Credit of ecological interactions: A new conceptual framework to support conservation in a defaunated world

Genes, Luísa; Cid, Bruno; Fernandez, Fernando A. S.; Pires, Alexandra S.

doi:10.1002/ece3.2746

Cited by 20 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…Moreover, howler monkeys mainly interacted with more common plant species and should thus rewire interactions with more rare species only as the population expands or more individuals are released (Genes et al. ). Due to the high number of exotic species in TNP, howler monkeys also created an undesirable interaction with the invasive jackfruit, which needs to be further monitored.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To evaluate reintroduction success in restoring plant–animal interactions, we estimated the number of interactions that could be restored by the reintroduction (credit of ecological interactions) (Genes et al. ; Supporting Information) and compared that number with the observed number of pairwise interactions restored by the monkeys. We assessed howler monkey diets over 24 months, from right after the first group's release in September 2015 to August 2017.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…) and can contribute a large number of interactions when they are reintroduced in the first steps of trophic rewilding (Genes et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of howler monkey reintroduction on ecological interactions and processes

Genes

Fernandez

Vaz‐de‐Mello

et al. 2018

Conservation Biology

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Rewilding has been an increasingly popular tool to restore plant-animal interactions and ecological processes impaired by defaunation. However, the reestablishment of such processes has seldom been assessed. We investigated the restoration of ecological interactions following the reintroduction of the brown howler monkey (Alouatta guariba) to a defaunated Atlantic forest site. We expected the reintroduction to restore plant-animal interactions and interactions between howlers and dung beetles, which promote secondary seed dispersal. We estimated the number of interactions expected to be restored by the reintroduction to provide the baseline interaction richness that could be restored. We followed the reintroduced howler monkeys twice a week for 24 months (337 hours total) to assess their diet. We used howler monkey dung in secondary seed dispersal experiments with 2484 seed mimics to estimate the removal rates by dung beetles and collected the beetles to assess community attributes. We compared the potential future contribution of howler monkeys and other frugivores to seed dispersal based on the seed sizes they disperse in other areas where they occur. In 2 years, howler monkeys consumed 60 animal-dispersed plant species out of the 330 estimated. Twenty-one dung beetle species were attracted to experimentally provided dung; most of them were tunnelers, nocturnal, and large-sized (>10 mm). On average 30% (range 0-100%) of the large seed mimics (14 mm) were moved by dung beetles. About 91% of the species consumed by howlers (size range 0.3-34.3 mm) overlapped in seed size with those removed by dung beetles. In our study area, howler monkeys may consume more large-seeded fruit species than most other frugivores, highlighting their potential to affect forest regeneration. Our results show reintroductions may effectively restore ecological links and enhance ecological processes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of howler monkey reintroduction on ecological interactions and processes

Genes

Fernandez

Vaz‐de‐Mello

et al. 2018

Conservation Biology

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“…These legacies are represented by observable attributes of current ecosystems such as remnant populations or diaspores of locally extinct species, behavioural or morphological adaptations to lost ecological interactions or even landscape characteristics (e.g. Peterson, ; Schäfer, ; Johnstone et al, ; Blackhall et al, ; Genes et al, ). Since these observable, quasi‐static attributes result from long‐term ecosystem dynamics, the ecological memory concept is relevant for investigating the effects of an ecosystem's history on its response to changes such as the (re)introduction of megafauna (Padisák, ; Peterson, ).…”

Section: Current Understanding Of Ecological Memory and Its Relevancementioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of ecological memory for trophic rewilding as an ecosystem restoration approach

et al. 2018

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Increasing human pressure on strongly defaunated ecosystems is characteristic of the Anthropocene and calls for proactive restoration approaches that promote self-sustaining, functioning ecosystems. However, the suitability of novel restoration concepts such as trophic rewilding is still under discussion given fragmentary empirical data and limited theory development. Here, we develop a theoretical framework that integrates the concept of 'ecological memory' into trophic rewilding. The ecological memory of an ecosystem is defined as an ecosystem's accumulated abiotic and biotic material and information legacies from past dynamics. By summarising existing knowledge about the ecological effects of megafauna extinction and rewilding across a large range of spatial and temporal scales, we identify two key drivers of ecosystem responses to trophic rewilding: (i) impact potential of (re)introduced megafauna, and (ii) ecological memory characterising the focal ecosystem. The impact potential of (re)introduced megafauna species can be estimated from species properties such as lifetime per capita engineering capacity, population density, home range size and niche overlap with resident species. The importance of ecological memory characterising the focal ecosystem depends on (i) the absolute time since megafauna loss, (ii) the speed of abiotic and biotic turnover, (iii) the strength of species interactions characterising the focal ecosystem, and (iv) the compensatory capacity of surrounding source ecosystems. These properties related to the focal and surrounding ecosystems mediate material and information legacies (its ecological memory) and modulate the net ecosystem impact of (re)introduced megafauna species. We provide practical advice about how to quantify all these properties while highlighting the strong link between ecological memory and historically contingent ecosystem trajectories. With this newly established ecological memory-rewilding framework, we hope to guide future empirical studies that investigate the ecological effects of trophic rewilding and other ecosystem-restoration approaches. The proposed integrated conceptual framework should also assist managers and decision makers to anticipate the possible trajectories of ecosystem dynamics after restoration actions and to weigh plausible alternatives. This will help practitioners to develop adaptive management strategies for trophic rewilding that could facilitate sustainable management of functioning ecosystems in an increasingly human-dominated world.

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“…[4,9], the choice of the candidate species should be based on the balance between the probability of population establishment and the benefit of the restored interactions for ecosystem functions [4,5]. Using an economics analogy, species reintroductions could allow defaunated areas to gradually 'cash' a credit of ecological interactions where their interaction partners are still extant, which depends on the species-specific traits as well as on the abundances of the focal species and their partners [12]. The interaction credit framework is based on the potential to restore interactions (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating interaction credit for trophic rewilding in tropical forests

Marjakangas

Genes

Pires

et al. 2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Trophic rewilding has been suggested as a restoration tool to restore ecological interactions and reverse defaunation and its cascading effects on ecosystem functioning. One of the ecological processes that has been jeopardized by defaunation is animal-mediated seed dispersal. Here, we propose an approach that combines joint species distribution models with occurrence data and species interaction records to quantify the potential to restore seed-dispersal interactions through rewilding and apply it to the Atlantic Forest, a global biodiversity hotspot. Using this approach, we identify areas that should benefit the most from trophic rewilding and candidate species that could contribute to cash the credit of seed-dispersal interactions in a given site. We found that sites within large fragments bearing a great diversity of trees may have about 20 times as many interactions to be cashed through rewilding as small fragments in regions where deforestation has been pervasive. We also ranked mammal and bird species according to their potential to restore seed-dispersal interactions if reintroduced while considering the biome as a whole and at finer scales. The suggested approach can aid future conservation efforts in rewilding projects in defaunated tropical rainforests. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Trophic rewilding: consequences for ecosystems under global change’.

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Credit of ecological interactions: A new conceptual framework to support conservation in a defaunated world

Cited by 20 publications

References 37 publications

Effects of howler monkey reintroduction on ecological interactions and processes

Effects of howler monkey reintroduction on ecological interactions and processes

The importance of ecological memory for trophic rewilding as an ecosystem restoration approach

Estimating interaction credit for trophic rewilding in tropical forests

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