Rewilding: The radical new science of environmental recovery
Authors: Paul Jepson and Cain Blythe
Book review on LinkedIn: Mark Papain
Just finished this fascinating read. Proponents of rewilding highlight that since humans spread across the globe they have contributed to mass extinctions of megafauna, which has had outsized negative impacts on ecological complexity. On this basis, they suggest an assessment of ecosystem health on three axis, and the use of flexible, novel approaches to move back up the scales of:
1. Complexity of trophic interactions
2. Ease of organism dispersal
3. Frequency of natural disturbances.
“Rewilding resembles restoration ecology, but differs in ethos and focus. It is about restoring networks of interactions between communities of organisms and their physical environment. It is more open ended, and relaxed about ecological novelty. It embraces the view that there is no way back for ecosystems, and that as ecological interactions and processes recover, ecosystems will take on new forms”.
It also leans into approaches which are feasible, pragmatic, and attractive to land owners and managers – eg: balancing nature conservation and nature ‘production’, including sustainable harvesting.
Examples include:
Trophic rewilding, restoring trophic interactions, nutrient dispersal and natural disturbances via the regulatory role of large predators and herbivores.
Translocation rewilding, seeking to restore dysfunctional ecological processes, via species re-introductions.
Pleistocene rewilding, restoring the ecological and evolutionary potential of ecosystems, through introducing relatives or equivalents of extinct species.
Overall it presents a number of exciting ideas to drive further research, rewilding trials, and policy development.
A review of the LinkedIn post by Ecologist Jane Rowan
Restoration/mitigation or “rewilding” has been attempted, often successfully many times—however the hype and simplistic consideration of “how” and lack of poorly defined success from an ecological standpoint points to dismal outcomes. The ecosystem itself is like a highly tuned organism and underinformed but well-meaning people can and have caused additional harm. This book, similarly named as the one above, copyrighted in 2018 describes a valiant effort to “wild” a land farmed for centuries. It describes a successful attempt to re-establish the balanced native ecosystem—including the missteps and difficulties faced.
