Speaker
Description
Ecological restoration is today essential to reverse ecosystem degradation. It encompasses multiple approaches including rewilding which aims at improving the condition of ecosystems by recovering natural ecological processes. Focusing on functionality rewilding targets self-sustaining ecosystems that provide multiple ecosystem services and require little to no human management in the long term. As any restoration approach, rewilding needs to be monitored. Monitoring rewilding aims at characterizing and understanding large-scale patterns in ecosystems focusing on the components of the rewilding process. Moreover, knowing where rewilding is happening opens possibilities for science (e.g., to assess its effects on climate change through the carbon sequestration of those areas) and policy (e.g. to protect those areas). In this context, we developed a set of spatially explicit indicators for monitoring rewilding trends and outcomes between 1992 and 2020. The rewilding status of an ecosystem depends on the extent of human pressure and on its ecological integrity which has three components: connectivity, trophic complexity, and stochastic disturbance regimes. The more natural these components are, the higher the ecological integrity. We evaluate terrestrial landscape connectivity loss caused by human use (built-up areas, linear infrastructures, agriculture) with a calculation of the effective mesh size. Trophic complexity is addressed with a focus on large mammals: actual communities are compared to natural ones by a trait dissimilarity analysis. Human pressures and their restricting effects on stochastic disturbances (e.g. floods and fires) are considered through the forestry and agriculture (grazing) impacts on primary productivity. The changes of those three indicators over 30 years highlight regions of Europe becoming wilder, but also regions where some components improve while other intensify. Mapping such rewilding indicators provides insight into the potential spaces for resilient and self-sustaining ecosystems and identifies areas where restoration efforts should be focused.
| Status Group | Postdoctoral Researcher |
|---|---|
| Poster Presentation Option | Yes, I’m willing to present as a poster. |
