Habitat

Ecology

Biology

Apex predator

Predation

Trophic cascade

Predator

Habitat destruction

National park

Carnivore

Geography

Trophic level

Ecosystem

Science

Ecosystems feel war's effects War ravages human lives and landscapes, but nonhuman victims are no less affected. The Mozambican Civil War resulted in the rapid decline of predators in Gorongosa National Park and led to a trophic cascade that shifted prey behaviors and plant communities. Atkins et al. monitored this shift and found that the absence of wild dogs and leopards resulted in a change in habitat use and plant consumption by bushbuck, which are forest-dwelling antelopes. Experiments further showed that changes in prey behavior were reversible when signs of predator activity were introduced, supporting the impact of the predator loss. These results confirm patterns seen elsewhere and go further in providing mechanistic detail about the importance of the “landscape of fear” perceived by prey animals. Science , this issue p. 173

Cascading impacts of large-carnivore extirpation in an African ecosystem