Covering most of North Africa, the Sahara Desert is the world's largest tropical desert. Largely undeveloped, the Sahara has one of the harshest ecosystems to survive in, for humans and wildlife.
A paper published online in Diversity and Distributions outlined a study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Zoological Society of London into the catastrophic collapse of the wildlife of the Sahara Desert. The research team conducting the study consisted of more than 40 authors, representing 28 scientific organizations.
The researchers found that the Sahara's mega-fauna (larger animals) are suffering a "catastrophic decline" in numbers, based on a study of 14 large-bodied animals. Surprisingly, ten of the 14, or 86 percent were extinct or endangered.
The four animals found to be extinct in the Sahara Desert region included the Bubal hartebeest, now gone forever. Also now considered extinct are the African wild dog, and the African lion, two of the Sahara's top predators. The fourth animal, the scimitar-horned oryx, is now extinct in the wild, but efforts are being made by Niger to reintroduce it. Niger has established the Termit and Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve. An area larger than Portugal, the reserve will be home to the scimitar-horned oryx, addax, Doma gazelle and Saharan cheetah. Chad also has plans to reintroduce the scimitar-horned oryx into its reserve.
The study also found that three other large animals were not doing so well, either. The Doma gazelle, numbering 500 in the wild, and the addax, with only 300 left, and the Saharan cheetah, with 250 remaining, are all on the edge of extinction. All three are listed as being "critically endangered" by the IUCN Red List.
What is also very telling in the study is the loss of "range" for these animals. Most all the animals on the list studied by the team were found on less that one to three percent of their normal range. One exception was the Nubian ibex, still found on over half its normal range. But even the ibex is becoming vulnerable because of over-hunting.
Several reasons were given for the dramatic decline in the numbers of the animals studied. Hunting, obviously, is a huge problem and is wide-spread. This activity is decimating not only prey animals, but predators that depend on them. The extreme environment plays a role, as does the political instability of the area, hampering conservation efforts.
Climate change was also cited as playing a role in the decline of these animals. The impact of climate change is more noticeable in a desert bio-dome than in a tropical forest. This makes adaptation to the changing environment more urgent in desert biospheres.