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
• Manatí (genus trichechus)

Birds

• Real eagle (Aquila Chrysaetos)
• UROGALLO (Tetrao Urogallus)
• Mottled owl (Strix Occidentalis)
• Giant carpenter bird (Camphilus Magellanicus)

Reptiles

• Orinoco crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius)
• Carey turtle (Imbricata eretmochelys)
• Charapa turtle (Podocnemis Arrau)

In every ecosystem, each species meets a certain role that allows survival (direct and indirect) of the other species with which it coexists. Thus, favoring the survival of a species implies providing the shelter habitat that it needs, but also the complement of species with which it interacts, is a trophic or simple coexistence relationship.

In this context, Umbrella species They constitute Strategies to guarantee the conservation of the largest possible number of speciesthanks to the vast areas that occupy their natural habitats and the importance of their presence in the proper functioning of the trophic and relationship chains in which they intervene.

With all this, among the most prominent benefits of the existence of umbrella species, the ability to define inventories of flora, fauna and spaces that require an urgent conservation strategy stands out. These processes are usually complex and slow, so that the biology of conservation finds in the species umbrella a useful and effective tool for protect many species in a short time.

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