Stumbled across this article earlier today, and I saw the similarities to the Nature Wars book regarding how in America many species saw strong comebacks until recent history, when we as humans have once again had a strong negative impact in the health of species we share our land with. What I found particularly of note is that while in Nature Wars Sterba seems to have many reasons for why populations have struggled to find an easy balancing point, in this article from The Guardian, it is made clear that scientists mostly do not know why this antelope population died so quickly.
I also found it a sad reminder of our potential impact on nature. All the pictures from the article show antelopes in fields for miles with absolutely no sign of human life: houses, roads, power lines, even wells and farms. Yet, as the scientists hypothesized what could have been responsible for the die off, they believed that a bacteria was rampant and only could ravage the antelope at higher atmospheric temperatures, certainly through human intervention with the earth’s climate. An interesting read.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/03/half-of-worlds-rare-antelope-population-died-within-weeks
Joe, wow crazy that we can have such an impact when there is not even direct contact involved. In Nature Wars these issues of balance between us and nature seems to involve direct contact, but there is also this side where we manage to knock the balance from such a far distance. I found this article that discusses this issue of climate change and increased disease risk for plants and animals. It talks about how we may be able to adapt to this increased risk with our resources, but that plants and animals do not have as good of a chance for survival.
http://science.time.com/2013/08/02/infectious-disease-could-be-more-common-in-a-warmer-world-especially-for-plants-and-animals/