Alladale wilderness reserve. Landscape is dominated by heather moorland, only 5% cover.
Story about how much work is involved in managing a Scottish wildeness reserve. Why does it takes much so much work
His definition:
Rewilding = restoration of ecosystem processes, but also while maintaining diversity and having a role for people
Theory of community assembly rules:
(1) Total species pool -> dispersal filtering -> (2) geographical species pool -> environmental filtering -> (3) habitat species pool -> internal ecosystem dynamics -> (4) actual species pool
Human perturbations include species extinction, (affect (1)), human dispersal barriers and non-native introduction (affect 2), human environment and climate change (affect 3), and functional suppression of species (affect 4)
Restoration and rewilding manage these perturbations
With that in mind, how can we apply to Scotland?
Ecosystem architecture. We want to put the components of an ecosystem back together. Herbivores and predators. Interesting analogy. In past we have megaherbivores that were unpredated. Now we have mesoherbivores that are uncredited.
They have introduced bison, highland cattle, boars,
Which species would we start with? We should start with the wolf , which gives an opportunity for woodland and woodland species such as boar. This may enable the creation of a totipotent state.
Wolf density needs to be above 90 per 1000 sw km to see a strong reduction in deer population.
He has questions about ecosystem architecture. If we cannot bring elephants into Scotland, maybe be should have introductions that mimic that architecture?
Story about how much work is involved in managing a Scottish wildeness reserve. Why does it takes much so much work
His definition:
Rewilding = restoration of ecosystem processes, but also while maintaining diversity and having a role for people
Theory of community assembly rules:
(1) Total species pool -> dispersal filtering -> (2) geographical species pool -> environmental filtering -> (3) habitat species pool -> internal ecosystem dynamics -> (4) actual species pool
Human perturbations include species extinction, (affect (1)), human dispersal barriers and non-native introduction (affect 2), human environment and climate change (affect 3), and functional suppression of species (affect 4)
Restoration and rewilding manage these perturbations
With that in mind, how can we apply to Scotland?
Ecosystem architecture. We want to put the components of an ecosystem back together. Herbivores and predators. Interesting analogy. In past we have megaherbivores that were unpredated. Now we have mesoherbivores that are uncredited.
They have introduced bison, highland cattle, boars,
Which species would we start with? We should start with the wolf , which gives an opportunity for woodland and woodland species such as boar. This may enable the creation of a totipotent state.
Wolf density needs to be above 90 per 1000 sw km to see a strong reduction in deer population.
He has questions about ecosystem architecture. If we cannot bring elephants into Scotland, maybe be should have introductions that mimic that architecture?