近日，西班牙国家研究委员会多尼亚纳生物站Fabrizio Sergio团队揭示了干旱和疾病引发了顶级捕食者之间新的相互作用。2026年10月21日出版的《自然》杂志发表了这项成果。

物种之间的相互作用日益被视为气候变化影响生态系统的关键决定因素。然而，学界对气候扰动如何影响顶级脊椎捕食者之间的相互作用知之甚少。

研究组表明，当一种新发疾病导致共享猎物（兔子）减少后，在数十年中性共存之后，一种哺乳类食肉动物（猞猁）开始大量捕食一种顶级掠食性猛禽（鸢）。这些捕食事件仅发生在干旱条件下，并且发生在猞猁在猛禽巢下发现兔残骸之时，这与潜在竞争者被移除的情况相一致。干旱诱导的猞猁捕食降低了猛禽的终生繁殖成功率，并触发其放弃领地和扩散，提示捕食者之间出现了新的军备竞赛。

猛禽丰度的下降与一种食虫鸟类（一种小猫头鹰）的增加相关，表明这种新的相互作用有可能波及较低营养级。这些结果强调了食性灵活性和移动性作为应对压力源恢复力的重要中介因素的重要性。未来，多种人为压力源的协同效应可能重塑许多顶级捕食者的相互作用和生态角色，并对整个生态系统产生潜在的级联后果。预测全球变化未来影响的一个关键，可能在于理解行为灵活性和相互作用的基石物种如何响应相互作用的冲击。

附：英文原文

Title: Drought and disease trigger novel interactions among top predators

Author: Sergio, Fabrizio, Natsukawa, Haruki, Tanferna, Alessandro, Chicano, Javier, Carro, Francisco, Soriguer, Ramn C., Hiraldo, Fernando, Blas, Julio

Issue&Volume: 2026-10-21

Abstract: Interactions among species are increasingly recognized as key determinants of climate change impacts on ecosystems1,2,3,4,5. However, we know little about how climatic perturbations affect interactions among top vertebrate predators. Here we show that, when an emergent disease caused the decline of shared prey (rabbits), after decades of neutral co-existence a mammalian carnivore (lynx) started to prey heavily on a top predatory raptor (kites). These predation bouts occurred exclusively under drought conditions and when lynx found rabbit remains under the raptor nests, consistent with the removal of a potential competitor. Drought-induced lynx predation depressed lifetime reproductive success and triggered territory abandonment and dispersal by the raptor, suggestive of a new arms race among predators. A reduction in raptor abundance was associated with an increase in an insectivorous bird (a small owl), showing that the new interaction had the potential to reach lower trophic levels. These results underline the importance of diet flexibility and mobility as important mediators of resilience to stressors. In the future, synergistic effects of multiple anthropogenic stressors may reshape the interactions and ecological roles of many apex predators, with potential cascading consequences for whole ecosystems. A key to forecasting the future impact of global change may reside in understanding how behavioural flexibility and interacting keystone species respond to interacting shocks.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-11194-z

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11194-z