tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/rewilding-7773/articlesRewilding – The Conversation2024-01-04T10:12:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2204802024-01-04T10:12:17Z2024-01-04T10:12:17ZWolves return to Europe: what to do about them is a people problem – podcast<p>Wolves are making a comeback across Europe. As their populations grow, 65,000 livestock are killed each year by wolves. Now, moves are underway to <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_6752">change the protection status</a> of the wolf in the European Union.</p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a>, we speak to a social scientist researching the best ways for humans and wolves to coexist.</p>
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<p>Wolves used to be commonplace across Europe until they were eradicated from large areas of the continent in the 19th century. But wolf populations began to recover in the 1970s as they moved into tracts of unused farmland and stricter conservation regulations were introduced. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/5d017e4e-9efc-11ee-b164-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-299076073">new analysis</a> from the European Commission put the number of wolves in the EU at 20,300 in 2023, up 81% from the estimated 11,193 living in the bloc in 2012. </p>
<p>Hanna Pettersson is a social scientist at the University of York in the UK whose research focuses on how people react to living alongside wolves. She says Europe has essentially “outsourced all the biodiversity conservation” to other continents such as Africa or Asia. </p>
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<p>It’s definitely our turn to take some responsibility when it comes to conservation. But it’s somewhat tricky to live with these large carnivores.</p>
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<p>Pettersson’s PhD research <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.710218/full">focused on Spain</a>, where hunting of wolves has been strictly prohibited since 2021. She interviewed people in different areas of the country to understand more about the interactions between wolves and humans and the best methods for living together. </p>
<p>For example, in one area called Sanabria-La Carballeda where farmers have always had to deal with wolves, they deploy packs of livestock guardian dogs to guard their animals. “People dedicate significant resources and efforts and time to protect their livestock from wolves – and they do so quite successfully,” explained Pettersson.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/wolf-protection-in-europe-has-become-deeply-political-spains-experience-tells-us-why-215028">Wolf protection in Europe has become deeply political – Spain's experience tells us why</a>
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<p>Wolves have made such a comeback in Europe that politicians are now moving to change their protection status. In September 2023, Ursula von de Leyen, president of the European Commission, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_4330">said that the</a> concentration of wolf packs in some European regions has become a “real danger for livestock and potentially also for humans”. </p>
<p>The Commission ran a call for information on wolf populations across the EU and in late December, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_6752">proposed a change the protection status of wolves</a> from “strictly protected” to “protected” under the Bern Convention, a treaty governing the conservation of wild flora and fauna across the EU. If that proposal is accepted, it will pave the way for a change to the European habitat directives to give countries more powers to control wolf populations. </p>
<p>To find out more about Pettersson’s research into the way communities can transition to living with wolves, listen to the full episode of <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-conversation-weekly/view">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast. </p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Katie Flood, with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hanna Pettersson received funding from Leeds-York Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) SPHERES under grant NE/L002574/.</span></em></p>More Europeans are having to learn how to live alongside predators again. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2174152023-12-28T09:19:31Z2023-12-28T09:19:31ZCan golf courses help save the planet? Ask a herd of wild pigs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564304/original/file-20231207-29-1fpb9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-young-hermann-turtle-on-synthetic-1814171870">Mathilde.LR/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An Arizona golf course, so picture-perfect it was described as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/24/arizona-javelina-pig-destroy-golf-course">the Imax of golf</a>”, was wantonly trashed by intruders in the autumn of 2023. But no, this was not Just Stop Oil <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NB7FgPmx2w">back for another round</a>, nor the result of <a href="https://www.golfdigest.com/story/how-to-control-anger-golf-course">a disgruntled golfer</a>. In fact, it was the work of a squadron of <a href="https://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Javelina.php">javelinas</a>.</p>
<p>Javelinas (or peccaries) are small but feisty relatives of the domesticated pig, found across the southern US and into South America. Like many of their relations, javelinas are bright, enterprising and with an extensive palate that includes everything from tubers to roadkill, though cacti are a firm favourite.</p>
<p>These tough little pigs are not the only porcine terrors of the fairway, though. In New Zealand, feral pigs have <a href="https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350051669/marauding-wild-pigs-rip-golf-course">grubbed up a course</a>; in southern China, wild boar damage has seen hunters <a href="https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350051669/marauding-wild-pigs-rip-golf-course">called in</a>; and in South Africa, warthogs do the pitch invading. </p>
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<p>These pig invaders hint at a role for golf in nature conservation that is not immediately obvious. A study of wild boar in Spain revealed that they raided golf courses less often during the COVID lockdown, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363435273_SARS-CoV-2_lockdown_reduced_wild_boar_raids_in_golf_courses">when hunting was curtailed</a>. </p>
<p>The courses offered a refuge from hunting which the pigs did not need during lockdowns. What else might they offer wildlife?</p>
<h2>The bogey of management</h2>
<p>When nestled within farmland or suburbs, golf courses can support <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-008-9217-1">markedly more biodiversity</a> than the surrounding landscapes, hosting inventories of wildlife that include birds, insects and amphibians.</p>
<p>Golf courses might provide all sorts of benefits to species. Those grassy expanses could offer a cooling oasis amid overheated concrete sprawl. Wildflower meadows that <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-019-00907-0">benefit bees and other pollinators</a> can also lure bats <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-023-01397-x">looking for insects to eat</a>. But these benefits depend on good management to create a mix of habitats, including flower-filled rough grass, scrub and woodland. </p>
<p>Wildlife-friendly golf course management can even benefit the game itself. The same flowers that entice pollinators attract natural enemies of turf-trashing caterpillars like the fall armyworm, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00885-w">reducing the impact of this pest</a>. Water hazards that operate as wildlife ponds might also be a boon, but careless planting of showy plant varieties can <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10750-011-0678-4">push native flora out</a>.</p>
<p>There are sterner environmental challenges with running a golf course, though. Irrigation is a major drain on water – especially for courses in arid regions. Water draining from these courses may be polluted with pesticides or nutrients that <a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/b03-081">alter the algae</a> in adjacent streams. </p>
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<img alt="An aerial view of a golf green surrounded by desert habitat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564305/original/file-20231207-15-ybbla2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564305/original/file-20231207-15-ybbla2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564305/original/file-20231207-15-ybbla2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564305/original/file-20231207-15-ybbla2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564305/original/file-20231207-15-ybbla2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564305/original/file-20231207-15-ybbla2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564305/original/file-20231207-15-ybbla2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Golf courses can be hard to justify in regions where water is scarce.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/scottsdale-golf-course-aerial-view-upscale-190651205">Dave Morgan/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Golfers themselves could be a large and generally affluent body of allies for nature conservation – although a nationwide survey conducted in France in 2021 suggested involvement in conservation is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213078023000567?via%3Dihub">not high on many golfers’ agendas</a>. Rampaging javelinas probably do not help.</p>
<p>French golfers have it easy compared with some of the creatures roaming the fairways in other countries. Florida’s golfers, for example, would do well to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXn1g0xtUMk">keep an eye out for alligators</a>. But the wild can be a selling point for golf courses too. Some African courses even advertise their <a href="https://africafreak.com/golf-safaris-in-africa-when-golfing-embraces-wildlife">wildlife encounters</a>.</p>
<p>The Arizona course staff were understandably horrified by the damage done, but the javelinas have their fans too. Their media allies eulogise the javelinas’ cunning at exploiting our world, their complex family lives which may include <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eth.12709">mourning their dead</a>, and their attempts at rewilding an alien habitat.</p>
<h2>Rewild the fairway</h2>
<p>The potential for letting nature take back golf courses may also be surprisingly high. </p>
<p>In the US, the total number of golf courses is declining, with <a href="https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/closed-golf-courses-history">more closures than openings</a> since 2006 – many of them abandoned with no new purpose in mind. While some may be reused for housing, there are other possibilities, such as parks. Reversing the drainage from derelict courses could create new wetland habitats capable of stalling <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/88216">floods</a> during heavy rainfall.</p>
<p>However, abandoning courses may not be enough to benefit nature on its own. The hangover from past management, such as high nutrient levels in the soil, can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biohorizons/hzn022">linger for years</a> and allow a small number of hyper-competitive species to dominate.</p>
<p>Projects to reverse this damage and rewild golf courses are springing up in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/25/frodsham-cheshire-golf-course-transformed-woodland">England</a>, <a href="https://rewilding.academy/rewilding/rewilding-abandoned-golf-courses/">the US and Australia</a>. In all these cases, conservationists are planting native species, diversifying habitats and preventing water from draining. These interventions raise a thorny issue for conservationists – does <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(15)01575-4.pdf">it count as rewilding</a> if people are doing so much of the work?</p>
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<img alt="A fox next to a tree with golfers in the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564302/original/file-20231207-17-ukpe7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564302/original/file-20231207-17-ukpe7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564302/original/file-20231207-17-ukpe7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564302/original/file-20231207-17-ukpe7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564302/original/file-20231207-17-ukpe7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564302/original/file-20231207-17-ukpe7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564302/original/file-20231207-17-ukpe7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Golf courses lure wildlife looking for food and shelter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fox-on-golf-course-sunny-summer-2272997033">Mats Silvan/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Perhaps we should look to the javelinas, an example of wildlife taking the initiative, for an answer. The usefulness of pigs and their kin for grubbing up the land is widely recognised in rewilding projects. They reset the stage, bringing static landscapes <a href="https://knepp.co.uk/rewilding/free-roaming-herbivores/tamworth-pigs/">back to life</a>. On a farm that was returned to nature in Sussex, England, the <a href="https://knepp.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Vegetation-of-the-Pig-Rootled-Areas-at-Knepp-Wildland-and-their-use-by-Farmland-Birds-Ivan-de-Klee.pdf">rooting around of pigs</a> has been credited with opening up bare ground and allowing annual weeds to flourish, whose seeds then sustain a remarkable number of endangered turtle doves. </p>
<p>It has become fashionable among opponents of rewilding to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/07/12/race-to-rewild-britain-is-putting-food-security-at-risk/">criticise</a> this approach to nature conservation for taking land out of food production. But the use of agriculturally productive land for golf courses goes unremarked. </p>
<p>Don’t blame the javelinas for taking matters into their own trotters.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Jeffries does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A herd of javelinas wrecked a pristine golf course. Is this rewilding in action?Mike Jeffries, Associate Professor, Ecology, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2139322023-09-22T14:58:11Z2023-09-22T14:58:11ZFarmed rhinos will soon ‘rewild’ the African savanna<p>With all the terrible news on climate change, it’s easy to lose track of what’s happening with particular species. So, in case you missed it, <a href="https://rhinos.org/about-rhinos/state-of-the-rhino/">a new report</a> has bad news for Earth’s five surviving species of rhino. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino-info/threats/poaching-rhino-horn/">Poaching for rhino horn</a> continues to threaten populations of rhino in Africa, and the two smallest and most endangered species of rhino – the Sumatran rhino and the Javan rhino – tread ever closer to being unable to <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/amid-government-inaction-indonesias-rhinos-head-toward-extinction-analysis/">sustain themselves in the wild</a>, due to habitat loss and low population sizes.</p>
<p>While we should never become desensitised to wildlife crime, environmental destruction and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08qym98">species extinctions</a>, there is also some remarkable news. Conservation charity <a href="https://www.africanparks.org/">African Parks</a> recently bought the largest private collection of rhino in the world: the <a href="https://platinumrhino.co.za/">Platinum Rhino</a> farm at Klerksdorp, near Johannesburg in South Africa, previously owned by South African businessman John Hume.</p>
<p>African Parks plans to release the total Platinum Rhino ranch population, currently 2,000 rhino (amounting to roughly 15% of the global white rhino population), into the wild across Africa <a href="https://www.africanparks.org/campaign/rewilding-2000-rhino">over the next ten years</a>. That is good news. As an ecologist, I don’t see the point in conserving a wild species to keep in captivity. Wildlife belongs in the wild.</p>
<p>Hume’s plan to buy up and breed farmed rhino might have allowed him to sell horns for a profit once legal international trade was permitted. But that <a href="https://rhinos.org/blog/cites-and-the-rhino-horn-trade/">didn’t happen</a>.</p>
<p>The international ban on trading rhino horn, enacted by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), has held firm, despite <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDmTaKxAv6Y">lobbying by Hume</a> and others. These critics were joined by some conservationists who believe that the best or only way to save rhino is by legalising the trade in their horns. The logic here is that legalisation would flood the market with legal rhino horn, devaluing illegal horns and slashing the profits of poachers and wildlife traffickers. With that, the incentive to kill rhino would shrink.</p>
<p>Hume continued to expand his private rhino farm and used his increasing rhino population as leverage in his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0iTH9N12o0">calls for legalisation</a>. But with the ban on international trade <a href="https://cites.org/eng/prog/terrestrial_fauna/Rhinoceroces">intact</a>, Hume seems to have ran out of patience. The Platinum Rhino collection was put up for online auction in April 2023 at a starting price of <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-09-12-conserving-and-rewilding-john-humes-rhinos-may-cost-r1bn-or-more/">US$10 million</a> (£8.1 million). It <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-05-08-john-humes-platinum-rhino-project-has-no-viable-business-model-that-bodes-ill-for-big-critter-conservation">failed to attract bids</a>. </p>
<p>That may reflect the problem that rhino face: if people can’t make money out of rhino, nobody is going to want to pay to look after them. But it also highlights a problem driven by farming wildlife for profit, otherwise known as game ranching: if the profits fall, what happens to the animals?</p>
<h2>Into the wild</h2>
<p>After its failure to sell at auction, the largest private collection of rhino in the world was bought by <a href="https://www.africanparks.org/campaign/rewilding-2000-rhino">African Parks</a>. But the charity’s plan to rewild these rhino will not be easy.</p>
<p>A number of years ago I was involved in what was, at the time, the largest private <a href="https://www.jasongilchrist.co.uk/photo_galleries_538019.html">translocation of rhino</a>. The team I worked with moved tens of rhino; the African Parks mission is a lot bigger.</p>
<p>African Parks manages an area of 20 million hectares spread across 22 national parks and protected areas over 12 countries. They will contain suitable savanna grassland for releasing the rhino and the charity has already reintroduced rhino to parks in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi.</p>
<p>Conservation scientists recently said there is “a clear need to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1617138123000535?via%3Dihub">scale up rewilding initiatives</a>”. It doesn’t get much bigger than reintroducing thousands of rhino across Africa. Rhino can play a <a href="https://africageographic.com/stories/why-are-rhinos-important-for-ecosystems/">key role</a> in restoring the ecosystems into which they are placed, greatly influencing a network of species around them and healing ecological wounds incurred via people. </p>
<p>This is the nature of <a href="https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/benefits-and-risks-rewilding">rewilding</a>: restoring the linkages that make up ecosystems. Restored megafauna (large herbivorous mammals, in this case) can also help address climate change by enhancing how much habitats <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01631-6">naturally store carbon</a>, through dispersing seeds and enriching the soil.</p>
<p>Restoring megafauna is tricky, and in a recent scientific paper conservationists argued for changes in policy to support it. They suggest “a transition from farming to wildlife ranching, combined with ambitious <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1617138123000535?via%3Dihub">breeding programs for keystone megafauna</a>”. The Platinum Rhino population may well turn out to be a flagship in showing that such an approach is achievable.</p>
<p>Where will the rhino go? Will they be released into areas where rhino are locally extinct, or supplement existing populations? Can they be used to fulfil the role vacated by the functionally extinct <a href="https://rhinos.org/tough-issues/northern-white-rhino/">northern white rhino (subspecies)</a>?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JB5tAJwmzZM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Time will tell. In the meantime, the farmed rhino need to be prepared to cope with the stress of translocation and release, and for a wild life. They need to be toughened, to find and process food from the natural environments in which they will be placed. They will need to tolerate the challenges of their new environments, such as disease, parasites and predators. </p>
<p>The most dangerous predator of rhino remains <a href="https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino-info/poaching-stats/">the human species</a>. The conundrum of how to stop or even simply reduce the loss of free-living rhino to poachers remains. The soon-to-be-released rhino will have to deal with this – with traditional anti-poaching conservation support. Alongside that, <a href="https://natureneedsmore.org/the-facts-about-rhino-horn-demand-reduction-campaigns/">demand reduction</a> efforts must continue in order to bring down the desire for rhino horn.</p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Gilchrist does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What would you do with 2,000 farmed rhinos? An African charity wants them to help their wild cousins.Jason Gilchrist, Lecturer in the School of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2130752023-09-21T20:06:58Z2023-09-21T20:06:58Z‘Nature positive’ isn’t just planting a few trees – it’s actually stopping the damage we do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549275/original/file-20230920-27-jymd2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C28%2C4736%2C3188&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you heard the phrase “nature positive”? It’s suddenly everywhere. </p>
<p>The idea is simple: rather than continually erode the natural world, nature positive envisions a future with more nature than we have now.</p>
<p>Created by an <a href="https://www.naturepositive.org/">environmental alliance</a>, the nature positive concept has been embraced by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622043700?casa_token=W47gsI7Z2ZAAAAAA:eRn40of82bgD61NyIN4yRJLam6w5srMxNQ07nGBCY25jEAhbvYFRQIn8V3QCA6fVZ8qKU_XiAQ">industry</a>, <a href="https://www.leaderspledgefornature.org/">world leaders</a> and conservationists. </p>
<p>Sudden popularity can be reason for caution. After all, we’ve seen well-intended ideas become cover for greenwashing before. And without strong guardrails, we risk nature positive being used as a distraction from continued failures. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://rdcu.be/dmIek">new research</a> points to three ways to make sure nature positive is truly positive for nature. </p>
<h2>What’s the big idea?</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.naturepositive.org/about">Nature Positive Initiative</a>, “nature positive” aims to </p>
<blockquote>
<p>halt and reverse nature loss measured from a baseline of 2020, through increasing the health, abundance, diversity and resilience of species, populations and ecosystems so that by 2030 nature is visibly and measurably on the path of recovery</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, nature positive means seriously scaling back negative impacts on nature – through tackling land clearing, invasive species, and climate change – while also investing in positive impacts like ecosystem restoration and rewilding.</p>
<p>The goal is hugely ambitious. But it’s also essential. </p>
<p>The natural world is humanity’s life-support system. But we have now <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458">seriously compromised</a> the biosphere’s ability to support us. </p>
<p>Australia’s environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has backed the idea, announcing plans for a <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/international/nature-positive-summit">nature positive summit</a> next year. The goal: “drive private sector investment to protect and repair our environment”. </p>
<p>You can also see the influence of nature positive in Plibersek’s plans for a <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/environmental-markets/nature-repair-market">nature repair market</a>. And just this month, the New South Wales <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/biodiversity/overview-of-biodiversity-reform/statutory-review-of-the-biodiversity-conservation-act-2016">review of biodiversity laws</a> recommended nature positive become “mandatory.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biodiversity-treaty-un-deal-fails-to-address-the-root-causes-of-natures-destruction-196905">Biodiversity treaty: UN deal fails to address the root causes of nature’s destruction</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>We must be wary of greenwashing</h2>
<p>The risk of big-picture plans is that they can be used for PR purposes – serving to make companies or governments look good on the environment rather than actually improving nature’s lot. </p>
<p>Already, the term nature positive is being <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01845-5">used too freely</a> to refer to any vaguely green action.</p>
<p>This new focus on nature positive mustn’t distract from the need to fully address ongoing negative impacts.</p>
<p>Take the Australian government’s <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/epbc/publications/nature-positive-plan">Nature Positive Plan</a> – its official response to the <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/resources/final-report">scathing 2020 review</a> of Australia’s national environment law. </p>
<p>Under the plan, ‘conservation payments’ could be made by developers when destruction of threatened biodiversity is permitted, but suitable <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tree-for-a-tree-can-biodiversity-offsets-balance-destruction-and-restoration-3682">environmental offsets</a> cannot be found. </p>
<p>These conservation payments would then be invested by government into conservation projects – but they would not necessarily benefit the same biodiversity destroyed by the development. </p>
<p>The plan states this approach will deliver “better overall environmental outcomes”. In reality it could make it possible to destroy habitat of our most threatened species and replace it with other, easier-to-replace biodiversity – as long as there is more “nature” overall.</p>
<h2>Positive for nature: the fundamentals</h2>
<p>For “nature positive” to actually be positive for nature, it must do what it says on the tin. We cannot let this vitally important movement be used to justify further loss of valuable ecosystems or species, or to exaggerate the benefits of action.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://rdcu.be/dmIek">research</a> suggests three ways to make sure claims about nature positive are not misleading. </p>
<p>First, we have to make sure any proposal that might damage nature follows the “<a href="https://www.forest-trends.org/bbop/bbop-key-concepts/mitigation-hierarchy/#:%7E:text=This%20simple%20graphic%20depicts%20the,biodiversity%20of%20greatest%20conservation%20concern.">mitigation hierarchy</a>”. In short: can biodiversity losses be avoided entirely? If not, can they be kept to a bare minimum? Any remaining impacts must be fully compensated with gains of the same type and amount elsewhere. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12664">rarely achieved</a>. In practice, developers often do poorly on avoiding or minimising damage. Instead, they rely heavily on the final, most risky step – offsets. </p>
<p>Yes, offsets can work – in very limited situations. They cannot replace the irreplaceable. And much of nature is irreplaceable.</p>
<p>Old-growth forests cannot be replaced. The same goes for tree hollows – these take hundreds of years to form, and artificial nesting boxes often <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-plan-to-protect-wildlife-displaced-by-the-hume-highway-has-failed-78087">don’t work</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549266/original/file-20230920-25-azi638.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="old growth forest trees" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549266/original/file-20230920-25-azi638.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549266/original/file-20230920-25-azi638.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549266/original/file-20230920-25-azi638.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549266/original/file-20230920-25-azi638.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549266/original/file-20230920-25-azi638.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549266/original/file-20230920-25-azi638.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549266/original/file-20230920-25-azi638.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How do you offset the loss of an old-growth forest? Hint: you can’t.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, the move towards nature positive must not replace rigorous adherence to the mitigation hierarchy with more general environmental action which doesn’t fully address damage. </p>
<p>Second, organisations must consider not just their direct impact on biodiversity, but the footprint of their whole operation and its resource use.</p>
<p>Achieving nature positive will mean <a href="https://www.cell.com/one-earth/pdf/S2590-3322(20)30657-6.pdf">tackling entire supply chains</a>. </p>
<p>It’s not easy to account for, reduce and compensate for your company or organisation’s <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00660-2">unavoidable impacts</a> on nature. But it can be done. It will require improvements in knowledge and traceability of supply chains, reducing consumption, and investing in nature restoration to make up for the leftover harms unable to be eliminated.</p>
<p>And third, organisations signing up to nature positive must contribute to active ecological restoration. That’s on top of any compensation for their own direct and indirect impacts. The huge scale of historical damage to the environment means that even if organisations completely address all of their current and future biodiversity impacts, nature positive will still not be achieved. </p>
<p>Here, so-called voluntary <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/12/biodiversity-credits-nature-cop15/">biodiversity credits</a> may play a useful role. </p>
<p>But wherever there are credits, there’s risk. It’s entirely possible companies could simply buy these credits without avoiding and minimising biodiversity losses in the first place – the exact same problem <a href="https://theconversation.com/now-we-know-the-flaws-of-carbon-offsets-its-time-to-get-real-about-climate-change-181071">plaguing carbon offsets</a>. </p>
<h2>Nature positive is welcome – now let’s see it in action</h2>
<p>For decades, conservationists have tried to protect what’s left of the natural world through lobbying for protected areas and better environmental laws. But nature’s decline has only accelerated. Economic growth and profit have always taken precedence.</p>
<p>Moving to a truly nature positive world, one fit to provide future generations with all that we enjoy from nature, means a serious societal shift. For this reason, nature positive is welcome. </p>
<p>It’s not enough to slow the decline – it’s time to reverse it. </p>
<p>But we must not underestimate the task ahead. </p>
<p>Only if nature positive commitments are translated into action with rigour can they help reduce the damage we do, alongside spurring on ecological restoration and rewilding. But if nature positive is used as a tactic for positive publicity, it won’t change a thing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-a-nature-repair-market-really-save-australias-environment-its-not-perfect-but-its-worth-a-shot-203126">Can a ‘nature repair market’ really save Australia’s environment? It’s not perfect, but it’s worth a shot</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213075/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martine Maron has received funding from various sources including the Australian Research Council, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, Bush Heritage Australia, and the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program. She is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a councillor with the Biodiversity Council, a member of the board of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and BirdLife Australia, and a governor of WWF-Australia, and chairs the IUCN's Impact Mitigation and Ecological Compensation Thematic Group.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan C Evans has received funding from various sources, including the Australian Research Council through a Discovery Early Career Research Award (2020-2023), the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, WWF Australia, and the National Environmental Science Program's Threatened Species Recovery Hub.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophus zu Ermgassen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nature positive is the new rallying cry to reverse environmental decline. But it could easily become greenwash – if we’re not careful.Martine Maron, Professor of Environmental Management, The University of QueenslandMegan C Evans, Senior Lecturer, Public Sector Management, UNSW SydneySophus zu Ermgassen, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2130722023-09-13T20:05:56Z2023-09-13T20:05:56ZOur unsung farm dams provide vital habitat to threatened species of frogs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547437/original/file-20230911-28-b3mmo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C3259%2C2433&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Frogs are in trouble. While many of the world’s animal species are now at risk from habitat loss, climate change and other human pressures, frogs are particularly at risk. </p>
<p>That’s because they rely on fresh water – and rivers, creeks and lakes are especially vulnerable to threats and habitat loss. Freshwater creatures are going extinct faster than land or sea-based lifeforms. Frogs are at even higher risk because their life stages require pristine terrestrial and aquatic habitats – and because the lethal <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-worst-animal-disease-is-killing-frogs-worldwide-a-testing-breakthrough-could-help-save-them-205872">amphibian chytrid fungus</a> is after them.</p>
<p>Frogs could use some good news. Here it is: the farm dam. These ubiquitous human-made ponds are scattered across Australia’s rural regions. Our new research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110270">has found</a> they have become home to over two-fifths of Australia’s 240-plus surviving frog species. Better still, as we compiled more than 100,000 audio recordings made by citizen scientists, we could hear the unmistakable calls of species threatened with extinction, such as the green and golden bell frog.</p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="53" data-image="" data-title="Vocalisation of the growling grass frog recorded by a citizen scientist using FrogID" data-size="433238" data-source="Matt Clancy" data-source-url="" data-license="CC BY-NC" data-license-url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2873/litoria-raniformis-frogid-163262-matt-clancy.m4a" type="audio/mp4">
</audio>
<div class="audio-player-caption">
Vocalisation of the growling grass frog recorded by a citizen scientist using FrogID.
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Clancy</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a><span class="download"><span>423 KB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2873/litoria-raniformis-frogid-163262-matt-clancy.m4a">(download)</a></span></span>
</div></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547374/original/file-20230911-17-andzop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="growling grass frog" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547374/original/file-20230911-17-andzop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547374/original/file-20230911-17-andzop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547374/original/file-20230911-17-andzop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547374/original/file-20230911-17-andzop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547374/original/file-20230911-17-andzop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547374/original/file-20230911-17-andzop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547374/original/file-20230911-17-andzop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the recordings, we heard the welcome calls of the growling grass frog thousands of times near farm dams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Which dams are important for frogs?</h2>
<p>Australia has <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/2/319">almost 1.8 million</a> farm dams, storing 20 times the volume of Sydney Harbour. Tens of thousands more are excavated each year. </p>
<p>But which of these small, widely distributed ponds offer the best habitat for frogs? And which of our native frogs are able to use them?</p>
<p>To find out, we drew heavily on the power of citizen science. Thousands of people used the Australian Museum’s <a href="https://www.frogid.net.au/">FrogID app</a> or Melbourne Water’s <a href="https://www.melbournewater.com.au/education/citizen-science/frog-census">Frog Census app</a> to record calling frogs and upload the audio. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/farmers-are-famously-self-reliant-why-not-use-farm-dams-as-mini-hydro-plants-212374">Farmers are famously self-reliant. Why not use farm dams as mini-hydro plants?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We compiled more than 100,000 recordings near 8,800 farm dam sites. When experts listened to these recordings, they identified 107 different species. </p>
<p>What we were most excited by was discovering species at very real risk of extinction, croaking happily in unnamed dams. These included growling grass frogs (<em>Litoria raniformis</em>), green and golden bell frogs (<em>Litoria aurea</em>), Sloane’s froglet (<em>Crinia sloanei</em>) and northern heath frogs (<em>Litoria littlejohni</em>). </p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="21" data-image="" data-title="Recording of Sloane’s Froglet (Crinia sloanei) by a citizen scientist using FrogID" data-size="171771" data-source="Matt Lincoln" data-source-url="" data-license="CC BY-NC" data-license-url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2874/crinia-sloanei-frogid-277959-matt-lincoln.m4a" type="audio/mp4">
</audio>
<div class="audio-player-caption">
Recording of Sloane’s Froglet (Crinia sloanei) by a citizen scientist using FrogID.
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Lincoln</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a><span class="download"><span>168 KB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2874/crinia-sloanei-frogid-277959-matt-lincoln.m4a">(download)</a></span></span>
</div></p>
<p>This tells us that farm dams can provide breeding habitat for frogs that are vulnerable to extinction – not just for common species.</p>
<p>In the recordings, we heard the growling grass frog over 3,200 times near 315 farm dams dotted around southeast Australia. That’s an important find, given it’s one of six priority frog species in the government’s threatened species <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/action-plan/priority-frogs">action plan</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547373/original/file-20230911-15-xd0q9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="green golden bell frog" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547373/original/file-20230911-15-xd0q9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547373/original/file-20230911-15-xd0q9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547373/original/file-20230911-15-xd0q9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547373/original/file-20230911-15-xd0q9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547373/original/file-20230911-15-xd0q9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547373/original/file-20230911-15-xd0q9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547373/original/file-20230911-15-xd0q9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We heard the vulnerable green and golden bell frog seven times near farm dams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jodi Rowley/Australian Museum and UNSW</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Frogs love mid-sized old dams</h2>
<p>When we crunched the numbers, we found distinct trends in frog abundance. The dams richest in frog species were those older than 20 years, with a medium surface area around 0.1 hectares (dams get a lot bigger than this), and located in areas with high rainfall and intermediate temperatures.</p>
<p>That makes sense. The older the dam, the more natural it becomes. Aquatic plants have time to grow, while shrubs and plants around the dam provide shelter and calling sites for frogs.</p>
<p>Medium size dams provide frogs with the ideal balance between protection from drying out and reduced danger from fish and reptile predators.</p>
<p>We also detected more frog species in dams close to rivers, lakes or conservation sites. Leapfrogging between nearby wetlands is likely to be an important way frogs colonise farm dams.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547372/original/file-20230911-23-dz1oto.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="figure showing richer and less rich farm dam frog biodiversity" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547372/original/file-20230911-23-dz1oto.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547372/original/file-20230911-23-dz1oto.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547372/original/file-20230911-23-dz1oto.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547372/original/file-20230911-23-dz1oto.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547372/original/file-20230911-23-dz1oto.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547372/original/file-20230911-23-dz1oto.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547372/original/file-20230911-23-dz1oto.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The most frog species were found in farm dams older than 20 years, with a medium surface area (1000m² on average), and in rainfall catchments under 10 hectares. There’s even greater frog diversity near other freshwater systems or conservation areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Farms and frogs can happily coexist</h2>
<p>Is there a clash between what farmers want from their dams and what frogs need? Not necessarily. </p>
<p>It’s certainly true that the banks of dams can, if not looked after, be trampled by livestock into mud. But when farmers fence off parts of the dam banks to protect plants, it benefits <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256089">livestock health</a>, increases <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.8636">water quality</a>, cuts <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.16237">greenhouse gas emissions</a>, and safeguards breeding habitats for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.8636">crustaceans</a>, <a href="https://avianres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40657-016-0058-x">birds</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880918303979">amphibians</a>, which, in Australia, means frogs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547376/original/file-20230911-19-ritc0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="northern heath frog" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547376/original/file-20230911-19-ritc0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547376/original/file-20230911-19-ritc0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547376/original/file-20230911-19-ritc0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547376/original/file-20230911-19-ritc0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547376/original/file-20230911-19-ritc0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547376/original/file-20230911-19-ritc0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547376/original/file-20230911-19-ritc0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We heard the endangered northern heath frog 22 times near farm dams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jodi Rowley/Australian Museum and UNSW</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Researchers from <a href="https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/on-the-farm/farm-dams/">Sustainable Farms</a> have released guides on how to make farm dams even better oases for native wildlife by <a href="https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Farm-dams-brochure-v3_online.pdf">managing</a> and <a href="https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Farm-Dam-Planting-Guide-brochure-8.2.pdf">revegetating</a> farm dams to boost water quality and biodiversity. </p>
<p>As the federal government advances its plans for a nature repair market, it’s possible we could see a surge of interest in farm dams. </p>
<p>In this scenario, making farm dams more wildlife-friendly could net farmers and landholders biodiversity credits. Given the wealth of frog species in dams, this could present a cost-effective strategy. </p>
<p>Does this mean we should encourage more farm dams? Not necessarily. Farm dams can compete for water with natural freshwater systems and reduce habitat for species relying on ephemeral ponds or streams to breed. Any future financial incentives to re-wild farm dams must not reward the mass creation of farm dams. </p>
<p>As we grapple with the ongoing biodiversity crisis, it makes sense to make the most of what we have. Farm dams are everywhere. Let’s make them a haven for our frogs. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hecs-for-farmers-nature-repair-loans-could-help-biodiversity-recover-and-boost-farm-productivity-204040">HECS for farmers? Nature repair loans could help biodiversity recover – and boost farm productivity</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martino Malerba receives funding from the Australian Research Council through the DECRA program (DE220100752). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Don Driscoll receives funding from Australian Pacific Science Foundation and Glenelg Catchment Management Authority to study frog conservation and management. He is affiliated with the Ecological Society of Australia and Society for Conservation Biology.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jodi Rowley is the Lead Scientist of the Australian Museum's citizen science project, FrogID. She has received funding from state, federal and philanthropic agencies.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Macreadie receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Wright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia has almost 1.8 million farm dams – and some are home to threatened frog speciesMartino Malerba, ARC DECRA Fellow, Deakin UniversityDon Driscoll, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, Deakin UniversityJodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum, UNSW SydneyNick Wright, Research scientist, Department of Primary Industries & Regional Development, The University of Western AustraliaPeter Macreadie, Professor of Marine Science & Founder/Director of Blue Carbon Lab, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062802023-06-25T13:35:02Z2023-06-25T13:35:02ZZoos and universities must work together to safeguard wildlife and improve conservation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532140/original/file-20230615-29-koig6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C19%2C2363%2C1545&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A conservation researcher counts ringtailed lemurs for a zoo's annual stock take. Zoos have the capacity to do more for conservation science and practice.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jon Super).</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The word “zoo” is complicated and can have different meanings to different people. For some, a zoo is an organization committed to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/18/zoos-play-a-vital-role-in-animal-conservation-across-the-world">animal well-being and wildlife conservation</a> that offers its visitors a fun and educational experience. To others, it is a place where people pay to see <a href="https://worldanimalfoundation.org/advocate/how-to-help-animals/params/post/1280916/whats-wrong-with-zoos">exotic animals in poor conditions</a>. </p>
<p>Zoos — a shortening of zoological gardens — can refer to both zoos and aquariums. Zoos accredited by bodies such as <a href="https://www.aza.org/">the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)</a> and <a href="https://www.eaza.net/">the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria</a> make <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27806-2">important contributions</a> to conservation and the recovery of endangered species.</p>
<p>With more than 700 million visitors receiving conservation education globally and more than US$350 million spent on wildlife conservation, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20369">zoos are the third largest contributors to conservation initiatives after The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund</a>. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, many zoos have the capacity to do more for conservation science and practice. We see this potential in the groundbreaking work of zoos with global reach including <a href="https://www.chesterzoo.org/what-we-do/">Chester Zoo</a>, <a href="https://www.zoo.org.au/fighting-extinction/">Zoos Victoria</a> and the <a href="https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/">San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance</a>. </p>
<h2>The modern zoo</h2>
<p>Zoos continue to renegotiate their social contract with the public as societal values change. Today, the modern zoo must focus not only on the well-being of its animals, but also emphasize its impact on conservation. </p>
<p>In Canada, the Calgary Zoo has established the <a href="https://wilderinstitute.org/">Wilder Institute</a> with a vision to become “Canada’s leader in wildlife conservation.” The <a href="https://www.torontozoo.com/">Toronto Zoo</a> has a mission of “Connecting people, animals and conservation science to fight extinction.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1518276602118950913"}"></div></p>
<p>These, and other <a href="https://espacepourlavie.ca/projets-de-conservation-du-biodome">examples, highlight the continued shift toward investing in conservation science</a> by zoos in Canada, with an increased focus on collaborative research.</p>
<h2>How do zoos produce research in conservation science?</h2>
<p>While many zoos have dedicated staff for conservation projects, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20215">collaboration with universities</a> can help zoos increase their contribution to conservation science. </p>
<p>Historically, in Canada and other countries, most published research from zoos is related to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2019-0052">veterinary sciences</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2017-0083">not conservation</a>. Academic institutions can provide scientific and technical expertise in conservation science, as well as access to envelopes of funding that are not available to zoos alone. </p>
<p>University researchers have rigorous science communication requirements that include not only publication in <a href="https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BES-Peer-Review-Guide-2017_web.pdf">peer-reviewed journals</a>, but conference presentations, lectures and more. When zoos collaborate with universities, they have greater access to funding for conservation research and produce accessible research for conservation practitioners, researchers and the public alike. </p>
<p>At universities, graduate students as well as post-doctoral researchers perform the majority of research, supervised by a professor in a mentor-mentee relationship. Collaborating with graduate students and their mentors can help zoos address any ongoing conservation challenges. </p>
<h2>ReNewZoo as a model</h2>
<p>In 2016, our team of ten academics and zoo practitioners received funding from the <a href="https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/index_eng.asp">Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)</a> to launch <a href="https://www.renewzoo.ca/">ReNewZoo</a>, a training program for graduate students in zoo conservation science. </p>
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<p>We involved six universities and five zoos from across Canada, providing training and internships for Master’s and PhD students as well as post-doctoral researchers. The goal of the program was to integrate graduate students and their research into Canadian and international zoos, bridging the gap with universities. </p>
<p>As part of this program, graduate students conducted their thesis projects in collaboration with zoos and had zoo staff on their advisory committees. </p>
<p>We integrated our annual symposium with the annual meeting of <a href="https://caza.ca/">Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums</a> where students presented their work to potential future employers and listened to experts speak about issues in zoo conservation science and the business of zoos. Our students then interned with zoos for a first-hand look at the daily operations of a zoo. </p>
<p>Finally, we had an online course where academics and practitioners met with our students to discuss the important issues facing zoo conservation. The students learned about the science of zoo conservation, as well as the history and ethics of zoos and their role in conservation.</p>
<h2>A success story</h2>
<p>But did it work? ReNewZoo supported 26 early career researchers working with zoos including the Toronto Zoo, Calgary Zoo, Vancouver Aquarium, the Insectarium de Montréal and the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg. </p>
<p>And these student researchers have already made many discoveries that can inform conservation practice. </p>
<p>In one such project involving the breeding and reintroduction of the endangered redside dace — a small, colourful stream fish — within Ontario’s Great Lakes region, Andy Turko, a ReNewZoo postdoctoral fellow, found that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2020-0377">thermal (temperature) tolerance of the fish’s source populations</a> is critical to the success of the reintroduction process.</p>
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<p>Another ReNewZoo student, Damien Mullin, in collaboration with the Toronto Zoo, proved that headstarting — a breeding-centric conservation strategy where hatchlings are kept in captivity for a period of time before reintroduction — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22390">improves survival in the endangered wood turtle</a>. </p>
<p>He, however, also found that keeping juvenile wood turtles in captivity for longer than a year did not improve survival much more. Zoos can now use this information to optimize their conservation strategies. </p>
<p>While Turko and Mullin made discoveries that can boost the success rate of reintroduced endangered species, ReNewZoo student Léa Fieschi-Méric found a way to successfully move endangered amphibians.</p>
<p>The skin of amphibians houses a community of bacteria that helps resist pathogens. Moving these species to support their recovery in the wild through the process of <a href="https://thewilderinstitute.org/conservation/conservation-translocations/#:%7E:text=">conservation translocation </a> can disrupt these communities of bacteria.</p>
<p>By successfully moving yellow-spotted salamander larvae from one lake to another in an experiment, Fieschi-Méric found that translocation <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16914">does not disrupt the community of bacteria living on the skin</a>.</p>
<p>The resulting peer-reviewed publications from these and other students are now available for academics and, most importantly, conservation practitioners to use and learn from. </p>
<h2>Bringing zoos and universities together</h2>
<p>Bringing zoos and universities together takes time, energy and money. But the benefits for conservation are far-reaching. We suggest a three-pronged approach to bridge these two types of institutions.</p>
<p>The foundation of any relationship is trust. Fostering connections between the people working at zoos and universities by conducting joint events, with invited speakers from each institution is a good way to start building the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/icb/article-abstract/62/5/1174/6623667?login=true">level of trust that will lead to productive collaborations</a>. </p>
<p>Graduate students are the bridge between zoos and universities. Funding graduate students and their stipends to work with zoos serves two purposes. First, the graduate students perform the actual research. Second, they serve as a source for new staff at the zoo, particularly related to roles in conservation. </p>
<p>Finally, formalizing the connections between zoos and universities with collaborative agreements, joint research appointments and even shared facilities will promote the sustainability of these relationships. </p>
<p>Collectively, these measures will enhance the conservation impact of zoos and universities and improve the chances that endangered species will survive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lesbarrères receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). He works as a research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriela Mastromonaco receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trevor Pitcher receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).</span></em></p>Zoos have the potential to do more for growing conservation science and practice.Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde, Professor, Applied Evolutionary Ecology, Laurentian UniversityDavid Lesbarrères, Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, Laurentian UniversityGabriela Mastromonaco, Adjunct Professor, Biomedical Sciences, University of GuelphTrevor Pitcher, Professor, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2029262023-05-18T18:01:24Z2023-05-18T18:01:24ZWhen wolves move in, they push smaller carnivores closer to human development – with deadly consequences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523262/original/file-20230427-18-pbf516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C229%2C4486%2C2748&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Smaller predators steer clear of wolves, but that brings them closer to people – and the dangers humans pose.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/lia-a-gray-wolf-in-the-exhibit-pack-at-the-minnesota-zoo-news-photo/1408483523">Star Tribune via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Large carnivores like wolves are returning to areas they used to occupy, leading scientists to wonder whether they may once again fulfill important ecological roles. But wolves’ return to the landscape can affect other nearby animals in complex ways.</p>
<p>Our research, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf2472">published in the journal Science</a>, shows that an increase in predators can lead smaller carnivores, like coyotes and bobcats, to seek refuge near people – but humans then kill them at even higher rates than large predators do.</p>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fHylch4AAAAJ&hl=en">wildlife ecologists</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-nuhJUwAAAAJ&hl=en">who study</a> how predators shape ecosystems. Along with colleagues from the <a href="https://predatorpreyproject.weebly.com/">Washington Predator Prey Project</a> and the <a href="https://spokanetribe.com/">Spokane Tribe of Indians</a>, we are seeking to understand how recoveries of wolves and other predators are altering ecosystems in Washington state.</p>
<h2>Predators structure ecosystems</h2>
<p>Large carnivores play crucial roles in their ecosystems. As they prey on or push other animals to avoid the areas they frequently use, predators shape the way interconnected food webs work.</p>
<p>The iconic reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 had cascading effects down the food chain. The elk population shrank, and those that remained avoided areas with wolves, termed a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/z01-094">landscape of fear</a>.” These changes in elk abundance and behavior allowed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.11.005">aspen and willow trees to recover</a> after decades of overconsumption by elk. </p>
<p>Wolves also <a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/Z08-136">kill smaller predators like coyotes</a>, providing respite for the animals that coyotes eat. Research from Yellowstone suggests that landscapes with wolves may have more diverse vegetation and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/10-0169.1">more small animals like songbirds</a> than those without wolves.</p>
<p>But because humans are often intolerant of predators and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac4249">kill them at high rates</a>, large predators tend to avoid areas that are frequented by people. In national parks where humans rarely kill wildlife, some prey species use areas popular with people, such as hiking trails and campgrounds, as refuges from predators. This is known as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0415">human shield</a>” effect.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523266/original/file-20230427-681-vxiipt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An elk sits on the grass in front of a building at Yellowstone National Park. In the foreground, a sign reads 'danger do not approach elk'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523266/original/file-20230427-681-vxiipt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523266/original/file-20230427-681-vxiipt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523266/original/file-20230427-681-vxiipt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523266/original/file-20230427-681-vxiipt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523266/original/file-20230427-681-vxiipt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523266/original/file-20230427-681-vxiipt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523266/original/file-20230427-681-vxiipt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elk – like these at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park – and other prey species may use human-dominated landscapes as a way to avoid larger predators like wolves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/elk-grazing-in-public-areas-mammoth-hot-springs-royalty-free-image/154340430">Dennis Macdonald/Photographer's Choice RF via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Predators in human-dominated landscapes</h2>
<p>Three decades after the Yellowstone release, wolves have continued to recolonize vast areas of the American West. In 2008, after an 80-year absence, wolves – some of which descended from the original Yellowstone population – <a href="https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/recovery">began to naturally recolonize Washington</a>. These wolves moved in from neighboring populations in Idaho and British Columbia.</p>
<p>But unlike Yellowstone, many of the landscapes wolves are now returning to are heavily modified by humans. This level of development raises the question: Do predators have the same influence on ecosystems where humans, rather than wolves, are the top dogs?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-qJKWp1ggio?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Washington Predator Prey Project examines the ecological effects of wolf recovery in Washington state. <em>Video produced by Benjamin Drummond and Sarah Joy Steele.</em></span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To answer this question, we used GPS collars to track the movements of 22 wolves, 60 cougars, 35 coyotes and 37 bobcats as they navigated the landscapes of northern Washington, comprising a patchwork of public forests and land used for agriculture, ranching, logging and residential development.</p>
<p>Using hundreds of thousands of GPS locations, we constructed statistical models to reveal how coyotes and bobcats navigated a landscape where humans, wolves and cougars all posed concurrent threats. The GPS collars also notified us when coyotes and bobcats died, allowing us to investigate what caused their deaths.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How researchers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife attach GPS collars to wolves. <em>Video produced by Benjamin Drummond and Sarah Joy Steele.</em></span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>When ‘human shields’ are lethal</h2>
<p>We found that wolves and cougars avoided areas heavily influenced by humans, such as busy roads and residential areas. Coyotes strongly avoided wolves, which brought them closer to humans. In parts of the landscape with large predators around, both coyotes and bobcats moved to areas with approximately double the human influence, potentially using humans as shields.</p>
<p>When coyotes and bobcats sought refuge near people, they instead encountered a more lethal source of danger. We found that humans were the greatest cause of mortality, killing these smaller predators at more than three times the rate that large carnivores did. </p>
<p><iframe id="FBR1N" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/FBR1N/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Our findings fit with earlier research that characterizes humans as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac4249">super predators</a>.” People use modern technologies such as firearms and steel traps to kill small predators at far higher rates than other predators kill small predators. Unlike other predators, humans often target animals in prime condition. </p>
<p>But if people are so dangerous, why would coyotes and bobcats seek refuge near them? Other research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arab150">smaller predators do indeed fear humans</a>, so they likely still recognize that humans are dangerous. Instead, we think they might not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.09051">correctly interpret the threats</a> posed by modern humans. </p>
<p>Most bobcats and coyotes in our study were either shot or trapped. These technologies allow people to kill animals either when absent or from large distances, possibly making it difficult for animals to accurately gauge risk.</p>
<p>Additionally, lenient hunting regulations for these small predators puts them at high risk. Under a Washington hunting license, for example, coyotes and bobcats can be <a href="https://www.eregulations.com/assets/docs/resources/WA/22WAWF_LR3.pdf">legally hunted and trapped</a> without limits – all year for coyotes and six months for bobcats.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fYPCD6yKNHs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The process of capturing and GPS-collaring a bobcat. After being sedated, it is common for animals to initially wake up groggy, but they soon return to normal.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Conservation in human-dominated landscapes</h2>
<p>While our findings may at first seem like bad news for conserving smaller predators, these results have important implications for maintaining balanced ecosystems, where no species is too abundant. Unbalanced ecosystems, like ones with too many small predators, can face devastating effects. In Australia, for example, overabundant cats and foxes have contributed to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1417301112">extinctions of about 30 small mammal species</a>.</p>
<p>Our results show that larger predators can constrain the behavior of smaller predators in human-dominated landscapes, which may help to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3783436">prevent overabundance</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biac069">Rewilding</a> ecosystems by using large predators to reestablish missing ecological processes may provide a way to maintain balanced ecosystems. As wolf populations continue to recover in large parts of the U.S. and Europe, our findings suggest that they are reestablishing important ecological processes by recreating these landscapes of fear that have long been missing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Calum Cunningham received funding from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Prugh receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Reintroducing wolves can restore important ecological processes, but it can have unintended effects when smaller predators like coyotes are driven closer to people, a team of ecologists found.Calum Cunningham, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of WashingtonLaura Prugh, Associate Professor of Quantitative Wildlife Sciences, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1998792023-02-20T02:25:42Z2023-02-20T02:25:42ZFrom the dingo to the Tasmanian devil - why we should be rewilding carnivores<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510763/original/file-20230217-2564-3bvtm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C15%2C5083%2C3150&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pack-dingoes-on-fraser-island-1403646581">Dominic Jeanmaire/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>No matter where you live, <a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-what-is-the-apex-predator-of-the-world-187616">apex predators</a> and large carnivores inspire awe as well as instil fear.</p>
<p>Large predators have been heavily persecuted and removed from areas where they once lived because of <a href="https://theconversation.com/killing-sharks-wolves-and-other-top-predators-wont-solve-conflicts-96626">conflict</a> with livestock graziers.</p>
<p>Beyond their large teeth, sharp claws and iconic status, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1205106">research</a> is finding they are crucially important in ecosystems. So there is considerable interest in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.172235">returning large carnivores</a> to areas where they once lived, as part of a shift towards <a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-four-tips-to-let-nature-thrive-157441">rewilding</a>. </p>
<p>Bringing back carnivores is <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/rewilding/2D3CFD33718F14F641AEF83FA1DB21AE">not without risk</a>, but it’s a potentially powerful conservation tool. </p>
<p>Rewilding dingoes and Tasmanian devils in Australia could benefit many of our troubled ecosystems, by keeping herbivore numbers down, keeping feral cats and foxes fearful, and triggering a rebound in vegetation and small animal populations.</p>
<h2>Predators vs prey</h2>
<p>Predators can affect their prey’s behaviour. When prey species know a predator is around and perceive risk to their survival, they change how they behave.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534719300199?via%3Dihub">landscape of fear</a> predators create can make it harder for prey species to survive. </p>
<p>That’s often good for ecosystems. The effect of dingoes in reducing, say, kangaroo and wallaby populations and changing their behaviour, can actually help bring back plants and smaller animals through a “<a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/trophic-cascades-across-diverse-plant-ecosystems-80060347/">trophic cascade</a>”. For example, wolves chasing, eating and scaring deer can lead to an increase in the growth of plants, which can benefit other species.</p>
<p>Predators also affect <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01347.x">other predators</a>. If humans poison, shoot, trap and exclude top predators like dingoes, smaller predators can increase in number and get bolder, in a phenomenon called <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/23028">mesopredator release</a>. In California, when coyotes disappeared due to habitat destruction, populations of smaller predators such as cats grew and songbird numbers fell.</p>
<h2>How is it done?</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/we-can-rewild-swathes-of-australia-by-focusing-on-what-makes-it-unique-111749">Rewilding</a> can occur passively, by changing laws to stop the exclusion or killing of large carnivores and making areas more favourable for carnivores to live. When this happens, species often move back by themselves. Encouragingly, this is happening in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1257553">many parts of the world</a>, including a recent sighting of a wolf in Brandenburg, Germany.</p>
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<p>In other cases, rewilding may need a more active approach, such as physically moving animals to an area. The return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q">ecological transformation</a> that followed is a famous example of this, although in recent times the details of this story have been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.13915">questioned</a>.</p>
<p>When does rewilding work best? <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320723000095?via%3Dihub">Recent research</a> shows wild-born animals fare better than captive-born animals, though the results are far from conclusive. Wild-born animals may have an edge due to their skills in hunting and defending territories <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320707004417?via%3Dihub">critically important</a> for survival.</p>
<h2>Rewilding in Australia means bringing back dingoes</h2>
<p>Once carnivores are killed or fenced off from an area, the ecosystem changes. Will we restore nature by bringing them back? Potentially – but it’s not guaranteed.
Australia’s controversial canine, <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/amoty/dingo-charismatic-controversial-canid/">the dingo</a>, is a perfect example. Aside from humans, dingoes are Australia’s only living land predator over 15 kilograms. </p>
<p>Dingoes have a vital role in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00203.x">Australian ecosystems</a>, such as keeping populations of <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/WR99030">kangaroos and emus</a> under control. They can also take down feral goats. Their natural control of herbivores means plants can bounce back, as well as making room for smaller animals. Their effect on plant life may even affect the height and shape of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-09/dingo-fence-map-ecology-farming-predator-sheep-extinction/101711608">sand dunes</a>. </p>
<p>In some parts of Australia, kangaroo populations <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14428903/2021/22/S1">have exploded</a>. Land clearing for pasture favours kangaroos, as do the dams and water troughs for livestock, the killing off of dingoes and the ending of First Nations Peoples’ cultural practices and hunting.</p>
<p>At times, these population booms have led to sudden crashes, with widespread starvation in droughts. Harvesting kangaroos is one response, but this is often controversial and unpopular. Bringing <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec.12186">dingoes back</a> would help reduce kangaroo numbers in a way more palatable to many people.</p>
<p>When present, dingoes also keep a lid on our worst introduced predators, feral cats and <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/AM21036">foxes</a>, either by eating them or forcing them to alter <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02207.x">their behaviour</a>. If cats and foxes have to be more careful, it may benefit their smaller prey.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A portrait of a dingo looking into the distance" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510778/original/file-20230217-26-gpl5tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510778/original/file-20230217-26-gpl5tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510778/original/file-20230217-26-gpl5tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510778/original/file-20230217-26-gpl5tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510778/original/file-20230217-26-gpl5tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510778/original/file-20230217-26-gpl5tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510778/original/file-20230217-26-gpl5tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dingoes are a controversial carnivore in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dingo-on-beach-great-sandy-national-791883502">Pawel Papis/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We could rewild dingoes very easily by removing large barriers like the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-09/dingo-fence-map-ecology-farming-predator-sheep-extinction/101711608">dingo fence</a>. This, of course, would trigger pushback from livestock graziers worried about attacks on their stock.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dingo-fence-from-space-satellite-images-show-how-these-top-predators-alter-the-desert-155642">The dingo fence from space: satellite images show how these top predators alter the desert</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It doesn’t have to be this way though. We’ve learned a lot about ways to <a href="https://theconversation.com/guardian-dogs-fencing-and-fladry-protect-livestock-from-carnivores-103290">reduce conflict</a> between farmers and predators. It’s now entirely possible for livestock producers and top predators to coexist. Western Australian farmers are already using guardian animals such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-16/maremmas-protecting-pastoral-sheep-outback-wa/101320626">Maremma dogs</a> to protect livestock.</p>
<h2>So should we do it?</h2>
<p>Australia has been slow to support and attempt large carnivore rewilding. But we can learn valuable lessons from the relocation of Tasmanian devils to an offshore haven, Maria Island. </p>
<p>Devils were introduced to safeguard the species against the severe population decline from devil facial tumour disease. These predators were not native to Maria Island, but they’ve flourished. One unexpected side effect was the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/21/tasmanian-devils-wipe-out-thousands-of-penguins-maria-island-australia">devastating impact</a> on the island’s little penguin population.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A close up of a Tasmanian devil" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510779/original/file-20230217-18-cgja4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510779/original/file-20230217-18-cgja4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510779/original/file-20230217-18-cgja4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510779/original/file-20230217-18-cgja4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510779/original/file-20230217-18-cgja4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510779/original/file-20230217-18-cgja4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510779/original/file-20230217-18-cgja4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An insurance population of Tasmanian devils has been established on Maria Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/XMnQnYND9JU">David Clode/unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rewilding comes with risks. But it also comes with major benefits, which may help our <a href="https://theconversation.com/existential-threat-to-our-survival-see-the-19-australian-ecosystems-already-collapsing-154077">collapsing ecosystems</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/gut-wrenching-and-infuriating-why-australia-is-the-world-leader-in-mammal-extinctions-and-what-to-do-about-it-192173">threatened species</a>. </p>
<p>Time is short. Conservation must take calculated and informed risks to achieve better outcomes. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.aav5570">Rewilding</a> attempts are valuable, even when things don’t go entirely as planned. </p>
<p>What else could we do? Discussions over the carefully planned <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-move-tasmanian-devils-back-to-the-mainland-16388">reintroduction of Tasmanian devils</a> to mainland Australia continue. If the devils come back to the mainland for the first time in thousands of years, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320715300379">they might</a> help to manage herbivore and feral cat populations.</p>
<p>Rewilding is not about recreating the <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-knowledge-and-the-persistence-of-the-wilderness-myth-165164">mythical idea</a> of wilderness. Humans have <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0576-5">shaped ecosystems</a> for millennia. </p>
<p>If rewilding and ecological restoration is to succeed, <a href="https://theconversation.com/academia-can-help-humans-and-large-carnivores-coexist-115467">communities and their values</a>, including First Nations groups, must be involved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199879/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Euan G. Ritchie is a Councillor within the Biodiversity Council, and a member of the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p>Rewilding is risky but we can learn from past attempts to use it as an effective tool for conservationEuan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994512023-02-17T12:09:58Z2023-02-17T12:09:58ZReintroducing top predators to the wild is risky but necessary – here’s how we can ensure they survive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509239/original/file-20230209-20-7c87m0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1272%2C848&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Collared leopard being released into North Ossetia, Russia in 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pavel Padalko</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Large carnivores are critical to the balance of an ecosystem. In Yellowstone National Park in the western US, <a href="https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Gray-Wolf">grey wolves</a> keep elk populations at a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320711004046">healthy level</a>. This prevents vegetation from being overgrazed and leads to taller woody plants which allow other species, such as beavers, to flourish. </p>
<p>But habitat loss and persecution have <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1241484">eliminated</a> many large carnivores from their historical environment. The Eurasian lynx could be found in the UK over a thousand years ago and wolves roamed the country until the mid-18th century.</p>
<p>However, our attitudes towards these animals are gradually changing and large carnivores are now viewed by many as the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1257553">victims of human expansion</a>. Many areas are seeing these animals return as a result. Yellowstone’s grey wolves were reintroduced in 1995 after 70 years, and in 2020, voters approved <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2022/09/09/where-colorado-will-reintroduce-wolves/">the species’ reintroduction</a> to the state of Colorado.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1561730584329732096"}"></div></p>
<p>Like these wolves, many other species require human intervention to reach their former habitats. But this is costly, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rec.13243">controversial</a> and often ends in failure. The relocation of a single animal can <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105042">cost thousands</a> and once released, these animals can <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/COBI.12959">prey on local livestock</a>.</p>
<p>But since 2007, we’ve seen <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877343520300592">technological advances</a> in wildlife monitoring, <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/2013-009.pdf">improved guidelines</a> for carrying out reintroductions and the global <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/">rewilding movement</a> gathering pace.</p>
<p>These factors make now the perfect moment to determine whether carnivore reintroductions are becoming more effective. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.109909">new study</a>, my colleagues and I studied the success of almost 300 carnivore reintroductions worldwide involving 18 different species between 2007 and 2021.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four maps split by continent showing the locations of the reintroductions studied." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510538/original/file-20230216-24-2tr9vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Global distribution of the large carnivore reintroductions studied.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Thomas et al (2023)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Indicators of success</h2>
<p>Between 2007 and 2021, 66% of all the reintroduced carnivores studied were still alive six months later. Survival at the six month mark was our measure of success.</p>
<p>Success rates for wild-born carnivores increased from 53% to 70%, while twice the number of captive-born animals (64%) now survive reintroduction than did so in 2007. </p>
<p>The most successful species in our study were <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/maned-wolf">maned wolves</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/puma-mammal-species">pumas</a> and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/ocelot">ocelots</a>. In contrast, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/lion">lions</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/brown-hyena">brown hyenas</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/cheetah-mammal">cheetahs</a>, <a href="https://wildcatconservation.org/wild-cats/eurasia/iberian-lynx/">Iberian lynx</a> and grey wolves were least able to survive their new environment.</p>
<p>We tested various factors, all of which were under the project manager’s control, that influence the success of animal reintroductions – practical changes that could improve the outcome of future rewilding efforts.</p>
<p>So-called “soft releases”, where animals are allowed an acclimation period at the release site anywhere between <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105042">10 days and 5 months</a> long, had a clear influence on survival. These releases had an 82% success rate compared to just 60% for releases with no period of adjustment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A puma walking next to a chain fence in a forested area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509635/original/file-20230213-14-2o3a7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A puma in a pre-release enclosure before being released into Serra do Japi, São Paulo, Brazil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Associação Mata Ciliar</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Younger animals and those born in the wild were also more likely to survive reintroduction. Wild-born animals had a 72% survival rate compared to 64% for animals born in captivity. This is good news for rehabilitated and orphaned carnivores which are taken from the wild for their survival. These animals represent a sizeable proportion of all reintroduced carnivores and made up 22% of the animals in our study. </p>
<p>We found higher success rates when carnivores were released into unfenced areas. This is surprising as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.12091">research</a> finds that fenced nature reserves tend to support higher densities of carnivores and reduce conflict with humans. </p>
<p>But greater competition for resources and direct conflict with other carnivores in these reserves may have a negative impact on the survival of reintroduced animals. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15627020.2003.11657196">Research</a> on the range and movement patterns of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_wild_dog">African wild dogs</a> in South Africa’s fenced Pilanesberg National Park found that the dogs actively avoid interaction with lions.</p>
<h2>Rewilding on the horizon – but there’s a catch</h2>
<p>Large carnivore reintroductions are becoming more effective, prompting countries to consider reintroducing large predators. In the UK, debates are ongoing surrounding the possible <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315175454-6/community-divided-steven-lipscombe-chris-white-adam-eagle-erwin-van-maanen">reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx</a>. Our findings could help inform their release. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eurasian-lynx-how-our-computer-model-highlighted-the-best-site-for-restoring-this-wild-cat-to-scotland-113624">Eurasian lynx: how our computer model highlighted the best site for restoring this wild cat to Scotland</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But our research also highlights the alarming fact that one-third of all large carnivore reintroductions fail. And even when successful, the establishment of a population has proved a challenge. Just 37% of the animals that survived reintroduction successfully reproduced and the number of animals who will have raised young to adulthood is likely even lower. It seems that many rewilded animals take far longer than six months to establish themselves in an ecosystem and find a potential mate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A lynx being released into the wild." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509639/original/file-20230213-27-ffpb1e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A male lynx was released together with two female lynx in the Slovenian Alps in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Polona Bartol</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Preventing species loss in their current ranges should thus always take priority. This will involve measures to tackle urbanisation and climate change, which are at present two leading causes of global habitat loss. </p>
<p>Despite their increasing success, the reintroduction of large carnivores still leads to the death of many of the animals involved and often fails to establish a population. The risky nature of these interventions makes it even more important that they have local support or they are likely doomed to fail from the start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Seth Thomas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research studies the factors that determine whether large carnivore reintroductions will be a success.Seth Thomas, Research assistant, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1769342023-01-25T22:08:36Z2023-01-25T22:08:36ZFinding Britain’s ‘shadow woods’ offers the fastest way to reforest the countryside<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506356/original/file-20230125-26-loni7s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4608%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Rotherham</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When William the Conqueror surveyed his new kingdom in <a href="http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/">1086</a>, from lowland to upland, Britain was covered with trees. In low-lying Yorkshire, the East Anglian Fens and the Somerset Levels, <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/wet-woodland/">wet woods</a> of tall white willows and alders lined great rivers. On windswept highlands in the Pennines, north Yorkshire and Cumbria, goat willows shed fuzzy catkins in downy blankets and dead leaves of wintertime moor-grass formed dense carpets.</p>
<p>Along the western coast of Britain were extensive <a href="https://lostrainforestsofbritain.org/2022/10/17/the-lost-rainforests-of-britain-book-book-tour/">Atlantic rainforests</a>: ancient, twisting trees enmeshed with boulders, all richly clothed in mosses, lichens and ferns. Now largely forgotten, these enigmatic forests once clad the lower slopes of hills and clifftops. </p>
<p>Where Britain’s rainforests remain, they provide rich sanctuaries for woodland wildlife absent from the wider landscape, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/beard-lichen">old man’s beard</a>, a lichen which hangs from branches in tangles.</p>
<p>Along with thickly wooded pastures where peasants grazed pigs among wild deer and boar, Britain’s rainforests persisted unenclosed into medieval times. Today’s ancient woods were enclosed from these same landscapes around 1,000 years ago. </p>
<p>On moors and heaths, trees were progressively removed by centuries of burning, grazing, and draining to support an abundance of sheep and grouse. Farming, timber extraction and livestock grazing erased most of the country’s natural wealth, with much of this loss happening surprisingly recently. Half of England’s ancient woods remaining in the 1940s were destroyed during the second half <a href="http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2013/01/31/pb13871-forestry-policy-statement">of the 20th century.
</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tangle of tree branches coated in moss." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Atlantic rainforests are dense, damp and mossy habitats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gree-hell-mossy-roots-trunks-deep-580037845">Drepicter/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet survivors from these earlier landscapes are found across the countryside in shrunken patches of oak-bluebell woodland which cling tenaciously to cliffs and outcrops or meadows with rare flowers and unique fungi. Often overlooked, these relics persist anywhere axes, ploughs or sheep have failed to reach. Wizened rowan trees and gnarled hawthorns, shrunken and bent by chill winds, may designate thousand year-old landscapes. Finding these patches could unlock future woodlands rich in currently rare species.</p>
<h2>What to look out for</h2>
<p>Scouring the countryside reveals clues of ancient woods in plants, old maps, and soils. Ecologists call these remnants <a href="https://www.ukeconet.org/store/p646/Shadow_Woods%3A_A_Search_for_Lost_Landscapes.html">shadow woods</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A knotted tree surrounded by bluebells." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ancient hawthorn and bluebells mark a shadow wood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Rotherham</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Plants like bluebell, yellow archangel, dog’s mercury and wood sorrel may survive underneath stands of bracken (a tall fern) and yellow-flowered gorse (a prickly shrub described as woodland in waiting) for centuries after a woodland has been cleared. These plants mark the spot where a woodland once grew, and where it can easily be encouraged to <a href="https://www.ukeconet.org/store/p91/Ancient_Woodland_-_History%2C_Industry%2C_Crafts.html;%20https://www.ukeconet.org/store/p458/Assessment_of_Ancient_Woodlands.html">grow back</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A vast and thick tangle of shrubs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bracken bed suggests a former wooded common.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Rotherham</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Maps and road signs offer hints too. Gardom’s Coppice in the Peak District is shrouded by recently-grown birch, but it holds a thousand veteran trees which were cultivated for wood over centuries and may be up to 800 years old.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wizened tree on a hillside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">So-called veteran trees may be several centuries old.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Rotherham</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Former woodlands also leave distinctive bands in the soil: patterns which reflect the movement of water through earth undisturbed by ploughing over long periods. I am studying how fungi and bacteria living in such soils might tell us even more about the woodland that once grew there.</p>
<h2>How to bring them back</h2>
<p>Having discovered suitable sites, the first thing to do is remove sheep and cattle which gobble up seedlings. This will allow trees to produce saplings, unlocking nature’s own powers of recovery. Soon, willow and birch seeds will arrive on the wind, berry-bearing holly, hawthorn and rowan will emerge from bird droppings and oaks may be planted by jays caching acorns. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crow-sized bird with dun plumage and blue and black wing details holding an acorn in its beak." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where jays go, oak trees follow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/jay-beak-holds-acorn-colorful-eurasian-1542152756">S.Borisovich/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Natural regeneration can freely rewild vast areas. The resulting habitats, which spring back quickly <a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-rare-birds-return-when-livestock-grazing-has-stopped-137948">once grazing is restricted</a>, are richer in plants, animals and fungi than plantations and cost nothing to create or manage. Sometimes the answer is to reduce grazing for a short time and bring herbivores back once trees are established. Either way, the complexity of the ecosystem recovers over time.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/monks-wood-wilderness-60-years-ago-scientists-let-a-farm-field-rewild-heres-what-happened-163406">Monks Wood Wilderness: 60 years ago, scientists let a farm field rewild – here's what happened</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Shadow woods indicate the extent of a former woodland and where reforestation is most likely to succeed, with high levels of resulting biodiversity. That’s because components of the former woodland are ready and waiting to aid the regeneration. That includes soil fungi which form partnerships with young trees and waiting flowers like bluebell and stitchwort which spread out under developing canopies to become the understorey. This reminds us that, ecologically, a woodland is much more than just the trees, but the whole functioning system.</p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian D. Rotherham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Atlantic rainforests once lined the island’s west coast – and could one day return.Ian D. Rotherham, Professor of Environmental Geography and Reader in Tourism and Environmental Change, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1970292023-01-24T03:55:09Z2023-01-24T03:55:09ZThey’re on our coat of arms but extinct in Tasmania. Rewilding with emus will be good for the island state’s ecosystems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505779/original/file-20230123-59990-bdkood.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3655%2C2432&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The emu is iconically Australian, appearing on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_%28beer%29">cans</a>, <a href="https://www.ramint.gov.au/sites/default/files/About%20our%20coins.pdf">coins</a>, <a href="https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/62203abd086ec294974d3950">cricket bats</a> and our <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/honours-and-symbols/commonwealth-coat-arms">national coat of arms</a>, as well as that of the Tasmanian capital, <a href="https://www.hobartcity.com.au/Council/About-Council/Hobart-Coat-of-Arms">Hobart</a>. However, most people don’t realise emus once also roamed Tasmania but are now extinct there.</p>
<p>Where did these Tasmanian emus live? Why did they go extinct? And should we reintroduce them? </p>
<p>Our newly published <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989422003602">research</a> combined historical records with population models to find out. We found emus lived across most of eastern Tasmania, including near Hobart, Launceston, Devonport, the Midlands and the east coast. However, in the early days of British occupation, colonists hunting with purpose-bred dogs slaughtered so many emus that the population crashed.</p>
<p>It’s not all bad news, though. Those areas still provide enough good, safe emu habitat to make reintroducing emus from the Australian mainland to Tasmania a realistic option.</p>
<p>Large animals, such as bison, wolves and giant tortoises are already part of global efforts to repair and maintain ecosystems and prevent more extinctions, through the conservation movement known as “<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1502556112">rewilding</a>”. </p>
<p>In Tasmania, rewilding with emus might help native plants to cope with a changing climate. As our world warms, the places where conditions are just right for particular plant species are shifting. Those plants must disperse far and fast to keep up. Introducing emus, which disperse many plant seeds in their droppings, could help.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-can-rewild-swathes-of-australia-by-focusing-on-what-makes-it-unique-111749">We can 'rewild' swathes of Australia by focusing on what makes it unique</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>Emus were Tasmania’s biggest herbivores</h2>
<p>Emus are the biggest birds in Australia. The females weigh up to a whopping 37 kilograms. But when European sealers and explorers arrived on Australia’s southern islands, they found smaller, shorter emus. According to <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0012">one estimate</a>, Kangaroo Island emus averaged 24-27kg and King Island emus a mere 20-23kg.</p>
<p>Contrary to local folklore, Tasmanian emus were actually more similar to their mainland cousins. They weighed about 30-34kg (but sometimes up to 40kg). </p>
<p>Along with eastern grey kangaroos, known locally as “foresters”, emus were the biggest herbivores in Tasmania.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505770/original/file-20230123-38008-9ne9pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing distribution of emus" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505770/original/file-20230123-38008-9ne9pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505770/original/file-20230123-38008-9ne9pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505770/original/file-20230123-38008-9ne9pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505770/original/file-20230123-38008-9ne9pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505770/original/file-20230123-38008-9ne9pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505770/original/file-20230123-38008-9ne9pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505770/original/file-20230123-38008-9ne9pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Emus are found throughout mainland Australia but were driven to extinction on Tasmania, Kangaroo Island and King Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0018728">Source: Ancient DNA Suggests Dwarf and ‘Giant’ Emu Are Conspecific, Heupink et al (2011)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What are the likely impacts on ecosystems?</h2>
<p>Large herbivores play <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-020-00788-5">important roles</a> in ecosystems around the world. By chewing on plants, pushing through vegetation and churning up soil, large animals can create a mosaic of habitat types for other, smaller creatures. They move seeds and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1502549112">nutrients</a> across the landscape and shape the frequency and intensity of fires.</p>
<p>Exactly how emus help ecosystems is a bit of a mystery because so few researchers have looked into it. But we do know emus are very good at <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2007.00402.x">seed dispersal</a>. Emus live anywhere, eat anything and swallow their food whole. They walk miles and miles while seeds slowly pass through their gut, to be ejected in a ready-made batch of compost. </p>
<p>Without emus, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/9780643104839">some plant populations</a> won’t be able to disperse quickly enough to escape the local effects of global warming.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Seeds germinating in a pile of emu poo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505990/original/file-20230123-16-abepin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505990/original/file-20230123-16-abepin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505990/original/file-20230123-16-abepin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505990/original/file-20230123-16-abepin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505990/original/file-20230123-16-abepin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505990/original/file-20230123-16-abepin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505990/original/file-20230123-16-abepin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many plant species benefit from being dispersed by emus that swallow their seeds whole and deposit them some distance away in a nutritious pile of ‘poo compost’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-fewer-animals-to-spread-their-seeds-plants-could-have-trouble-adapting-to-climate-change-174516">With fewer animals to spread their seeds, plants could have trouble adapting to climate change</a>
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<hr>
<h2>How did Tasmania lose its emus?</h2>
<p>We know <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/van-diemen%E2%80%99s-land">colonists hunted emus and kangaroos</a> in Tasmania. Emus were rarely seen on the island after 1845. But was hunting by a few hungry settlers enough to take out the whole population?</p>
<p>To find out, we recreated the emu population using computer simulations. Then we turned up the hunting pressure.</p>
<p>The signal was clear. Tasmania’s emu population could not sustain a harvest of more than about 1,500 adults per year. This limit was probably exceeded within a decade or two, which makes over-hunting the most likely cause of extinction.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the results of the simulation imply the island’s Indigenous people hunted adult emus at very low rates, less than one per person per year.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505767/original/file-20230123-52981-elj9q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=222%2C7%2C3705%2C2450&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Landscape painting showing sheep and emus in the foreground" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505767/original/file-20230123-52981-elj9q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=222%2C7%2C3705%2C2450&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505767/original/file-20230123-52981-elj9q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505767/original/file-20230123-52981-elj9q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505767/original/file-20230123-52981-elj9q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505767/original/file-20230123-52981-elj9q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505767/original/file-20230123-52981-elj9q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505767/original/file-20230123-52981-elj9q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Emus at Stanley, Tasmania, during the 1840s, in a painting by William Porden Kay. They were rare by the middle of that decade.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emus_at_Stanley_during_the_1840s.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-200-australian-birds-are-now-threatened-with-extinction-and-climate-change-is-the-biggest-danger-172751">More than 200 Australian birds are now threatened with extinction – and climate change is the biggest danger</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Where can we reintroduce emus?</h2>
<p>To find safe places for reintroductions, we overlapped emu habitat with current land use. We found large parts of the state that have both good emu habitat and a healthy distance from areas with higher risk of human-emu conflict.</p>
<p>Small-scale, trial introductions could be done in fenced enclosures to learn more about the emus’ needs and their ecological roles. </p>
<p>Indigenous voices are particularly important in conversations about reintroductions, because of the roles such animals play in living traditional cultures. For example, emus have featured in Tasmanian Aboriginal story, dance, song and art for generations. Pakana and Palawa still <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch?ref=search&v=311808362745980&external_log_id=6d8c1fb2-30e0-42e7-883d-b86eb66e09be&q=nita%20education%20%22emu%20dance%22">perform emu dances</a> today. </p>
<p>Such conversations must be had with care, because many Indigenous people are <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2022218118">wary</a> of terms such as “rewilding” and “wilderness”. These terms can carry the implication of a land without people, when in fact Australian landscapes have a long and rich history of Indigenous people caring for Country. Even the concept of “wildness” can imply too strong a separation between humans and our non-human kin, and a lack of reciprocity and responsibility.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1123827228880588801"}"></div></p>
<h2>Australia has just begun rewilding</h2>
<p>Landscapes all over the world have lost large animals that would otherwise be keeping ecosystems healthy and dynamic. European and American conservationists have responded by reintroducing large animals for their ecological and cultural functions.</p>
<p>Rewilding Europe, for example, has reintroduced <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-in-action/wildlife-comeback/bison/">bison</a> to the Carpathian mountains and primitive <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-in-action/wildlife-comeback/wild-horses/">horses</a> to Portugal, Spain, Bulgaria and Ukraine. These efforts are placing prehistoric grazing regimes back into a rich cultural landscape. </p>
<p>On islands in the Indian Ocean, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2017.0442">giant tortoises</a> have been introduced to replace their extinct cousins. Those tortoises graze down weeds and give native plants a better chance of recovery.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-as-farmland-and-villages-are-abandoned-forests-wolves-and-bears-are-returning-to-europe-119316">Rewilding: as farmland and villages are abandoned, forests, wolves and bears are returning to Europe</a>
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<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1488135538896949251"}"></div></p>
<p>In Siberia, the <a href="https://pleistocenepark.ru/animals/">Pleistocene Park</a> project aims to re-create a rich steppe ecosystem by reintroducing bactrian camels, musk oxen and American plains bison. One benefit is this will increase the amount of carbon stored in that landscape.</p>
<p>In Australia, most of our animal reintroduction programs are focused on conserving individual species. In a few cases, like the <a href="https://marnabanggara.com.au/">Marna Banggara</a> project, ecological engineers like <a href="https://theconversation.com/so-you-want-to-cat-proof-a-bettong-how-living-with-predators-could-help-native-species-survive-170450">bettongs are being introduced</a> to kick-start ecosystem restoration, but this is happening behind fences and on islands.</p>
<p>We need solutions like rewilding for our open landscapes. Reintroducing emus to Tasmania would be a good first step.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197029/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Johnson receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Fielding and Tristan Derham do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tasmania’s emus were hunted to extinction in the mid-1800s but we could have them back – and their return could help other species survive climate change.Tristan Derham, Research Associate, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) Policy Hub – Training and Education, University of TasmaniaChristopher Johnson, Professor of Wildlife Conservation, University of TasmaniaMatthew Fielding, Research Associate / Teaching Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1934472022-11-23T00:10:19Z2022-11-23T00:10:19ZThey might not have a spine, but invertebrates are the backbone of our ecosystems. Let’s help them out<p>Many of Australia’s natural places are in a poor state. While important work is being done to protect particular species, we must also take a broader approach to returning entire ecosystems to their <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aav5570">former glory</a> – a strategy known as “rewilding”. </p>
<p>Rewilding aims to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534716000628">restore</a> the complex interactions that make up a functioning ecosystem. It involves reintroducing long-lost plants and animals to both conserve those species and restore an area’s natural processes.</p>
<p>You might imagine this involves an ecologist releasing cute, furry bilbies, or an endangered songbird. This is a logical assumption. Research <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/bias-and-dispersal-in-the-animal-reintroduction-literature/BAB3FC3B2FE61B60CDC4273373624569">shows</a> a marked bias in reintroduction programs towards vertebrates, especially birds and mammals. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, invertebrates are often overlooked. But <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.2779">our new research</a> shows rewilding with invertebrates – insects, worms, spiders and the like – can go a long way in bringing our degraded landscapes back to life.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="spider in web in front of tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496877/original/file-20221122-18-aq9k9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496877/original/file-20221122-18-aq9k9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496877/original/file-20221122-18-aq9k9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496877/original/file-20221122-18-aq9k9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496877/original/file-20221122-18-aq9k9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496877/original/file-20221122-18-aq9k9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496877/original/file-20221122-18-aq9k9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Invertebrates are crucial to functioning ecosystems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A shocking decline</h2>
<p>Invertebrates <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.241.4872.1441">make up 97% of animal life</a> and drive key processes such as pollination and cycling nutrients. But they’re the focus of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/bias-and-dispersal-in-the-animal-reintroduction-literature/BAB3FC3B2FE61B60CDC4273373624569">just 3%</a> of reintroduction projects.</p>
<p>This reflects a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.297.5579.191b">taxonomic bias</a> in conservation. Overseas, this has led to rewilding projects centred on <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1502556112">large keystone mammals</a> that alter ecosystems on a broad scale, such as wolves and bison. </p>
<p>Of course, traditional vertebrate rewilding projects are very important for ecosystem restoration. In Australia, for example, they are <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13280">vital in restoring mammal communities</a> decimated by cats and foxes. </p>
<p>But invertebrate species are <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aax9931">declining at shocking rates</a> around the world, especially as climate change <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2002543117">worsens</a>. They also need our help to re-colonise new areas.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-humble-dung-beetle-engineers-better-ecosystems-in-australia-101975">How the humble dung beetle engineers better ecosystems in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="man and child look on as woman releases bilby" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496879/original/file-20221122-16-7k8rr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496879/original/file-20221122-16-7k8rr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496879/original/file-20221122-16-7k8rr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496879/original/file-20221122-16-7k8rr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496879/original/file-20221122-16-7k8rr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496879/original/file-20221122-16-7k8rr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496879/original/file-20221122-16-7k8rr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mammal rewilding projects are very important for ecosystem restoration, but invertebrates need help too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bobby-Jo Photography/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No beetle is an island</h2>
<p>Picture an island in the middle of the ocean. The further from shore it is, the more animals on the mainland will struggle to reach it – especially if they’re tiny and wingless, like many invertebrates.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I built our study around this analogy. </p>
<p>Instead of islands, our research involved six isolated patches of revegetated land on farms. And instead of an ocean, invertebrates had to cross a sea of pasture which, for many litter-dwelling invertebrates, is a barren, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/btp.12682">unsheltered wasteland</a>.</p>
<p>The farm sites were “biologically poor”. That is, despite the habitat quality improving following revegetation, they contained lower-than-expected invertebrate biodiversity. </p>
<p>We surmised that invertebrates from surrounding “biologically rich” national parks were struggling to reach and recolonise the isolated revegetation patches. </p>
<p>Our study involved giving invertebrates a hand to find new homes. We moved leaf litter – and more than 300 invertebrates species hiding in it – from national park sites into six revegetated farm sites in central Victoria. </p>
<p>We moved litter samples several times between 2018 and 2020, over different seasons. Sites were “paired”, so a national park site was paired with a revegetated one that would have been similar had degradation had not occurred.</p>
<p>The litter community of invertebrates is incredibly complex and can be broken into three groups: macroinvertebrates (more than 5 mm), mesoinvertebrates (less than 5 mm) and microbes. We focused on mesoinvertebrates, which mostly comprise mites, ticks, ants, beetles and springtails (small, wingless arthropods).</p>
<p>We found among this group, beetles were most likely to survive and thrive in their new habitat, which was much drier than the one they left. Rove beetles did particularly well. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="red and black beetle on leaf" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496880/original/file-20221122-18-oaiosp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496880/original/file-20221122-18-oaiosp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496880/original/file-20221122-18-oaiosp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496880/original/file-20221122-18-oaiosp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496880/original/file-20221122-18-oaiosp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496880/original/file-20221122-18-oaiosp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496880/original/file-20221122-18-oaiosp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Numbers of beetles – particularly the rove beetle, pictured – bounced back quickly after being moved.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beetles are hardy little things with <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.14418">strong exoskeletons</a> that protect them from drying out. In fact, as early as seven months after being moved, beetle numbers at the new sites reached levels similar to that in pristine national parks that we sourced leaf litter from.</p>
<p>We did not have the same success with other types of invertebrates. For example, springtails are a massive component of leaf litter communities in national parks. But they’re soft-bodied and dry out easily, so were more likely to die when moved to a new, drier environment. </p>
<p>Understanding why some groups are more likely to survive leaf litter transplants than others
is a vital step in the development of invertebrate rewilding. Nonetheless, our results show the relatively simple act of moving leaf litter can lead to comparatively large increases in species richness in a short time. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/photos-from-the-field-zooming-in-on-australias-hidden-world-of-exquisite-mites-snails-and-beetles-147576">Photos from the field: zooming in on Australia's hidden world of exquisite mites, snails and beetles</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="ant in leaf litter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496881/original/file-20221122-24-rw8qpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496881/original/file-20221122-24-rw8qpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496881/original/file-20221122-24-rw8qpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496881/original/file-20221122-24-rw8qpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496881/original/file-20221122-24-rw8qpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496881/original/file-20221122-24-rw8qpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496881/original/file-20221122-24-rw8qpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Moving leaf litter can quickly lead to comparatively large increases in species richness .</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Loving our creepy crawlies</h2>
<p><a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.2779">Our study showed</a> how a simple method of rewilding with invertebrates can effectively reintroduce multiple species at once. This is an important finding.</p>
<p>More research into the method is needed across different types of sites and over longer timeframes. However, our method has the potential to be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320715300847">applied widely</a> in the fight against global invertebrate declines.</p>
<p>The method is cheap and easy. In contrast, rewilding projects involving vertebrates can be hard to execute and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John-Kanowski/publication/329403751_Effective_conservation_of_critical_weight_range_mammals_reintroduction_projects_of_the_Australian_Wildlife_Conservancy/links/60becc2092851cb13d88cd21/Effective-conservation-of-critical-weight-range-mammals-reintroduction-projects-of-the-Australian-Wildlife-Conservancy.pdf">expensive</a>, and often require breeding animals for release.</p>
<p>Invertebrates are the bulk of terrestrial diversity and the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12002">backbone</a> for proper ecosystem functioning. We need to start putting them at the centre of rewilding projects.</p>
<p>Our results are just one <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320711002874">small piece in the puzzle</a>. Many <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aax9931">other invertebrate communities</a> will need safeguarding and restoring in the future. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/14/1787">research</a> has challenged the assumption that humans naturally find vertebrates more engaging than invertebrates. We might be pleasantly surprised to find the public is as engaged with invertebrate rewilding projects as those focused on cute and cuddly critters.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/earth-harbours-20-000-000-000-000-000-ants-and-they-weigh-more-than-wild-birds-and-mammals-combined-190831">Earth harbours 20,000,000,000,000,000 ants – and they weigh more than wild birds and mammals combined</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Contos receives funding from the Ecological Society of Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heloise Gibb receives funding from the Hermon Slade Foundation and the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>New research shows rewilding with invertebrates – insects, worms, spiders and the like – can go a long way in bringing our degraded landscapes back to life.Peter Contos, PhD Candidate, La Trobe UniversityHeloise Gibb, Professor, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1754452022-02-22T10:03:40Z2022-02-22T10:03:40ZWolves are returning to European farmland – but they’re not motivated by a taste for sheep<p>Few animals are as adaptable as the wolf, which boasts one of the widest distributions of any land carnivore. Wolves were eradicated from many areas of Europe in the 19th century after prolonged persecution, but they have staged a <a href="https://theconversation.com/bears-wolves-lynx-europe-is-going-wild-19917">comeback</a> in recent decades. Today, there are thought to be at least <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-in-action/wildlife-comeback/wolf/">12,000</a> wolves roaming the continent, and their numbers are increasing.</p>
<p>Europe’s growing wolf population, often organised in family groups of parents and their offspring of the year, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-live-with-large-predators-lessons-from-spanish-wolf-country-167326">is competing</a> with people for space and resources, occasionally killing livestock, dogs and prized game. Young wolves typically leave after one or two years and try to establish a family of their own. As wolves in central Europe expand their range, they’re increasingly moving into more heavily cultivated rural areas. </p>
<p>One of these is the Jutland peninsula, which is part of Denmark and the northernmost German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. There are lots of sheep here, mostly kept in fenced enclosures, and very little forest. This means that most wolves entering the area have a hard time finding somewhere to settle. The first wolf in Jutland was recorded in 2007, and there were probably fewer than five entering the area each year until 2014. In 2021, 17 wolves were recorded.</p>
<p>For wolves and local people to coexist, harm to livestock must be kept to a minimum. <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.783027/full">We investigated</a> where Jutland’s growing wolf population is living and where most attacks on sheep occur, to spot areas where livestock need better protection. But with wolves killing numerous sheep in the peninsula, we also wanted to know why they were doing this in the first place. Were they simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or had they developed a preference for sheep as easy prey? The difference is important. Government agencies can only define wolves as “problem animals” suitable for culling if they show a preference for eating livestock.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.783027/full">We found</a> that wolves mainly eat sheep because they happen to be moving through areas with lots of farm animals and little natural prey. Killing such wolves only solves the problem temporarily, usually until the next wolf arrives. For a long-term solution, sheep must be better protected from attack in areas where wolves occur.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442476/original/file-20220125-25-12k3ep0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of the Jutland peninsula with shaded areas and sheep icons denoting wolf and livestock presence." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442476/original/file-20220125-25-12k3ep0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442476/original/file-20220125-25-12k3ep0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442476/original/file-20220125-25-12k3ep0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442476/original/file-20220125-25-12k3ep0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442476/original/file-20220125-25-12k3ep0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442476/original/file-20220125-25-12k3ep0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442476/original/file-20220125-25-12k3ep0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most sheep live in areas where wolves are passing through.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Mayer</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where and why wolves kill livestock</h2>
<p>In Schleswig-Holstein in the south of Jutland, most wolf-monitoring is done by inspecting dead farm animals. Bite marks are swabbed to collect traces of saliva which are analysed for genetic confirmation that a wolf killed the sheep. In many cases, it is even possible to identify the individual wolf responsible. In Denmark to the north, where fewer sheep are killed, authorities manage a large network of camera traps and collect faeces. Thanks to this intensive monitoring, wolves in Jutland are recorded on average about once every two weeks.</p>
<p>We found that resident wolves, trying to establish a territory and form a family group, were more likely to settle in places with more forest – important habitat for wild prey such as red deer – compared to surrounding areas, and generally killed few sheep (about eight per year). This suggests wolves generally try to settle in areas with little human influence. </p>
<p>Young wolves on the move also preferred areas with more forest, but they were just as likely to be recorded in areas with lots of sheep, probably because livestock kills are the main way in which people notice these highly mobile vagabonds. They killed way more sheep: more than 40 per year.</p>
<p>Differences in personality were negligible in explaining how many sheep a wolf killed. Instead of there being a few offenders with a taste for sheep, our study indicated that any wolf may predate livestock depending on how the land is managed. </p>
<p>A handful of wolves that killed disproportionately many sheep did so because they stayed a disproportionately long time in landscapes full of sheep and less because they had a special affinity for preying on them. Categorising certain individuals as problem wolves, which is how local authorities deal with wolves that kill lots of livestock, is unhelpful for understanding and mitigating the causes of livestock kills by large carnivores.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wolf pup staring at the camera and walking into frame in a forest clearing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442473/original/file-20220125-21-gbv8zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442473/original/file-20220125-21-gbv8zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442473/original/file-20220125-21-gbv8zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442473/original/file-20220125-21-gbv8zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442473/original/file-20220125-21-gbv8zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442473/original/file-20220125-21-gbv8zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442473/original/file-20220125-21-gbv8zt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wolf pup snapped by a camera trap in Denmark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Boesdal, Søren Krabbe, Mads Skamris & Naturhistorisk Museum Aarhus</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How to reduce livestock losses</h2>
<p>People must be willing to tolerate the risks of wolves if they are to be allowed to live in the same area. One incentive would reimburse farmers for the sheep they lose to wolves. Yet while it’s crucial that governments support these farmers, this compensation is not a sustainable solution on its own – it doesn’t resolve the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10344-021-01522-1">cause of the problem</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, the number of farm animals being killed by predators has to be reduced. This is possible in Jutland, where most sheep are kept in fenced enclosures and not herded by a shepherd, by raising fences and adding electric wires to make them predator-proof.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A herd of sheep near a feeding station in a field at dawn." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443208/original/file-20220128-19-1lek7bc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443208/original/file-20220128-19-1lek7bc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443208/original/file-20220128-19-1lek7bc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443208/original/file-20220128-19-1lek7bc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443208/original/file-20220128-19-1lek7bc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443208/original/file-20220128-19-1lek7bc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443208/original/file-20220128-19-1lek7bc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sheep in Jutland could be protected from wolf attacks by predator-proof fences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Mayer</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our results also showed that wolves killed the majority of livestock in a comparatively small area (16% of the total peninsula), probably because many vagrant wolves moved through there. Focusing on improving livestock enclosures here would go a long way to reduce wolf predation overall. The biggest challenge for preventing wolf attacks on livestock is not so much in the forested areas where wolves settle, but in these remaining parts of Jutland where wolves pass by.</p>
<p>Our findings not only show the incredible flexibility of wolves, but also illustrate the increasing challenges of managing them in human-dominated landscapes. As wolf populations continue to increase and expand, there is an urgent need to prepare for their return or temporary visit. Reducing wolf attacks is not only an important part of improving human tolerance, it also lowers the suffering of livestock and economic damage to farmers – as well as their anxiety about sharing space with predators.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Mayer receives funding from 15. Juni Fonden and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hanna Pettersson receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kent Olsen receives funding from 15. Juni Fonden and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Sunde receives funding from 15. Juni Fonden and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.</span></em></p>Wolves killing livestock are seizing an opportunity for a meal in a landscape with little natural prey.Martin Mayer, Tenure Track Researcher in Animal Ecology, Aarhus UniversityHanna Pettersson, PhD Candidate, Sustainability Research Institute, University of LeedsKent Olsen, Head of Research & Collections, Natural History Museum AarhusPeter Sunde, Professor of Applied Wildlife Ecology, Aarhus UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1688812022-02-15T17:24:45Z2022-02-15T17:24:45ZWhat is biocultural diversity, and why does it matter?<p>What do the English concept of the countryside, the French <em>paysage</em>, the Spanish <em>dehesas</em> and Australian Aboriginal <em>country</em> have in common? All of these are unique landscapes which created through long-term management by people. All are underpinned by centuries, even millennia, of intangible knowledge, cultural heritage and practice.</p>
<p>Crucially, these landscapes also contain more biodiversity than the areas that surrounding them. It was this observation that created the term “biocultural diversity”, to encompass how crucial the knowledge, innovations, and practices of indigenous peoples and local communities are for conservation and sustainability.</p>
<p>Biocultural diversity first gained attention at the 1988 First International Congress of Ethnobiology in Belém, Brazil. That congress gathered Indigenous peoples, scientists, and environmentalists together to devise a strategy to halt the ongoing decline in the global diversity of both nature and culture.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ethnobiology.net/what-we-do/core-programs/global-coalition-2/declaration-of-belem/">The Congress declaration</a> stated: “There is an inextricable link between cultural and biological diversity.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="'Emerald Terraces of the Cordillera' surround Bangaan village near Banaue, Ifugao, Philippines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441356/original/file-20220118-19-139fzi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441356/original/file-20220118-19-139fzi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441356/original/file-20220118-19-139fzi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441356/original/file-20220118-19-139fzi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441356/original/file-20220118-19-139fzi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441356/original/file-20220118-19-139fzi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441356/original/file-20220118-19-139fzi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rice terraces of the Cordillera in the Philippines are recognised by the UN as a ‘cultural landscape’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/40879929533/in/photolist-25hqjPg-2g5SCAL-sHSruG-62xCHF-62BRwj-62xGqa-62BV41-62BXtq-62C1xj-62C3dJ-62BSgu-2g4ekVb-62xDhF-62xJLr-62xHXp-62BZG5-62xDTF-62BVMy-62xAte-6phK-62BwrU-29ZZYZw-NXNa3Y-6278ZF-2g688xR-4kA93z-njSTHV-8QYQtn-6274yg-6278hF-6275de-6273RD-62bgfh-4kA8NX-62bkHd-627736-62bjsS-62biR7-ni7HZq-62xgi4-62Btiw-5RjwbJ-62bfBS-62Bu8C-62xftB-5RjyzU-5Rfj42-6eLge-2b5B98f-vowh9D">David Stanley</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By 2016, the Convention on Biological Diversity had adopted the Mo’otz kuxtal (meaning “roots of life” in the Maya language) <a href="https://www.cbd.int/doc/publications/8j-cbd-mootz-kuxtal-en.pdf">guidelines</a> for fairly accessing and sharing the knowledge, innovations and practices of Indigenous peoples for conservation and sustainability.</p>
<h2>Language and biodiversity</h2>
<p>How does biocultural diversity manifest? One example can be found in language.</p>
<p>Language diversity hotspots frequently correlate with species diversity hotspots; similarly, endangered languages often correspond to areas where there are high numbers of <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/109/21/8032">endangered species</a>.</p>
<p>We can see the importance of language in conserving biodiversity in the management practices of Northern American First Nations in the <a href="https://ecotrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Rainforests_of_Home.pdf">temperate rainforest</a> of western Canada and the USA. Particular phrases in the native languages indicate, for example, times for harvesting wild plants and animals, and other biodiversity signals that allow sustainable harvesting.</p>
<p>Similarly, many Australian Aboriginal peoples define <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/research/natural-environment/land/about-the-calendars">seasons</a> through language based on biodiversity signals. They link those signals to fire management techniques, which are vital to protecting the Australian landscape from <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-expertise-is-reducing-bushfires-in-northern-australia-its-time-to-consider-similar-approaches-for-other-disasters-155361">ever-more deadly wildfires</a>.</p>
<p>And on the Isle of Man, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPFuUsdpmRo">resurrection of the Manx language</a> has had positive effects on both local culture and the environment. Use of Manx language names for plants, animals and habitat management allow Civil society and tourists alike to better appreciate biodiversity, landscape and culture.</p>
<h2>Severing cultures</h2>
<p>If the interweaving of nature and culture can have a positive effect on biodiversity, its opposite, the separation of nature from human culture, known as <a href="https://www.rsb.org.uk/biologist-book-reviews/cultural-severance-and-the-environment">cultural severance</a>, is negative. Cultural severance is a serious problem for conserving both nature and culture.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441353/original/file-20220118-19-ztklns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A view of the Isle of Man from an aeroplane window" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441353/original/file-20220118-19-ztklns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441353/original/file-20220118-19-ztklns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441353/original/file-20220118-19-ztklns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441353/original/file-20220118-19-ztklns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441353/original/file-20220118-19-ztklns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=294&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441353/original/file-20220118-19-ztklns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=294&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441353/original/file-20220118-19-ztklns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=294&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Isle of Man has benefitted from the revival of the Manx language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/39997856@N03/8073155752/in/photolist-dip2Wy-2jpcgHx-221um6p-Fp5bHo-pbML9M-2kZcupF-bLSfd-ZW46-5x4D3z-5x4EJZ-N2Eqo2-hYrTqe-mB9XB-2mmdbNV-Ps8rR4-MQMAqQ-i6yYro-di6LM3-i2N4WX-q2es9S-R21c2h-dhzcDB-GdG9T2-d8TrKh-Bmab6f-afZtkX-2h2hk74-ptgAch-2hKpmdg-hXNrgN-6QMyti-Db5vSu-274GhGT-5x965N-6Qrx6H-5wYKRd-5x91Ys-5wYGfw-pcCERp-5wYXNJ-5x4DpK-5x92mY-5x4C4a-2mbVjcM-5x8ZxW-5wUECH-5x4E28-QRexXW-5wYUD7-5x4DeK">Mariusz Kluzniak</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Creating deliberate cultural severance (even depopulation) is effectively “rewilding”, but without direction. Landscapes shaped by people that suffer depopulation may suddenly look “natural”, yet will have fewer drivers for ecosystem functions. This has potential negative consequences, despite the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-four-tips-to-let-nature-thrive-157441">increasing clamour for rewilding</a>.</p>
<p>Cultural severance has taken place all over the world. Examples include the conversion of upland moors and bogs to intensive grouse moor in the UK; the conversion of prairie land to intensive agriculture in the US Midwest; and the removal of Indigenous management of landscapes in Australia, Africa, and Latin America.</p>
<p>Cultural severance can result in dramatic declines in ecological diversity. Many of the species that have today reduced in numbers and distribution have declined because long-term human involvement in the landscape management has ended.</p>
<h2>New concepts</h2>
<p>Since 2018, a concept has been developed to describe our relationship with the environment, <a href="https://ipbes.net/glossary/natures-contributions-people">“nature’s contributions to people”</a>. It is an evolution of the idea of ecosystem services, which refers to the positive benefit the environment provides to people, and it is not without controversy.</p>
<p>It only refers to people’s contributions to nature in a very obscure way. To be a complete concept, it must explain the feedbacks and links between cultural and biological diversity. In diagrammatic form, these feedbacks and links look like this:</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446567/original/file-20220215-15-1vnzgb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446567/original/file-20220215-15-1vnzgb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446567/original/file-20220215-15-1vnzgb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446567/original/file-20220215-15-1vnzgb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446567/original/file-20220215-15-1vnzgb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446567/original/file-20220215-15-1vnzgb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446567/original/file-20220215-15-1vnzgb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>UNESCO recognises <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/culturallandscape/">cultural landscapes</a> in its World Heritage Convention. This constitutes a growing list of places significant for their biocultural diversity, from the Saloum Delta in Senegal to Norway’s Vega Archipelago, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in Central Australia and the rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras.</p>
<p>The people who live in and around landscapes have cultivated the sharing of intergenerational knowledge on maintenance, management, and reshaping of the land they inhabit. This can be encapsulated simply as the “interaction between genes and memes”. We do not mean memes in the social media sense, but in the original meaning given by <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Selfish_Gene/ekonDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=inauthor:%22Richard+Dawkins%22&printsec=frontcover">Richard Dawkins</a>, as inherited culture.</p>
<p>The Convention on Biological Diversity defines biocultural diversity as “biological diversity and cultural diversity and the links between them”. The convention also defines biocultural heritage as the holistic approach of many indigenous peoples and local communities. This collective conceptual approach recognises knowledge as “heritage”.</p>
<p>We suggest these definitions should be widely used, and encourage further work on the concepts, both academic and practical.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For 50 years, the UNESCO <a href="https://en.unesco.org/mab">Man and the Biosphere Program</a> (MAB) has combined exact, natural and social sciences to find solutions implemented in the 727 exceptional sites (131 countries) of biosphere reserves.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Ecosystems thrive in places where human connections with nature go back generations.Peter Bridgewater, Adjunct Professor, University of CanberraSuraj Upadhaya, Postdoctoral research associate, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1761032022-02-03T13:20:13Z2022-02-03T13:20:13ZCranes: why Britain’s tallest bird just had its best breeding year since the 1600s<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444252/original/file-20220203-25-y6gm9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3833%2C2553&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Upton/RSPB</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Binoculars in hand, I’m hunkered down beside the floodplain at the RSPB’s <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/nene-washes/">Nene Washes nature reserve</a> in Cambridgeshire, England. It’s a cold, late-winter morning and there are few people around, but I’ve come early to try to get a glimpse of a giant among British birds: the common crane.</p>
<p>There are few wildlife spectacles as impressive as cranes performing their courtship dance. The graceful, leggy common crane (<em>Grus grus</em>) stands at a lofty four-foot tall. It has a dove-grey body, black-and-white neck, crimson crown, and a black bustle. It is one of the loudest birds in Europe too: their deep, bugling call <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/rspb-news-stories/how-wetland-restoration-gave-cranes-a-second-chance-in-britain/">can be heard 6km away</a>.</p>
<p>Pairs are monogamous and stay together throughout the year, reinforcing their special pair bond each spring. They strut their stuff, in a dance consisting of elaborate leaps, bows and pirouettes, trumpeting as they go.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Ky5qqRyZXg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It’s hard to imagine this was once a familiar sight and sound in the UK, yet 400 years ago cranes were common across the country’s wetlands. They were also, unfortunately, a favourite dish at medieval feasts: some 115 cranes were reportedly served at Henry III’s Christmas banquet at York in 1251. Pressure from hunters, combined with shrinking wetlands, led to their extinction as a breeding bird around 1600, with the fenlands of East Anglia remaining one of their last strongholds. </p>
<p>Once lost, cranes became a rare visitor. Between 1773 and 1950, there were just 73 records in the UK as passage migrants: in spring heading towards northern Europe and in autumn heading south towards Iberia. It wasn’t until the 1950s that crane visits became annual, thanks to a recovering population in continental Europe.</p>
<p>I’m watching cranes now thanks to the work of dedicated conservationists. First, by a handful of people who made it their mission to bring cranes back, and increasingly, by partnerships of like-minded people and organisations. This has involved careful guarding of nest sites as cranes reappeared under their own steam in East Anglia, alongside a carefully designed captive breeding programme in south-west England.</p>
<p>These efforts are paying off: 2021 proved to be the most successful year for cranes since the 17th century. A record-breaking 72 pairs were present in the UK, 65 of which attempted to breed, rearing an impressive 40 chicks. The total population, counting breeding and non-breeding birds, is thought to stand at over 200.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A slender, brown chick with long legs and yellow beak amid tall grass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444257/original/file-20220203-13-omcuoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A three-week old crane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Upton/RSPB</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The long road to recovery</h2>
<p>It was in the autumn of 1979 that two cranes reappeared in the Norfolk Broads. These (presumed wild) birds paired up and attempted to breed in 1981 without success, but in the following year managed to fledge a single chick – thought to be the first in the UK for over 400 years. Another followed in 1983. </p>
<p>Recolonisation proceeded very slowly in part because these long-lived birds can take four years to mature and typically only lay two eggs. The number of chicks remained low under high levels of predation, the main culprits being foxes. Just four young fledged from 14 breeding attempts over the first 11 years. </p>
<p>In 1992, it was decided that cranes needed a helping hand and captive breeding was trialled, but without success. The population’s fortunes seemed to change in the late 1990s, as their productivity improved and more and more young were successfully raised. This boost, along with work to restore and improve existing wetlands, enticed them to other parts of England, including <a href="https://www.humberheadpeatlands.org.uk/">Natural England’s Humberhead Peatlands</a>, RSPB’s Lakenheath and where I sat in the Nene Washes. </p>
<p>In 2006, the RSPB, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Viridor Credits launched <a href="http://www.thegreatcraneproject.org.uk/">the Great Crane Project</a> with the aim of returning breeding cranes to other parts of their former range. In 2010, 20 hand-reared juvenile cranes <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-10894554">were released</a> onto the Somerset Levels and Moors and this population has steadily grown and expanded its range. Now, cranes are nesting in many English counties, and have even returned to Scotland and Wales.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two adult cranes with three adolescents in the background in a yellow-coloured field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444259/original/file-20220203-2468-1owiztr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christine and Gilbert call in a stubbly barley field at dawn, surrounded by three adolescent cranes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Upton/RSPB</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Staring over the floodplain, my patience is rewarded as the sedge (the collective noun for a group of cranes) flies in. Here on the washes, the marshland provides the perfect place for protective parents to raise chicks during the summer. But cranes are notoriously difficult to spot when they have chicks and are generally wary. The best time to see them is during the winter when they form flocks and it is always best to watch from a good distance to avoid disturbing them.</p>
<p>On this reserve, they roost overnight, waking at sunrise, and flopping over to feed on adjacent arable land. Cranes eat a variety of food in the breeding season, including invertebrates, lizards, small fish and frogs – all important fuel for their growing chicks. During the winter, they are mainly vegetarian and will feed on root vegetables left over in the fields.</p>
<p>Around 50 of these majestic birds now swoop down to land. They seem more preoccupied with finding food than performing courtship displays. Things are looking up for cranes. I can see several pairs with one, or even two, downy young in tow, and it makes me excited for their future.</p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Gregory works for the RSPB as the Head of Monitoring within the Centre for Conservation Science.
</span></em></p>These wetland birds were eradicated in the 17th century, but breeding pairs returned in 1979.Richard Gregory, Honorary Professor of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1691802021-11-21T16:57:23Z2021-11-21T16:57:23ZHow a Romanian village resurrected the Danube Delta after the fall of the Iron Curtain<p>Mahmudia is a picturesque village in Tulcea county, Romania, situated along the southernmost canal of the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/588/">Danube Delta</a>, where the famous river empties into the Black Sea. The village was built between two different worlds on either side of the Sfântu Gheorghe Channel. To the south, the arid Balkan steppe made up of rolling hills and ancient rocks, to the north, the lush wetlands of the delta.</p>
<p>For much of the year, Mahmudia is full of Romanian and foreign tourists – especially from Germany and France – who come to see its incredible diversity of aquatic birds and to taste the traditional local dishes made from a large variety of fish species. This brings in significant income to the village, ensuring a decent standard of living for local people.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d569759.9223256421!2d29.094415844951257!3d45.017702082624695!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x40b9ef74229a657d%3A0x29bb1d0a2f07e42d!2sMahmudia%20827130%2C%20Romania!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sfr!4v1634734779293!5m2!1sen!2sfr" width="100%" height="450" style="border:0;" allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p>But this is only recent history. In communist times, this was an area of intense development, based on the extreme transformation of nature for economic ends – a view which is still shared by many agricultural and forestry engineers.</p>
<p>The story of Mahmudia’s return to nature provides a vital lesson in the value of rescuing ecosystems from agricultural overdevelopment.</p>
<h2>Draining the delta</h2>
<p>In the 80s, the fields of the Danube Delta were considered the most fertile terrain in the country by the many agronomists acting as consultants to dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was very interested in the development of a national agriculture for Romania.</p>
<p>Ceaușescu launched a giant project to drain the majority of the delta in 1983, accompanied by an intense propaganda campaign. And so the infamous destruction of the most beautiful and best-preserved delta on the European continent began.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427489/original/file-20211020-26249-1re3b1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Nicolae Ceauşescu visits a state agricultural enterprise in Amzacea, Constanţa County, Romania, 1979" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427489/original/file-20211020-26249-1re3b1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427489/original/file-20211020-26249-1re3b1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427489/original/file-20211020-26249-1re3b1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427489/original/file-20211020-26249-1re3b1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427489/original/file-20211020-26249-1re3b1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427489/original/file-20211020-26249-1re3b1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427489/original/file-20211020-26249-1re3b1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nicolae Ceauşescu visits a state agricultural enterprise in Amzacea, Constanţa County, Romania, 1979.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://fototeca.iiccr.ro/picdetails.php?picid=35222X16X19">Fototeca online a comunismului românesc, Photo no: #L008, Quota:88/1979; (20.10.2021)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Large areas along the Black Sea were drained and transformed into agricultural fields, their biodiversity totally destroyed. Today, those areas are <a href="https://www.info-delta.ro/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/harta_vegetatie-1.jpg">easily identified</a> by their uniformity across vast swathes of the landscape, the desertified fields an unhealthy, pallescent yellow.</p>
<p>The agronomists were not aware at the time that overdevelopment would lead to the arid climate of the territories of the Balkan steppe to compromise the productivity of the rich soils of the delta. As a result, today large areas of the delta are totally barren, populated only by scarce species of weeds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432978/original/file-20211121-27-3pl7r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The village of Mahmudia in Romania and the surrounding waterways" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432978/original/file-20211121-27-3pl7r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432978/original/file-20211121-27-3pl7r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432978/original/file-20211121-27-3pl7r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432978/original/file-20211121-27-3pl7r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432978/original/file-20211121-27-3pl7r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432978/original/file-20211121-27-3pl7r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432978/original/file-20211121-27-3pl7r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mahumudia lost its connection with the Danube Delta under communist rule.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Iolanda-Veronica Ganea</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If Ceaușescu’s programme had continued, the result would have been the complete destruction of the delta’s aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and the transformation of this unique area of the European continent into a collection of barren fields, with its hundreds of lakes and labyrinthine channels all drained and the three Danube branches enclosed between continuous dams. It was only the end of communism in Romania that halted this process.</p>
<h2>How Mahmudia fought back</h2>
<p>At the beginning of the 21st century, the effects of the communist programme were still with Mahmudia. The village no longer belonged to the deltaic world. It sat instead on a large polder – a piece of farm land reclaimed from the water – surrounded by huge dams which enclosed 6km of monotonous agriculture and wasteland between the tiny port and the few channels and lakes that remained wild.</p>
<p>No tourists visited Mahmudia, as the ddelta was by now far away from the village. Instead, visitors went to nearby sites that directly bordered the waterways. Mahmudia’s fishers also had travel around 25 km to reach the first lakes in the Delta and gather their daily catches.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432979/original/file-20211121-13-o06y3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A grey heron sitting on a branch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432979/original/file-20211121-13-o06y3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432979/original/file-20211121-13-o06y3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432979/original/file-20211121-13-o06y3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432979/original/file-20211121-13-o06y3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432979/original/file-20211121-13-o06y3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432979/original/file-20211121-13-o06y3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432979/original/file-20211121-13-o06y3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The grey heron, or ardea cinerea, is one of more than 30 bird species that has flocked to the restored wetland in Mahmudia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Iolanda-Veronica Ganea</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After noticing the poverty in their village compared to the earnings from eco-tourism made by their neighbours who had a connection with the delta, the Mahmudians decided to act. The entire community, led by the local administration, gathered to find a way to bring the delta back to their village.</p>
<p>Between 2011 to 2015, Mahmudia launched the <a href="https://wwfeu.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/nature_restoration__helping_people__biodiversity_and_climate__wwf.pdf">first community effort</a> to ecologically restore a part of the Danube Delta. Today, it represents the only communist-era agricultural desert to have been given back to the waterways.</p>
<h2>Tear down these dam walls</h2>
<p>Mahmudia was not able to restore its whole territory. Large portions were the property of private, industrial agricultural companies, where the village could not legally intervene.</p>
<p>But right in front of the village, a segment of salinised terrain remained in local hands. In the late 80s, the area, known as Carasuhat, had been transformed into a maidan – a communal area for cattle and sheep grazing. Though very small compared to the entire polder, it provided solution Mahmudia was looking for.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432983/original/file-20211121-22093-1c1rppp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white-tailed eagle, haliaeetus albicilla in front of some reeds and above water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432983/original/file-20211121-22093-1c1rppp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432983/original/file-20211121-22093-1c1rppp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432983/original/file-20211121-22093-1c1rppp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432983/original/file-20211121-22093-1c1rppp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432983/original/file-20211121-22093-1c1rppp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432983/original/file-20211121-22093-1c1rppp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432983/original/file-20211121-22093-1c1rppp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A white-tailed eagle, haliaeetus albicilla, spotted outside Mahmudia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Iolanda-Veronica Ganea</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The community broke down the surrounding dams of the communal property were broken down, and the deltaic waters returned to the 9.40 km<sup>2</sup> surface of the terrain. Slowly but steadily, the delta waters restored the old channels, lakes and islands of the lost former world.</p>
<p>Re-connected at last to the Danube Delta, Mahmudia gained its long-desired status as a “deltaic gate”. The tourists started to come, and people’s incomes began to grow. More than 30 official <a href="https://wwfeu.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/nature_restoration__helping_people__biodiversity_and_climate__wwf.pdf">guest houses opened</a>, with enough beds for 300 people. It is one of the most successful stories of a local community starting to improve standards of living thanks to a restored ecosystem.</p>
<h2>Supporting eco-tourism</h2>
<p>This year, we have been studying the wildlife of the restored area in Carasuhat to understand the real value of these aquatic ecosystems and the services they provide.</p>
<p>We were amazed by the large flocks of water birds we counted, and the variety of species encountered, and were able to conclude that the variety and numbers of birds in the restored area were much greater than before the restoration. More than <a href="https://www.ziuaconstanta.ro/stiri/actualitate/peste-30-de-specii-de-pasari-acvatice-monitorizate-pana-acum-in-incinta-renaturata-de-la-carasuhat-mahmudia-galerie-foto-728552.html">30 species of aquatic birds</a> have been monitored in the restored area and <a href="http://greenly.ro/message-in-a-bottle/ecological-restoration-in-mahmudia">18 types of habitat</a> have been reconstructed.</p>
<p>While birds and fish species quickly repopulated the area, plant communities such as the <em>Nymphaea alba</em> species of white water lily are coming back at a much slower rate.</p>
<p>Our current project focused upon the interconnection between local communities, which are very culturally and ethnically diverse, consisting of several minorities including Lipovans, Ukrainians and Turks, and biodiversity conservation in the Sfântu Gheorghe Channel area.</p>
<p>We are developing a scientific study with high-resolution inventory and mapping of the local ecosystems and the species which are important for conservation, along with information materials to raise public awareness about the value of local ecotourism and a collaborative network of accommodation and activities.</p>
<p>The case of Mahmudia has shown how entire communities can be radically transformed by restoring depleted ecosystems. The new wetland has reduced flood risk, contributed to carbon sequestration and serves as sediment traps for runoff. Meanwhile, local people have benefited from ecotourism and the local economy has prospered. If we take care of our local environment, nature will help us improve well-being for all.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398230/original/file-20210502-19-2lk7b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For 50 years, the UNESCO <a href="https://en.unesco.org/mab">Man and the Biosphere Program</a> (MAB) has combined exact, natural and social sciences to find solutions implemented in the 714 exceptional sites (129 countries) of biosphere reserves.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169180/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iolanda-Veronica Ganea a reçu des financements de Les Prix du UNESCO l’Homme et la Biosphère (MAB). Les auteurs souhaitent remercier le Conseil Local de Mahmudia et les membres de la communauté pour toutes les informations et documents fournis. De plus, les auteurs tiennent à remercier les étudiants en master Olivia Pistrui et Virgil Oltean pour leur contribution significative aux sorties sur le terrain.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Badarau Alexandru Sabin ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Mahmudia became a wasteland under dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu’s communist agricultural policy. But villagers fought to resurrect their home and reconnect with the wilderness.Iolanda-Veronica Ganea, PhD student in Environmental Science, Babes Bolyai University Badarau Alexandru Sabin, Associate Professor of Biogeography and Biodiversity Conservation, PhD, Babes Bolyai University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1673262021-11-15T14:27:11Z2021-11-15T14:27:11ZHow to live with large predators – lessons from Spanish wolf country<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419588/original/file-20210906-15-cd1i2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4089%2C2152&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wolf watching in Sierra de la Culebra, Spain.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chisco Lema</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Elena and her husband are shepherds. Their herd of 400 free-roaming goats were bred over generations to make the most of the patchwork of woodlands and pastures that cover their local mountain range in central Spain.</p>
<p>This type of farming produces some of the most sustainable meat and dairy that money can buy. They use little feed and fertilisers and the goats maintain biodiversity-rich grasslands through grazing. Even so, eking out a livelihood here is becoming increasingly difficult. Across Spain, local butchers and cheesemakers have closed down, rigid food standards prevent farmers from selling directly to consumers and agricultural subsidies <a href="https://theconversation.com/eu-subsidies-benefit-big-farms-while-underfunding-greener-and-poorer-plots-new-research-144880">benefit those who produce a lot</a> over those who produce a little.</p>
<p>Numbers of free-roaming sheep and goats have decreased drastically in areas like Elena’s, enabling shrub to reclaim old pastures and blur the boundaries between forests and villages. This has made wildfires more expansive, threatening homes. It has also enabled wild boar and deer to return in large numbers, raiding crops and causing outbreaks of bovine tuberculosis.</p>
<p>On top of all this, the wolf is at the door. Literally.</p>
<p>The wolf is a generalist that can hunt both wild and domestic prey. This flexibility, together with stricter conservation laws and better habitat conditions, has allowed their populations and those of other European carnivores (bears, lynx and wolverines) to rebound and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1257553">reclaim old territories</a> across the continent. </p>
<p>Many people, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320707001383">particularly city dwellers</a>, welcome these changes. Attitudes towards predators have <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/67/7/646/3845067">softened over the years</a> as awareness of their important ecological role has grown. But in many rural areas, returning carnivores have come to symbolise the demise of traditional farming cultures. In some cases, their return has been met with suspected violence, as in the case of the first wolf in Belgium to bear cubs in over a century, who <a href="https://theconversation.com/belgiums-first-wolf-in-100-years-is-presumed-dead-have-hopes-of-coexistence-died-with-her-126569">died in suspicious circumstances</a> in 2019.</p>
<p>These are the cases we most often hear about. But there are also places in Europe where people are living relatively peacefully alongside carnivores. <a href="https://conservationandsociety.org.in/preprintarticle.asp?id=329680">What’s behind these harmonious relationships</a>, and how are people adapting to <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.710218/full">returning wolves elsewhere</a>? This is what my research team and I set out to explore through case studies in Spain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422994/original/file-20210923-27-1rgci7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map comparing degrees of wolf presence in different regions of Spain." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422994/original/file-20210923-27-1rgci7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422994/original/file-20210923-27-1rgci7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422994/original/file-20210923-27-1rgci7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422994/original/file-20210923-27-1rgci7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422994/original/file-20210923-27-1rgci7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422994/original/file-20210923-27-1rgci7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422994/original/file-20210923-27-1rgci7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wolves now occupy an area of Spain that’s roughly twice the size it was in 1970.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.710218/full">Hanna Pettersson</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Working with wolves</h2>
<p>Elena (who lives at “C” on the map) had mixed feelings about wolves returning to her land. She hoped they might control the boar and deer, but she worried about how to prevent them from attacking her goats. She knew that protecting her flock would take a lot of time, money and expertise – none of which she has.</p>
<p>People in the region of Sanabria-La Carballeda in northwestern Spain (marked as “A” on the map), are accustomed to the challenges of coexisting with large predators. The area was one of the last bastions for wolves before hunting was regulated in the 1970s. Before then, wolves could be shot on sight. Today it has one of the densest wolf populations in western Europe, concentrated in the hunting reserve of Sierra de la Culebra. </p>
<p>To defend their livestock, shepherds here keep packs of up to 21 <a href="https://theconversation.com/dogs-used-to-guard-livestock-may-have-unintended-costs-to-wildlife-154602v">guard dogs</a> with their flocks. They accompany their sheep as they graze during the day and then they lock them in at night. This reduces wolf attacks to a trickle. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large dog watching a flock of sheep." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419587/original/file-20210906-25-b95z11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419587/original/file-20210906-25-b95z11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419587/original/file-20210906-25-b95z11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419587/original/file-20210906-25-b95z11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419587/original/file-20210906-25-b95z11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419587/original/file-20210906-25-b95z11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419587/original/file-20210906-25-b95z11.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A guardian dog at work in northwestern Spain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hanna Pettersson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While wolves are not universally liked, their permanent presence has allowed shepherds to refine these defence methods and transmit them from generation to generation, making them feel like a normal part of farming.</p>
<p>Wolves also generated income for local councils through trophy hunting. This was still legal when I was there, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/06/spanish-farmers-deeply-split-as-ban-on-hunting-wolves-is-extended">but was banned</a> by the Spanish government in September 2021. A common local perception was that hunting helped control the expanding population.</p>
<p>Wolf tourism offers another income stream thanks to ideal conditions – a smooth topography with intermingled forests and open spaces. Companies offering wildlife enthusiasts a chance to spot wolves have sprouted in recent decades, making La Culebra peculiar as a place where wolf watching and hunting existed side by side.</p>
<p>However, this revenue doesn’t line the pockets of local livestock owners, and the meat they produce is not priced to reflect the benefits that this extra work generates for wolves and grasslands – unlike price premiums for <a href="https://www.msc.org/en-us/media-center/news-media/press-release/research-shows-ecolabel-certification-raises-share-prices">sustainable fish</a>, for example. Since farming among wolves entails additional work, many are struggling to make ends meet on the increasingly competitive global market. </p>
<p>One shepherd I spoke to concluded: “Those of us who live in wolf territory have significantly less quality of life than those who don’t.” The demise of the farming sector in La Culebra is a threat to coexistence with wildlife in Spain, since it represents one of the best examples of a functional relationship between wolves and traditional farming.</p>
<h2>Coexistence and prosperity</h2>
<p>So how can we ensure the future of both wolves and rural communities?</p>
<p>First of all, by funding successful coexistence. In Spain, funding for wolves, such as that provided by the EU, is predominantly dedicated to areas where there is conflict between the wolves and local populations. This means that the best chance for a Spanish shepherd to get financial aid, to keep guardian dogs or build a barn, is to live in a community where people are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/beyond-conflict-exploring-the-spectrum-of-humanwildlife-interactions-and-their-underlying-mechanisms/D8DDFE4D3BB76D265B3C734DF9DCB799">hostile towards wolves</a>.</p>
<p>We need to ensure that places like La Culebra thrive, to illustrate to people like Elena, who warily anticipates the return of wolves, that living with them does not necessarily imply lower living standards. This could involve <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/awards/application-2020/winners/socio-economic-benefit/index_en.htm">certification for sustainable meat</a>, shepherd schools and networks that help shepherds <a href="https://digismak.com/millennial-shepherds-to-combat-depopulation-in-the-sierra-norte-de-madrid/">share knowledge and collaborate</a>, and paying them for environmental services, such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479718309812">fire prevention through grazing</a>.</p>
<p>By safeguarding rural livelihoods and sustainable farming, we can provide more space for Europe’s wild species to return. </p>
<p><em>Names were changed to protect the identities of the people in this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167326/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hanna Pettersson receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council.</span></em></p>A farming community in north-west Spain may hold the answer to coexistence with wild carnivores.Hanna Pettersson, PhD Candidate, Sustainability Research Institute, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1672502021-10-11T15:02:49Z2021-10-11T15:02:49ZThe lynx may have survived in Scotland centuries later than previously thought, new study suggests<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425492/original/file-20211008-22-zdm6q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1998&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Eurasian lynx (_Lynx lynx_) in a woodland in the Czech Republic.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/eurasian-lynx-natural-environment-taken-czech-1626061564">Lubomir Novak/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth, according to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58859105">a recent assessment</a>, and ranks among the bottom 10% for biodiversity globally. Some conservationists are hoping to change that by reintroducing species from the island’s wilder past. One such candidate is the Eurasian lynx – a feline mammal.</p>
<p>As recently as 1974, experts like Anthony Dent, author of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/lost-beasts-of-britain-by-anthony-dent-harrap-285/2835B44F83EFDDD010E98A06B8A24B91">Lost Beasts of Britain</a>, believed that lynxes belonged with cave lions in Britain’s distant <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/lost-beasts-of-britain-by-anthony-dent-harrap-285/2835B44F83EFDDD010E98A06B8A24B91">prehistoric past</a>. But this theory was challenged by zoologist David Hetherington and colleagues in 2005, when they presented radiocarbon dating evidence that lynxes were around as late as the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jqs.960">fifth or sixth century AD</a> in north Yorkshire.</p>
<p>Although rare, lynxes <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320797000840">persisted</a> on isolated wooded mountains in Italy and elsewhere in western Europe as late as 1800. But until today, the most recent credible record of lynxes in Britain was a 16th-century letter from Polish author Bonarus of Balice to famous Swiss renaissance naturalist Conrad Gessner. The letter describes the best lynx skins as coming from Sweden, and, surprisingly, Scotland. In 2017 when writing about this source, <a href="https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/anh.2017.0452">I suggested</a> that it most likely referred to lynx furs imported to Scotland and then re-exported. But new evidence has made me reconsider my opinion.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mammal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/MC2105_Raye-a-lynx-in-1760.pdf">In a study</a> published in the journal Mammal Communications, I present the most recent, and perhaps the most reliable British record yet. Richard Pococke’s Tour of Scotland, published 260 years ago in the year 1760, seems to describe a population of lynxes breeding near Auchencairn, a village near Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. </p>
<h2>The missing lynx</h2>
<p>I first discovered this reference while gathering data for my Atlas of Early Modern Wildlife, a book which will map records of wildlife made by naturalists, local historians and travel writers in Britain and Ireland before the industrial revolution.</p>
<p>While the last securely dated remains of lynx come from two centuries after the Roman withdrawal from Britain, the new record falls in the Georgian period, not long after the Jacobite rising of 1745. The author, <a href="https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-22432">Richard Pococke</a>, was at that time Bishop of Ossory, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was a well-known travel writer and wrote detailed notes on the historical, architectural and natural points of interest in the places he visited. Pococke’s record of what appears to be a breeding population of lynxes was one of these notes, made for the interest of his learned readers.</p>
<p>Pococke refers to 53 species over the course of Tours of Scotland. Many of these records, like the golden eagle, capercaillie (a large species of grouse) and mountain hare, are exciting for modern readers, but all bar the lynx are known to have been present in Scotland when Pococke visited.</p>
<p>Historical records of wildlife can be difficult to use. Not only is it possible that the author misunderstood what they saw and heard, but their record might be exaggerated, and our understanding of the record might be wrong. This record is an especially tricky one to interpret. One of the reasons it has escaped the notice of historians is that it refers to the species involved as “a wild cat”. I suggest it is a lynx based on the description. <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=b0gNAAAAIAAJ&vq=wild%20cat&pg=PA26#v=onepage&q&f=false">Pococke describes</a> a mammal three times as large as a “common cat” which was “yellow-red” with white breast and side and breeds in litters of two, in trees, and took poultry and lambs. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421145/original/file-20210914-23-140nb6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An excerpt of text: '-ance of foxes. They have also a wild cat three times as big as the common cat, as the pollcat is less. they are of a yellow red colour, their breasts and sides white. They take fowls and lambs, and brede two at a time. I was assured that they sometimes bring forth in a large...'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421145/original/file-20210914-23-140nb6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421145/original/file-20210914-23-140nb6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421145/original/file-20210914-23-140nb6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421145/original/file-20210914-23-140nb6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421145/original/file-20210914-23-140nb6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421145/original/file-20210914-23-140nb6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421145/original/file-20210914-23-140nb6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Excerpt from Richard Pococke’s (1760) Tour of Scotland (Kemp ed. 1887).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kemp ed. 1887, Richard Pococke, Tours in Scotland 1747, 1750, 1760)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This description fits a lynx better than it fits other species known to be in the area.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A ginger-white lynx with glazed look and tongue sticking out in field of buttercups." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421146/original/file-20210914-21-1qdoayq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3264%2C2448&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421146/original/file-20210914-21-1qdoayq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421146/original/file-20210914-21-1qdoayq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421146/original/file-20210914-21-1qdoayq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421146/original/file-20210914-21-1qdoayq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421146/original/file-20210914-21-1qdoayq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421146/original/file-20210914-21-1qdoayq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fit the bill? A lynx at Camperdown Wildlife Centre, Dundee, Scotland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Allen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reintroducing lynxes today</h2>
<p>This record is especially timely as the lynx is now being considered for reintroduction. The Lynx UK Trust has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-55956438">prepared a second application</a> to reintroduce lynxes to Kielder Forest in northeast England and a project called Lynx to Scotland has <a href="https://www.scotlandbigpicture.com//Images/2021/01/LtS%20press%20release%20v5.pdf">launched a consultation</a> about reintroducing lynxes there. </p>
<p>Returning lynxes to the wild in Britain is controversial because, unlike the osprey, sea eagle and red kite, the lynx was thought to have gone extinct much earlier. Critics of the reintroduction say that the landscape of Britain has <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2019/09/lynx-and-wolf-may-soon-be-roaming-britains-wild-places-again">changed too much</a> for lynxes to fit in. But if Pococke’s record is reliable, the lynx may have survived in Scotland much later than previously thought, and in conditions which are more similar to today. </p>
<p>For comparison, Scottish beavers were hunted to extinction <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=N_PJDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT57&ots=X3MlcMz71I&dq=beaver%20scotland%20boece%20sibbald&pg=PT57#v=onepage&q=beaver%20scotland%20boece%20sibbald&f=false">in the 16th or 17th century</a> while the last breeding cranes were <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eojo9c6d8_oC&lpg=PA67&ots=IXzvhmlHNc&dq=crane%20shrubb%201603&pg=PA67#v=onepage&q&f=false">recorded in 1603</a>. Both species have now reestablished breeding populations.</p>
<p>Supporters of lynx reintroduction sometimes suggest <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2017/jul/23/the-lynx-effect-sheep-farmers-rewilding-beavers-red-kites">it wouldn’t affect</a> industries in Scotland. But the lynx in Pococke’s 18th-century record was disruptive, taking lambs, poultry and grouse and enraging landowners who hired hunters to control the animals. </p>
<p>The lynx’s diet might have been a response to human activity. In 1760, the red deer and roe deer seem to have been extinct as wild species in Dumfries and Galloway. The mountain hare was also gone, the brown hare had not yet been introduced, and the rabbit was mainly a coastal species. Although the inaccessible mountain terrain offered some sanctuary to wildlife, woodland coverage is likely to have been <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=K5kkDQAAQBAJ&">below 10%</a>. These conditions are not suitable for the woodland-specialist lynx, which needs cover to ambush its prey, and likely contributed to the species’ extinction. </p>
<p>Lynxes reintroduced today would have <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-forestry-strategy-20192029/documents/">double the woodland coverage</a> and plenty of natural prey, including rabbits, European hares and roe deer, giving them less reason to leave woodland and stalk sheep pasture, poultry farms or grouse moors. Compared with the situation encountered by the lonely and persecuted lynx of Pococke’s day, 21st-century Scotland seems far more hospitable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee Raye does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study suggests lynxes were in Britain as recently as the 18th century.Lee Raye, Associate Lecturer in Arts and Humanities, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1669122021-09-09T14:27:11Z2021-09-09T14:27:11ZBeavers are back: here’s what this might mean for the UK’s wild spaces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420744/original/file-20210913-25-12in1t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C1917%2C1072&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Eurasian beaver is being introduced back into UK landscapes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.maxpixel.net/Eurasian-Beaver-Castor-Fiber-Beaver-Semiaquatic-5912466">Max Pixel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Eurasian beaver, once a common sight across Europe, had <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/policy-insight/species/beaver-reintroduction-in-the-uk/#:%7E:text=Conflict-,The%20return%20of%20the%20beaver,in%20perfumes%2C%20food%20and%20medicine.">disappeared</a> almost entirely by the end of the 16th century thanks to hunting and river modification for agriculture and engineering.</p>
<p>But beavers are making a <a href="https://beavertrust.org/index.php/reintroducing-beavers-and-endangered-wildlife-on-a-stream-near-you/#beavermap">comeback</a> across the UK and several other countries. They have already been released into the wild in <a href="https://www.nature.scot/beavers-scotland-report-scottish-government">Scotland</a> and within enclosed river sections in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-57808517">England</a>. Now expanding the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/landmark-consultation-launched-on-the-reintroduction-of-beavers-in-england">wild release</a> of beavers across England is on the cards.</p>
<p>Ecosystem recovery, increased biodiversity, flood protection and improved water quality are some of the upsides of having beavers around. But reintroducing wild animals to the landscape is always going to involve trial and error, and it’s vital to understand the possible consequences – both good and bad.</p>
<p>The beaver is a gifted environmental engineer, able to create its own <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/niche/#:%7E:text=In%20ecology%2C%20the%20term%20%E2%80%9Cniche,(like%20predation%20or%20competition).">ecological niche</a> – matching itself perfectly to its environment – by building dams. These dams are made from materials the beaver can <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@beaverbabyfurrylove/video/6884977113041095941?referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.boredpanda.com%2F&referer_video_id=6884977113041095941&refer=embed">carry</a> or float – typically wood, stones and mud, but also fence posts, crops from nearby fields, satellite dishes and old kids’ toys.</p>
<p>The dam creates a peaceful, watery <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/buildabeaverdam.htm">home</a> for beaver families to sleep, eat and avoid predators. And the effects of dam building ripple outwards, with the potential to transform entire ecosystems. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Beaver dam of branches with deep river on one side and trickle of water in river bed the other side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419620/original/file-20210906-23-g0uxis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419620/original/file-20210906-23-g0uxis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419620/original/file-20210906-23-g0uxis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419620/original/file-20210906-23-g0uxis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419620/original/file-20210906-23-g0uxis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419620/original/file-20210906-23-g0uxis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419620/original/file-20210906-23-g0uxis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beaver dam, Switzerland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josh Larsen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825221001239">Our review</a> of beaver impacts considers evidence from across Europe and North America, where wild beaver populations have been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mam.12216">expanding</a> since around the 1950s.</p>
<h2>Water</h2>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825221001239">clear evidence</a> that beaver dams increase water storage in river landscapes through creating more ponds and wetlands, as well as raising groundwater levels. This could help rivers – and their inhabitants – handle ever more common <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-summer-2021-has-changed-our-understanding-of-extreme-weather-165268">weather extremes</a> like floods and droughts.</p>
<p>If you observe beaver dams in the wild, water often comes very close to the top of their dams, suggesting they might not be much help in a flood. Nonetheless, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169411001685?via%3Dihub">some studies</a> are finding that beaver dams can reduce flood peaks, likely because they divert water onto <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/flood-plain/#:%7E:text=A%20flood%20plain%20is%20an,that%20is%20prone%20to%20flooding.&text=A%20floodplain%20(or%20floodplain)%20is,outer%20edges%20of%20the%20valley.">floodplains</a> and slow downstream flow. However, we don’t know whether beaver dams reliably reduce floods of different sizes, and it would be unwise to assume they’re always capable of protecting downstream structures.</p>
<p>The good news is that it <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825221001239">seems</a> all the extra water dams store could help supplement rivers during dry periods and act as critical refuges for fish, amphibians, insects and birds during droughts.</p>
<h2>Pollution</h2>
<p>Beaver dams increase the time it takes for things carried by rivers to move downstream. In some cases, this can help slow the spread of pollutants like <a href="https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/issue">nitrates and phosphates</a>, commonly used in fertilisers, which can harm fish and damage water quality. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="River water collects in deep pool behind beaver dam of branches." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419557/original/file-20210906-17-1uivio7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419557/original/file-20210906-17-1uivio7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419557/original/file-20210906-17-1uivio7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419557/original/file-20210906-17-1uivio7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419557/original/file-20210906-17-1uivio7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419557/original/file-20210906-17-1uivio7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419557/original/file-20210906-17-1uivio7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beaver dam in Switzerland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annegret Larsen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beavers’ impact on phosphates is unclear, with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825221001239">just as many studies</a> finding phosphorus concentrations increasing downstream of beaver dams as those finding a decrease or no change. But beavers seem especially skilled at removing nitrate: a welcome skill, since high concentrations of nitrates in drinking water could endanger <a href="https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/Pubs/331-214.pdf">infant health</a>.</p>
<h2>Recovering diversity</h2>
<p>All that water storage means beavers create a wonderful mosaic of still-, slow- and fast-moving watery habitats. In particular, they increase the biodiversity of river valleys, for example helping <a href="https://www.macroinvertebrates.org/">macro-invertebrates</a> like worms and snails – key to healthy food chains – to thrive.</p>
<p>Beavers’ departure can leave anything from <a href="https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/resources/commission-inquiry/commission-inquiry-peatlands-update/fen-peatlands">fens or peatlands</a> to <a href="https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/historic-environment-resources/archaeological-preservation-during-woodland-expansion/floodplain-forestry-and-wet-woodland/">wet floodplain forests</a> to <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/habitats/grassland/lowland-meadow-and-pasture">drier grassland meadows</a> developing in their wake. This gives beavers an important role in <a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-four-tips-to-let-nature-thrive-157441">rewilding</a> efforts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tree gnawed by beavers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420235/original/file-20210909-19-19a49vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420235/original/file-20210909-19-19a49vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420235/original/file-20210909-19-19a49vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420235/original/file-20210909-19-19a49vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420235/original/file-20210909-19-19a49vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420235/original/file-20210909-19-19a49vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420235/original/file-20210909-19-19a49vw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beavers leave their mark on the local landscape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/beaver-rodent-tree-nature-wildlife-5018287/">Fietzfotos/Pixabay</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But nuance is key here. Evidence of beaver dam impacts on fish populations and river valley vegetation, for example, is very mixed. Because they are such great <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/10/854/5901988">agents of disturbance</a>, beavers promote plants that germinate quickly, like woody shrubs and grasses. </p>
<p>While this can reduce forest cover and help some invasive plants, given time it can also help create valleys with a far richer mosaic of plant life. So although beaver presence is likely to bring benefits, more research is needed to get clearer on precisely how beavers change ecosystems.</p>
<h2>Net zero carbon</h2>
<p>Beavers are great at <a href="https://www.wildtrout.org/content/beavers-benefits-beneath-the-surface">trapping</a> carbon by storing organic matter like <a href="https://www.ecologycenter.us/species-richness/consumption-of-plant-detritus.html">plant detritus</a> in slow-flowing ponds. However, this also means beaver ponds can be sources of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ipcc-report-global-emissions-must-peak-by-2025-to-keep-warming-at-1-5-c-we-need-deeds-not-words-165598">greenhouse gases</a>, like CO₂ and methane, that contribute to the greenhouse effect. This led one author to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/334295a0">wonder</a> “whether the beaver is aware the greenhouse effect will reduce demand for fur coats”.</p>
<p>Can beavers still be helpful in achieving <a href="https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/what-is-net-zero">net zero carbon</a>? The short-term answer is probably yes, since more carbon seems to be trapped than released by beaver activities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A beaver dam constructed from maize in a river next to field of crops" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419558/original/file-20210906-21-z4abml.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419558/original/file-20210906-21-z4abml.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419558/original/file-20210906-21-z4abml.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419558/original/file-20210906-21-z4abml.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419558/original/file-20210906-21-z4abml.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419558/original/file-20210906-21-z4abml.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419558/original/file-20210906-21-z4abml.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beaver dams, like this one made of maize, can help trap carbon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gerhard Schwab</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, long-term outcomes are less clear, since the amount of carbon that beavers keep in the ground depends on how willing they are to hang around in a river valley – and how willing we are to let them. A clearer understanding of where beavers fit within the carbon cycle of <a href="https://eos.org/opinions/global-significance-of-the-changing-freshwater-carbon-cycle">river systems</a> is needed if we are to make best use of their carbon capture skills.</p>
<h2>Management</h2>
<p>Beavers are reentering landscapes under human dominance, the same thing that originally drove them from vast swathes of European river systems.</p>
<p>In the UK, this means they’ll lack natural predators and may be in competition with cows and sheep for food: possibly resulting in unsteady wild population trajectories.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mam.12216">good data</a> on long-term beaver activity is available from Sweden, Norway and Switzerland, our different climate and landscapes mean it’s hard to make a straightforward comparison.</p>
<p>Beavers’ use in rewilding can be incredibly cost-effective, as dam construction and the biodiversity benefits that flow from it is done largely for free. But we need to be tolerant of uncertainty in where and when they choose to do their work.</p>
<p>Working with wild animals – who probably don’t share our priorities – is always an unpredictable process. The expansion of beavers into the wild has a bright future so long as we can manage expectations of people who own and use beaver-inhabited land.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166912/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Larsen consults to Re-Beaver, a beaver impact consulting company. He receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annegret Larsen receives funding from the Dutch Research Council (The Netherlands), the Federal Office of the Environment (Switzerland), and the German Research Foundation (Germany).</span></em></p>Wild beaver populations have the potential to significantly alter our landscapes, affecting biodiversity, water quality and pollution.Joshua Larsen, Senior Lecturer in Water Science, University of BirminghamAnnegret Larsen, Assistant Professor in Geography, Wageningen UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1643012021-07-26T08:11:43Z2021-07-26T08:11:43ZSouth Korea is bringing back bears in a country of 52 million people – I went to find out how<p>The return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 popularised the idea of reintroducing long-lost species to modern habitats. While scientists are still trying to fully understand the ecological consequences, the wolf’s reintroduction likely <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolf-restoration.htm">benefited other species</a>, illustrating how conservation can not just slow biodiversity loss, but even reverse it. </p>
<hr>
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<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>That project, however, took place in a vast protected wilderness. Many of the places where biologists now hope to reintroduce large wild animals – whether it’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/eurasian-lynx-how-our-computer-model-highlighted-the-best-site-for-restoring-this-wild-cat-to-scotland-113624">lynx in Britain</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-so-fast-why-indias-plan-to-reintroduce-cheetahs-may-run-into-problems-152301">cheetahs in India</a> – are a little closer to where people live, with all of the potential problems that entails in terms of human-wildlife conflict.</p>
<p>In South Korea, a country of similar size and similar human population density to England, conservationists are in the process of restoring the native bear population, Asiatic black bears, or moon bears, to be precise. While slightly smaller than their North American cousins, these are still large wild animals, capable of causing fear and alarm and posing a risk to human life and property. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The head and shoulders of a large black bear with two brown stripes on its chest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410997/original/file-20210713-23-lp7p6y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Asiatic black bear (<em>Ursus thibetanus</em>), or moon bear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Powell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I wanted to find out how South Korea is managing this ambitious project, so I travelled to Jirisan National Park, a mountainous region in the far south of the Korean Peninsula. </p>
<p>By the 1990s, along with occasional sightings in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), Jirisan had become the last foothold of the Asiatic black bear in South Korea. An attempted eradication programme by the colonial Japanese regime of the early 20th century and overhunting following independence in 1945 meant bears had fared badly for some time. At the close of the century, there were thought to be just five wild bears left in the country, and the species was on the brink of <a href="http://kmkjournals.com/upload/PDF/RJT/18/ther18_1_051_055.pdf">extinction in South Korea</a>. </p>
<p>These were not the only bears in the country though. A large population lingered on farms producing bear bile and body parts, which are used in traditional medicine, and bear meat. Since the 1990s, South Korea has cracked down on the bear part trade, but the remaining population of around 380 captive bears still substantially outnumbers those in the wild (<a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/05/371_309394.html?WA">around 70 in 2021</a>). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black bear's head looms behind bars." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410998/original/file-20210713-21-12ex7x9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A captive Asiatic black bear on a disused bear bile farm in Gangwon-do, South Korea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Powell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These farm bears might have seemed the ideal animals to rebuild a wild population. But the bears probably belonged to a range of different subspecies and were potential disease risks. Years of being fed by humans also meant that the bears could seek out contact – and cause conflict – with humans. Instead, bears were imported from China, Russia and North Korea. In 2004, the first six cubs were released into Jirisan.</p>
<h2>Why did South Korea’s bear programme succeed?</h2>
<p>No grand claims were made about reshaping the relationship between humans and the natural world, and no changes were promised to centuries-old methods of managing landscapes, ideas which often feature in debates about <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.13487">rewilding</a>. Instead, conservationists in South Korea established a modest initial goal: returning a population of 50 bears to a single protected area. </p>
<p>Soft releases, in which bears are kept in pens to acclimate to their surroundings before being set free, and extensive monitoring of bears post-release, helped increase the likelihood of each released bear surviving. Bears that strayed too far were returned to the national park. </p>
<p>Captive breeding, underpinned by impressive veterinary expertise, has also helped the population grow. One milestone involved the world’s first successful use of <a href="http://koreabizwire.com/artificial-insemination-boosts-genetic-diversity-of-asiatic-black-bears/137622">artificial insemination</a> in this genus of bear, a boon for maintaining genetic diversity in a small population. Bears injured by snares or traffic collisions have also been <a href="https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12917-021-02834-9">successfully returned to the wild</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An anaesthetised bear lies on a stretcher on top of a metal examination table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410999/original/file-20210713-21-1lnkxa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Veterinarians prepare to transport a female bear following examination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Powell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The initial target of 50 bears was exceeded and the population now stands at <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/05/371_309394.html?WA">over 70</a>. A <a href="http://kmkjournals.com/upload/PDF/RJT/18/ther18_1_051_055.pdf">recent study</a> found that some bears were now dispersing across South Korea, suggesting that Jirisan National Park may be close to reaching the limit of bears it can sustain.</p>
<p>This presents new challenges. Conservationists have, so far, been remarkably successful at reducing conflict between bears and people, and building support for restoring bears to Jirisan National Park with education programmes, presentations for residents and hikers, a centre where visitors can learn about the reintroduction programme and even the use of moon bear mascots for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics.</p>
<p>But the appearance of bears outside of the national park still attracts prime-time media coverage, which can hamper efforts to cultivate tolerance and maintain a reasonable dialogue with the public about the realities of living alongside bears. People feeding bears remains an issue, as does illegal snaring for game species, which can severely injure bears. As South Korea reaches the next stage of its reintroduction programme, is the country prepared to accept bears outside of a protected area?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A rocky mountain vista with streaks of snow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411000/original/file-20210713-15-5lp40o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bukhansan National Park, near Seoul. Once home to leopards and tigers, could these mountains see bears again?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joshua Powell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It will be fascinating to follow these bears over the coming years as conservationists address these questions. And Asiatic black bears are just the start. South Korea has since established programmes to restore the <a href="http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20121101000970">red fox</a>, which is surprisingly rare in the country, and the <a href="https://scienceon.kisti.re.kr/srch/selectPORSrchArticle.do?cn=JAKO201517052511602&dbt=NART">long-tailed goral</a>, a goat-like mammal whose populations have been depleted by poaching and habitat loss. </p>
<p>These programmes will face challenges, but South Korea has shown considerable expertise in the field of mammal reintroductions. Expertise that other countries could well learn from.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Powell receives funding from the London NERC DTP. He is a visiting research student at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine. </span></em></p>Even in small, densely populated countries, reintroducing large wildlife is possible.Joshua Elves-Powell, London NERC DTP PhD Researcher, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1634062021-07-22T11:59:10Z2021-07-22T11:59:10ZMonks Wood Wilderness: 60 years ago, scientists let a farm field rewild – here’s what happened<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412640/original/file-20210722-15-wsb1hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1909%2C1011&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the <a href="https://www.ceh.ac.uk/">archive</a> of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology there is a typed note from the 1960s that planted the seed of an idea. </p>
<p>Written by Kenneth Mellanby, director of the Monks Wood Experimental Station, a former research centre in Cambridgeshire, UK, the note describes a four-hectare arable field that lies next to the station and the ancient woodland of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cambridgeshires-national-nature-reserves/cambridgeshires-national-nature-reserves">Monks Wood National Nature Reserve</a>. After harvesting a final barley crop, the field was ploughed and then <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2401566">abandoned in 1961</a>.</p>
<p>The note reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It might be interesting to watch what happens to this area if man does not interfere. Will it become a wood again, how long will it take, which species will be in it?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So began the Monks Wood Wilderness experiment, which is now 60 years old. A rewilding study before the term existed, it shows how allowing land to naturally regenerate can expand native woodland and help tackle climate change and biodiversity loss.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black-and-white aerial photograph of the field station with an empty farm field highlighted." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Monks Wood Wilderness field (outlined in red) shortly after abandonment in the early 1960s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How new woodland generates itself</h2>
<p>A shrubland of thorn thickets emerged after the first ten to 15 years. Dominated by bramble and hawthorn, its seeds were dropped by thrushes and other berry-eating birds. This thicket protected seedlings of wind-blown common ash and field maple, but especially English oak, whose acorns were <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/70/1-2/article-p1_1.xml">planted by Eurasian jays</a> (and maybe grey squirrels too) as forgotten food caches. It’s thought that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/16/half-the-trees-in-two-new-english-woodlands-planted-by-jays-study-finds">jays were particularly busy</a> in the Monks Wood Wilderness, as 52% of the trees are oaks.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Eurasian jay on the woodland floor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jays habitually collect and cache acorns in autumn. Forgotten caches germinate into oak seedlings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The intermediate shrubland stage was a suntrap of blossom and wildflowers. Rabbits, brown hares, muntjac deer and roe deer were all common, but the protective thicket meant there was no need for fencing to prevent them eating the emerging trees. Those trees eventually rose up and closed their canopy above the thicket, which became the woodland understorey.</p>
<p>The result is a structurally complex woodland with multiple layers of tree and shrub vegetation, and accumulating deadwood as the habitat ages. This complexity offers niches for a wide variety of woodland wildlife, from fungi and invertebrates in the dead logs and branches, to song thrushes, garden warblers and nuthatches which nest in the ground layer, understorey and tree canopy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woodland scene with trees and green understorey." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Monks Wood Wilderness in 2021, after 60 years of natural regeneration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Monks Wood experiment benefited from the field lying close to an ancient woodland, which meant an ample supply of seeds and agents for their dispersal – jays, rodents, and the wind. Such rapid colonisation of the land would be unlikely in more remote places, or where deer are superabundant. </p>
<p>But there are many woods in the UK that could expand by allowing adjacent fields to return to nature. This would eventually add up to a significant increase in total woodland cover.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An aerial view of the field station with a square patch of woodland highlighted." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Monks Wood Wilderness (outlined in red) in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tree planting or natural regeneration?</h2>
<p>The UK is one of the least forested places in Europe, with just 13% forest cover compared to an average of <a href="https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/forestry-statistics-2018/international-forestry/forest-cover-international-comparisons/">38% across the EU</a>. Only half of the UK’s forest is native woodland, which sustains <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-008-9380-x">a wide variety</a> of indigenous species. The rest is dominated by non-native conifer plantations grown for timber.</p>
<p>This situation is gradually changing. The UK government aims to create 30,000 hectares of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-speech-2020">new woodland each year</a> until 2025, providing new habitat for <a href="https://www.bto.org/our-science/publications/state-uks-birds/state-uks-birds-2020">wildlife</a> and helping reach net zero emissions, as woodland <a href="http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5419124441481216">stores more carbon</a> than any other habitat except peatlands.</p>
<p>With the climate and biodiversity crises getting worse each day, there’s an urgent need to expand woodland fast. But how? Tree planting is the usual approach, <a href="https://www.cla.org.uk/news/thinking-planting-woodland/">but it’s costly</a>. Saplings also have to be grown, transported, planted and protected with fencing and plastic tubes – that’s a lot of carbon emissions and potential <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721033106">plastic pollution</a>, as tubes break down into the soil.</p>
<p>What about <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6438/eaav5570">doing virtually nothing</a> instead? <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/natural-regeneration/">Natural regeneration</a> involves creating woodlands by allowing trees and shrubs to plant themselves under natural processes. It’s free and involves no plastic or nursery-grown saplings, which <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934116301435">can introduce diseases</a>. The result is woodland that’s well adapted to local conditions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An oak seedling poking through a grass field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3988%2C2239&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oak seedlings were early pioneers in the regeneration of the woodland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Allowing the land to naturally regenerate sounds exciting, but planners and ecologists need to know where this approach is likely to work best. How abandoned land turns into woodland is rarely documented, as it usually happens where people have walked away. </p>
<p>The Monks Wood Wilderness fills in this gap in our knowledge as an example of planned natural regeneration that has been monitored over decades, with a second two-hectare field (named the New Wilderness) added in 1996 to expand the experiment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3403%2C1879&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An aerial view of new woodland." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3403%2C1879&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shrubland in the New Wilderness field after 25 years, with hawthorns blossoming.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the 1990s, the two Wildernesses have been regularly surveyed by scientists counting and measuring trees on foot and tracking tree cover from planes and drones. These surveys documented the development of woodland over 60 years <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0252466">in our recently published study</a>, revealing the patterns of habitat regeneration.</p>
<p>We can now finally answer Mellanby’s 60-year old questions. Within 40 to 50 years, the ploughed field became a closed canopy woodland with almost 400 trees per hectare. And as the canopy grows taller, more plant and animal species are arriving, such as marsh tits and purple hairstreak butterflies – mature woodland specialists that have made a home here as the habitat gradually converges with the ancient woodland nearby. </p>
<p>The Wilderness experiment shows what’s possible when nature is allowed to create rich, native woodland for free. I think Mellanby would be pleased with how it all turned out.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163406/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard K Broughton receives funding from Natural England, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). </span></em></p>“Will it become a wood again, how long will it take, which species will be in it?”Richard K Broughton, Ecologist and Ornithologist at UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Senior Research Associate in Zoology, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626312021-06-30T13:18:21Z2021-06-30T13:18:21ZFour ways to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises simultaneously<p>A <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/4920414#.YNmcvR3TUlU">landmark report</a> by the world’s most senior <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">climate</a> and <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/">biodiversity</a> scientists argues that the world will have to tackle the climate crisis and the species extinction crisis simultaneously, or not at all.</p>
<p>That’s because Earth’s land and ocean already absorbs about <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320/320155/how-to-save-our-planet/9780241472521.html">half of the greenhouse gases</a> that people emit. Wild animals, plants, fungi and microbes help maintain this carbon sink by keeping soils, forests and other ecosystems healthy.</p>
<p>Failing to tackle climate change meanwhile will accelerate <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/4920414#.YNmcvR3TUlU">biodiversity loss</a>, as higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns make survival for many species more difficult. Both problems are intertwined, and so solutions to one which exacerbate the other are doomed to fail.</p>
<p>Luckily, there are options for addressing climate change and biodiversity loss together, called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15513">nature-based solutions</a>. If implemented properly, these measures can enhance the richness and diversity of life on Earth, help habitats store more carbon and even reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, making ecosystems more resilient while slowing the rate at which the planet warms.</p>
<h2>1. Protect and restore ecosystems</h2>
<p>Everyone is familiar with the need to preserve tropical rainforests, but there are other pristine habitats, on land and in the ocean, which are in dire need of protection. </p>
<p>Mangrove swamps occupy less than 1% of Earth’s surface, but store the equivalent of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aabe1c">22 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide</a>. That’s around two-thirds of total emissions from burning fossil fuels each year. These <a href="https://www.unep-wcmc.org/news/5-facts-about-mangroves-and-why-we-must-protect-them">coastal habitats</a> act as a home, nursery, and feeding ground for numerous species. More than 40 bird, ten reptile and six mammal species are only found in mangroves.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Under the canopy in a tropical mangrove forest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409106/original/file-20210630-21-3bu754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mangroves are particularly good at storing carbon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mangrove-forest-reflection-lake-submerged-pichavaram-1172081407">Velavan K/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Peatlands – those soggy ecosystems which include <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/peatlands-store-twice-much-carbon-all-worlds-forests">bogs, marshes and fens</a> – store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests. The top 15cm stores <a href="https://peatlands.org/peatlands/what-are-peatlands/">more carbon below ground</a> than tropical rainforests do above ground. In the UK, peatlands store the equivalent of <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/Nature_Based_Solutions_NDC_ReportV2.pdf">ten billion tonnes of carbon dioxide</a> and host <a href="http://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/files/Review%203%20Peatland%20Biodiversity.pdf">precious plant and animals</a> such as red grouse, mountain hares and marsh earwort. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, more than 80% of the UK’s peatlands are <a href="https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/about-peatlands/peatland-damage">degraded</a> in some way. A single hectare of damaged peatland can emit more than 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year – equivalent to the yearly emissions of <a href="https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/research/indicators-and-trends/indicators/nb18-annual-greenhouse-gas-ghg-emissions-from-degraded-peatlands/">seven family cars</a>. </p>
<p>Protecting these ecosystems can prevent carbon being released into the atmosphere. Restoring them where they’ve been damaged can suck carbon dioxide from the air and guarantee shelter for rare wildlife. Diverse natural systems also <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/sites/default/files/2021-06/20210609_workshop_report_embargo_3pm_CEST_10_june_0.pdf">bounce back better</a> from climate extremes than do species-poor, highly degraded systems, and will keep helping biodiversity and people even as Earth continues to warm.</p>
<h2>2. Manage farmland and fisheries sustainably</h2>
<p>Not all of the world’s land and ocean can be left to nature, but the land and ocean people use to produce food and other resources can be managed better.</p>
<p>People currently use about <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320/320155/how-to-save-our-planet/9780241472521.html">25% of the planet’s land surface</a> for growing food, extracting resources and living. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00225-9">The global food system</a> contributes one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>Methods of farming – such as agroecology, which involves incorporating trees and habitats within farm fields – and sustainable fishing practices can protect and regenerate topsoil and seabed habitats, boosting biodiversity and improving how resilient these ecosystems are to climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rows of vegetable beds with lines of young trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409104/original/file-20210630-3600-1k90l18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reforestation in tandem with food growing: lettuce, cauliflowers and tomatoes grow among saplings in Brazil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/petropolis-rjbrazil-july-27-2018-productive-1144851836">Luisaazara/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Create new forests – with care</h2>
<p>People have already <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320/320155/how-to-save-our-planet/9780241472521.html">cut down three trillion trees</a> – half of all the trees which once grew on Earth.</p>
<p>Creating new woodlands and forests can draw down atmospheric carbon and provide diverse habitats for a range of species, but great care must be taken to plant the right mix of trees in the right place. Vast plantations of non-native trees, particularly when they’re a single species, offer less useful habitat for wildlife, but a mix of native trees can benefit <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/4920414#.YNmcvR3TUlU">biodiversity and store more carbon</a> in the long run. </p>
<p><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2018.1240">A study</a> in south-east China showed that forests containing several tree species stored twice as much carbon as the average single-species plantation.</p>
<p>We can do the same thing in the ocean by restoring <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.629962/full">seagrass meadows</a>.</p>
<h2>4. Shift to more plant-based diets</h2>
<p>Globally, animal agriculture is a major contributor to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aal2011">biodiversity loss</a>. <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/food_practice/sustainable_production/soy/">Millions of hectares</a> of Amazon rainforest, African Savanna and Central Asian grassland have been ploughed up to create pasture and plant feed crops for the cows, pigs and chickens that we eat. Nearly 60% of all planet-warming <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987">emissions from food production</a> originate in livestock rearing.</p>
<p>Reducing demand for meat and dairy, through diet changes and cutting waste, would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions – which itself benefits biodiversity by limiting climate change – it would also lower pressure for farmland and so reduce deforestation and habitat destruction, freeing more land for the wider use of nature-based solutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A vegan burger with a side of sweet potato fries." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409107/original/file-20210630-19-1uqcrmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vegan diet is better for wildlife and the climate than a high-meat one.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/SIO_bOZoStA">Rolande PG/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meat, especially <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext">highly processed meat</a>, has been linked to high blood pressure, heart disease and bowel and stomach cancer. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext">Plant-based diets are healthier</a>, reduce healthcare costs and reduce carbon emissions.</p>
<h2>A note of caution</h2>
<p>It’s important to remember that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15513">nature-based solutions</a> aren’t a substitute for the rapid phase out of fossil fuels. They should involve a wide range of ecosystems on land and in the sea, not just forests. Wherever they’re implemented, nature-based solutions must proceed with the full engagement and consent of Indigenous peoples and local communities, respecting their cultural and ecological rights. And nature-based solutions should be explicitly designed to provide measurable benefits for biodiversity – not just carbon sequestration.</p>
<p>With all this in mind, the world can design robust and resilient solutions for the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, sustaining nature and people together, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15513">now and into the future</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162631/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pete Smith currently receives research funding from UKRI, EU, Wellcome Trust and Scottish Government. He is on the science advisory team for Carbon Direct (<a href="https://carbon-direct.com/">https://carbon-direct.com/</a>).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Maslin is a Founding Director of Rezatec Ltd, Co-Director of The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership, a member of Cheltenham Science Festival Advisory Committee and a member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group. He is an unpaid member of the Sopra-Steria CSR Board and Sheep Included Ltd Advisory Board. He has received grant funding in the past from the NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, DFG, Royal Society, DIFD, BEIS, DECC, FCO, Innovate UK, Carbon Trust, UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Research England, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, The Children's Investment Fund Foundation Sprint2020, and British Council. He has received research funding in the past from The Lancet, Laithwaites, Seventh Generation, Channel 4, JLT Re, WWF, Hermes, CAFOD, HP, and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Camille Parmesan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Solve the climate and extinction crises together, or solve neither.Pete Smith, Professor of Soils and Global Change, University of AberdeenCamille Parmesan, Professor of Climate Change Impacts, CNRS, University of Texas, University of PlymouthMark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1593962021-06-02T14:24:49Z2021-06-02T14:24:49ZLondon Design Biennale – how a forest in a courtyard is challenging the city’s Enlightenment principles<p>The art director of this year’s London Design Biennale, Es Devlin, intends to challenge archaic design principles and highlight current climate concerns by planting 400 trees in the heart of the capital. </p>
<p>The artist’s installation of “<a href="https://secretldn.com/forest-for-change-somerset-house/">The Forest for Change</a>”, aims “<a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2021/03/05/forest-for-change-es-devlin-somerset-house-london-design-biennale/">to counter the attitude of human dominance over nature by allowing a forest to overtake the entire courtyard</a>” of the grand 18th-19th century building <a href="https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/history">Somerset House</a>. The installation anticipates better times, perhaps echoed in the words of the poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lucy-larcom">Lucy Larcom</a>, that whoever “plants a tree, plants a hope.”</p>
<p>Somerset House was built in line with the principles of the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/enlightenment">Enlightenment</a>, an intellectual and philosophical movement in 17th and 18th century Europe. At the centre of this was a synthesis of scientific discovery and reason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own condition.</p>
<p>In architecture this was represented through <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Neoclassical-architecture">neoclassicism</a> – a style looking at the formal designs of the ancient Greeks and Romans while conforming to the rationality of science. In reaction to the floral excesses of the baroque and rococo, Enlightenment buildings were designed on the principles of simplicity, symmetry, mathematical precision and absolute functionality. In short, the defined, measurable restraint of science versus the indeterminate, unpredictability of nature. </p>
<p>This debate was identified by poet Enlightenment-era poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-blake">William Blake</a>, who reacted that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Pollution problems</h2>
<p>The website for Somerset House describes it as “<a href="https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/about-somerset-house">one of the most beautiful courtyards in Europe</a>” - It was predominantly designed by <a href="https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/william-chambers-ra">Sir William Chambers</a> (1723-96), who was the architectural advisor to King George III and a founder member of the Royal Academy (Somerset House was the art institution’s first official home).</p>
<p>Chambers was influenced by the European continent’s restrained architectural language and followed <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/palladianism-an-introduction#slideshow=877499804&slide=0">Palladian principles</a>, reflecting a popular style in Britain between 1715 and 1760 that was characterised by classical forms, symmetry and strict proportion. As such, the courtyard at Somerset House was designed to ensure the formal facades were not clouded by foliage.</p>
<p>Greenery is important in cities, it plays a vital role in directly <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200504-which-trees-reduce-air-pollution-best">filtering</a> atmospheric pollutants through their leaves. However, Somerset Houses’s Palladian style precluded nature and continued to even as the city’s pollution problem grew. </p>
<p>First, there was London fog, which was prevalent at the time of the building’s construction (1776-1856). Trapping smoke and fumes from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2016/dec/09/pollution-air-london-smogs-fogs-pea-soupers">industrialisation and urban growth</a>, the fog became deadly by the 1800s. </p>
<p>Later, having eradicated suffering from spewing chimneys, the city found sputtering fumes from tailpipes continued to poison its ecosystem and its people. Many open spaces, in particular those without plants, were designated for parking. The pragmatic Chambers could not have anticipated his courtyard’s low point when its lack of foliage allowed its transformation into a car park in the late 20th century.</p>
<p>Thankfully, after decades of private use by companies, parts of the building were <a href="https://www.publicspace.org/works/-/project/b034-opening-somerset-house">opened up to the public</a> in 2000 and its courtyard restored. The space, however, is still devoid of greenery. </p>
<h2>Introducing greenery</h2>
<p>When it comes to contemporary environmental ideas about urban environments, one particular strand of thought is the <a href="https://www.arup.com/perspectives/rewilding-cities-for-resilience">rewilding of cities</a>. At the heart of this is the protection and enhancement of urban forests.</p>
<p>Because of our technological advancements, and more time spent inside buildings and cars, we have become somewhat <a href="http://www.sustainablesites.org/biophilic-design-bringing-benefits-outdoors-inside-during-covid-19">disconnected from nature</a>. A greener infrastructure would help shape our future cities to be more <a href="https://www.biophiliccities.org/covid19-research">resilient</a>, reconnecting people and helping reverse the destruction of the past, while tackling present environmental issues.</p>
<p>This leaves us with the central question of <a href="https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/what-is-and-is-not-biophilic-design/">how design can provide solutions</a> to these major challenges of our time.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://thespaces.com/es-devlin-will-turn-somerset-houses-courtyard-into-an-urban-forest/amp/">The Forest for Change</a>” anticipates the hope of a summer opening-up during the current pandemic. As poet W.H. <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/w-h-auden">Auden</a> said: “The trees encountered on a … stroll, reveal a lot about that country’s soul … a culture is no better than its woods.” </p>
<p>Visitors, having made their way through the labyrinth of biodiverse woodland, will encounter an information pavilion in a clearing at its centre containing big ideas on the climate crisis and other <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">significant societal issues</a>. These very concepts, for sure, might have been discussed by the courtyard’s original enlightened individuals were they now witness to what has become of their planet relative to their high ideals. </p>
<p>The motive that provoked Chambers and his contemporaries into forbidding trees in the courtyard was “reason”. Given the shifts and changes that the city, society, and the planet at large have undertaken, it is no longer reasonable to disassociate with friendly natural species. </p>
<p>The poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kahlil-gibran">Kahlil Gibran</a> said that “trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky”. This opportunity to go for a responsible, communal forest walk in the middle of the metropolis is not only poetic reason enough, but in a socially isolating pandemic, it should also present us with a much-needed breath of fresh air.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159396/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Reat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>All symmetrical lines and strict proportions, Enlightenment architecture believed that nature got in the way of reason.David Reat, Director of Cultural Studies in the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1574412021-05-24T15:13:22Z2021-05-24T15:13:22ZRewilding: four tips to let nature thrive<p>What would rewilding mean for a country like the UK? Bringing back wolves and bears? Returning the land to how it looked in prehistoric times? How will people fit into this wild and unimaginably different place? Questions like these abound whenever rewilding is in the news. </p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/rewilding-four-tips-to-let-nature-thrive-157441&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In essence, rewilding involves giving more space and time to nature. Instead of managing ecosystems to preserve particular species, rewilding is intended to reverse environmental decline by letting nature become more self-willed. That means allowing wildlife the freedom to flourish and habitats to regenerate naturally.</p>
<p>But without clear principles to guide these processes, rewilding has become a trendy buzzword that is often used indiscriminately. This has invited wildly different interpretations, sparked debates and caused controversy that has discouraged governments from developing it into policy. </p>
<p>This could be about to change though. </p>
<p>We’ve published <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cobi.13730">a set of guiding principles</a> which specify what rewilding should involve and how it should be done. This is the result of one of the most comprehensive international studies on rewilding to date, reviewing best practices and the latest science, instigated by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/commissions/commission-ecosystem-management/our-work/cems-thematic-groups/rewilding">International Union for the Conservation of Nature</a> and involving hundreds of experts. Without further ado, here are the dos and don'ts of rewilding.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three wild horses in a clearing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C317%2C3264%2C2125&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402339/original/file-20210524-23-cfy73w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Konik wild horses recreate the natural grazing patterns of extinct species at the Cambrian Wildwood in West Wales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Coetir Anian/Cambrian Wildwood</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Don’t (always) start with wolves</h2>
<p>The objective of rewilding is boosting the health of an ecosystem by increasing the number of species and how much they can all interact. A fully restored ecosystem would have top predators, but there are a lot of missing parts – the plants, prey animals, fungi – that should be put back first to ensure that larger species have an appropriate food source and habitat to support them. </p>
<p>It might not be appropriate for lots of other reasons to reintroduce wolves to a particular place at the moment, but in the meantime, bringing back <a href="https://www.natureconservation.wales/project/beaver-reintroduction-wales/">beavers</a>, <a href="https://www.arc-trust.org/saving-sand-lizard">lizards</a> and <a href="https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/the-science-behind-the-chequered-skipper-re-introduction">butterflies</a> is brilliant too.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A view of someone holding a dormouse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402317/original/file-20210524-17-sks2ql.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dormice need a helping hand too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Back on our Map/University of Cumbria</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The UK government has the chance to support the reintroduction of species by including funding for it in its new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-land-management-schemes-overview">environmental land management schemes</a>. As opposed to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, which paid farmers a subsidy based on the size of the land they owned, the new schemes would offer payments to farmers and land managers in return for supporting nature recovery across the landscape. </p>
<p>Within these schemes, funding could be allocated for the <a href="https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/support-rewilding/our-campaigns-and-issues/natural-regeneration">natural regeneration</a> of habitats, instead of interventions like tree planting. This would mean moving away from setting fixed targets and managing habitats to suit one species, which might feel risky, but it would let scientists see how natural processes operate when they are given room, and what <a href="https://knepp.co.uk/the-results">unexpected things arrive</a>. This can change our understanding of how ecosystems work and where species can thrive if landscapes become healthier. </p>
<h2>Do reconnect people with nature</h2>
<p>Rewilding involves reducing harmful human pressures and promoting natural processes in ecosystems. This shouldn’t mean excluding people though. Rewilding should actually help people develop a more positive relationship with the natural world that involves compassion for all species and a spirit of learning from nature rather than seeking to dominate it.</p>
<p>This can be done through <a href="https://www.cambrianwildwood.org/people/">school trips</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2021/03/uk-revolutionary-rewilding-projects">holidays in rewilding sites</a> and voluntary work opportunities like <a href="https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/rewilding/">tree planting</a>, wetland restoration and wildlife surveys. A greater emphasis on the natural world in primary and secondary education could also help guarantee the long-term success of rewilding efforts by nurturing enthusiasm from an early age.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-environmental-doom-and-gloom-young-people-draw-alternative-visions-of-natures-future-102004">Forget environmental doom and gloom – young people draw alternative visions of nature's future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Don’t alienate rural communities</h2>
<p>The prospect of rewilding has made some people in the countryside anxious. Farmers in particular worry that their livestock, land and way of life are under threat, either from reintroduced predators or new directives to manage the land differently.</p>
<p>Including local people at every stage of a rewilding project is very important. To ensure this, staff working on rewilding projects need to be based locally so they are available for a chat or to discuss concerns. They shouldn’t just rely on formal consultation – where communities fill in surveys or participate in organised meetings.</p>
<p>Ideally, rewilding projects should be driven by local people who could organise and set the agenda for how their land is managed. They should also directly benefit from <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/rewilding-in-action/nature-based-economies/">associated businesses</a>, like wildlife tours. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of people standing in a valley bottom surrounded by trees and hills." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402318/original/file-20210524-13-rao71g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rewilding projects shouldn’t impose ideas from above that were devised elsewhere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Carver</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Do think about the future</h2>
<p>Some people worry that rewilding harks back to a time before modern man or even earlier – to when woolly mammoths stalked the Earth. Looking back can allow us to see what has been lost and what could be revived, but rewilding isn’t about rewinding the clock. It’s about looking to the future and the challenges nature will face.</p>
<p>By enabling species to move through reconnected habitats and traverse entire landscapes, wildlife populations can be rebuilt. This would ensure the healthy functioning of an ecosystem isn’t dependent on a few isolated creatures, and it’s a practical way to help nature adapt to threats like climate change and new diseases, as species will have more freedom to move if pressures in one place escalate. </p>
<p>The UK government has <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936567/10_POINT_PLAN_BOOKLET.pdf">committed</a> to protect 30% of UK land by 2030 by creating new national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. But landowners need commitments from the government and funders so they know that restoring woodland and wetlands won’t cost them money down the line. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-bill-2020/10-march-2020-nature-and-conservation-covenants-parts-6-and-7">Conservation covenants</a> – introduced in the 2020 Environment Bill – could provide a mechanism for landowners to stipulate how their estate is managed in perpetuity. So land can become, and remain, wild hundreds of years into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophie Wynne-Jones is a trustee of the Cambrian Wildwood – an advisory and unpaid position.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Convery is a trustee of the not-for-profit Lifescapes Project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Carver receives funding from ESRC and NERC.</span></em></p>By studying where rewilding has worked well around the world, we’ve worked out the dos and don'ts.Sophie Wynne-Jones, Lecturer in Human Geography, Bangor UniversityIan Convery, Professor of Environment & Society, University of CumbriaSteve Carver, Senior Lecturer in Geography, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1589012021-04-14T14:03:49Z2021-04-14T14:03:49ZHow should the British countryside look post-Brexit? We asked the public<p>Whatever your stance on Brexit, the UK’s departure from the EU has given the country a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine how it uses its land. When it was still part of the EU, the UK abided by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/common-agricultural-policy">the Common Agricultural Policy</a> (CAP), which provided subsidies to landowners and farmers based primarily on how much land they managed.</p>
<p>Earlier versions of the CAP contributed to the destruction of large swaths of the EU’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718315321?casa_token=fuwjB8GZ9hEAAAAA:M3bh6gIErjoIC4KeBRXRJekU2v0AhqOVtRRycbvhte2BOAcp-tjpNq998JU_K_nMBOHowk8dvSk">forest and wildlife habitat</a>. The CAP has since undergone various revisions to try to address the environmental degradation of food production, but without much <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01426397.2011.637619">success</a>.</p>
<p>Policy analysts in Whitehall are busy devising <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8702/">new agricultural policies</a> that will decide how the countryside looks and the services it provides post-Brexit. As taxpayers will fund these new schemes, the public should have a say in how the country’s farmland will be managed and the environmental benefits it offers.</p>
<p>We set out to find what the UK public wanted from their countryside. But we didn’t want to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01426397.2012.691469">constrain</a> their imagination and creativity with a simple questionnaire. Instead, we combined a nationwide survey of 2,050 adults with an exercise in which 80 people created collages to demonstrate their vision for the future of Britain’s farmed landscapes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A herd of dairy cows stands on a grassy hill with a rolling field of hay behind." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395036/original/file-20210414-15-1dub9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395036/original/file-20210414-15-1dub9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395036/original/file-20210414-15-1dub9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395036/original/file-20210414-15-1dub9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395036/original/file-20210414-15-1dub9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395036/original/file-20210414-15-1dub9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395036/original/file-20210414-15-1dub9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A common sight: cows and vast fields dedicated to single crops.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-south-downs-way-footpath-sussex-131015750">David Hughes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Livestock: nice to look at, bad for the planet</h2>
<p><a href="https://methods.sagepub.com/book/qualitative-inquiry-thematic-narrative-and-arts-informed-perspectives/i504.xml">Collages</a> allow people to express their ideas and desires in ways that are hard to capture with surveys and verbal interviews. Despite the obvious freedom the medium affords, collages are rarely used in studies attempting to understand how people would like their environment to look.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026483772100168X?dgcid=author#bib8">We asked</a> 80 participants to create two collages: one to show their ideal UK farm landscape, and one to show what they thought an environmentally friendly farm would look like. We then asked them to explain their design choices. We also asked 2,050 adults taking part in the wider nationwide survey to rate ten images of farming landscapes using similar images to those used in the collages.</p>
<p>What we found really surprised us. Both the surveys and collages revealed that most people in the study liked seeing livestock in their ideal landscape, but many thought that, for a farm to be environmentally friendly, it should have less livestock due to the greenhouse gas emissions they produce. Instead, most participants thought “green” farms should have lots of trees and renewable energy installations, though many admitted that they didn’t like the look of wind farms. Interestingly, there was no significant difference in the kind of landscapes preferred by farmers compared with the rest of the public we surveyed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394980/original/file-20210414-17-9zxbq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An example of one of the collages made in the study." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394980/original/file-20210414-17-9zxbq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394980/original/file-20210414-17-9zxbq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394980/original/file-20210414-17-9zxbq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394980/original/file-20210414-17-9zxbq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394980/original/file-20210414-17-9zxbq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394980/original/file-20210414-17-9zxbq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394980/original/file-20210414-17-9zxbq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wind turbines compete for space with cows, wildflower meadows and birds of prey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niki Rust</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most of the people involved in the study said they were keen for farms to produce a mixture of food and benefits for the environment – such as carbon storage, wildflowers for insects to pollinate and trees to improve air quality – rather than focusing on just food or environmental benefits. The majority of the people surveyed also wanted to increase food production in the UK rather than importing food from elsewhere.</p>
<p>These findings reveal the complexity involved in making green agricultural policy. There are numerous trade-offs in producing food while still protecting the environment. For instance, while most participants in our study stated that they were less interested in these landscapes producing cheap food, studies on buyer behaviour show that consumers, especially those on <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/consumer-food-choices-the-role-of-price-and-pricing-strategies/4B275C4E232BAEE39FE2539F1E99365C">lower incomes</a>, are <a href="https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR4300/RR4379/RAND_RR4379.pdf">mainly motivated by price</a> when it comes to their food choices.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395055/original/file-20210414-13-5ed004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Another of the collages made in the study." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395055/original/file-20210414-13-5ed004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395055/original/file-20210414-13-5ed004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395055/original/file-20210414-13-5ed004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395055/original/file-20210414-13-5ed004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395055/original/file-20210414-13-5ed004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395055/original/file-20210414-13-5ed004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395055/original/file-20210414-13-5ed004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most people wanted the countryside to generate more green energy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Niki Rust</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our participants often said they wanted farm landscapes to protect nature, but food production that is environmentally friendly is usually <a href="http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq5/en/">more expensive</a> and produces less food overall, meaning <a href="https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2019/11/organic-farming-uses-more-land-than-conventional">more land</a> is needed. One possible solution is intensifying food production on existing farmland. Or, using <a href="https://www.agricology.co.uk/field/blog/introduction-agroecology-part-1">agro-ecological</a> methods which integrate farming with the local ecology. One example is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/alley-cropping">growing nut trees</a> which offer habitat and store carbon alongside arable crops.</p>
<p>The UK government clearly has its work cut out devising policies that produce food in an environmentally friendly way at prices cheap enough to ensure retailers don’t source food from abroad and effectively <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/428606/adbi-wp848.pdf">offshore</a> the environmental consequences. While it’s certain there will be winners and losers from Brexit, let’s hope the environment and the UK’s food security don’t fall into the latter category.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niki Rust works for the North Pennines AONB Partnership. This research was funded by Newcastle University's N8 grant.</span></em></p>A new survey serves up a tall order for UK agricultural policy outside the EU.Niki Rust, Environmental Social Scientist, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.