Rewilding complex ecosystems

Abstract

The practice of rewilding has been both promoted and criticized in recent years. Benefits include flexibility to react to environmental change and the promotion of opportunities for society to reconnect with nature. Criticisms include the lack of a clear conceptualization of rewilding, insufficient knowledge about possible outcomes, and the perception that rewilding excludes people from landscapes. Here, we present a framework for rewilding that addresses these concerns. We suggest that rewilding efforts should target trophic complexity, natural disturbances, and dispersal as interacting processes that can improve ecosystem resilience and maintain biodiversity. We propose a structured approach to rewilding projects that includes assessment of the contributions of nature to people and the social-ecological constraints on restoration.

Rewilding of Fukushima's human evacuation zone

“…; Perino et al . ; Schlichting et al . ), and provide additional evidence of the rewilding of landscapes following human abandonment even in the presence of radioactive stressors.…”

“…Such positive responses, and the processes that produce them, are often referred to as “rewilding” (Perino et al . ; Pettorelli et al . ).…”

“…In particular, the notable recovery of wildlife in the region around Chernobyl despite the presence of radiological contamination underscores the direct effects of human presence and land use on wildlife (Perino et al . ).…”

Do or do not. There is no try in restoration ecology

“…Nonetheless, we live in a time when nature needs us (Dalby ), and our work will never be done. The work we need to do of course includes more technical endeavors such as adding plants and animals back into systems (Desimone ; James et al ; Perino et al ) or managing for less desirable species such as exotics (Ceradini & Chalfoun ; Bell et al ), but what was much more forward‐oriented thinking at this meeting was that the work in turn changes and educates us—and this process should be lifelong and generational. The old idea of land stewardship was new again.…”

“…Restoration ecology is a relatively new discipline, and fundamentally always about change (Young ; Falk et al ). Restoration strategies from rewilding to management of existing lands can be passive or active (Svejcar & Kildisheva ; Perino et al ) but always include a dimension of change (Choi ; Baur ; Lortie ). The purpose of restoration ecology has also changed from mostly ethical motivations to necessity, and it will continue to change to embrace shifting and diverse human and ecosystem needs (Paschke et al ).…”