The DOI matches its Crossref record; 12 of the 12 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Science for a wilder Anthropocene: Synthesis and future directions for trophic rewilding research
Open accessAbstract
Trophic rewilding is an ecological restoration strategy that uses species introductions to restore top-down trophic interactions and associated trophic cascades to promote self-regulating biodiverse ecosystems. Given the importance of large animals in trophic cascades and their widespread losses and resulting trophic downgrading, it often focuses on restoring functional megafaunas. Trophic rewilding is increasingly being implemented for conservation, but remains controversial. Here, we provide a synthesis of its current scientific basis, highlighting trophic cascades as the key conceptual framework, discussing the main lessons learned from ongoing rewilding projects, systematically reviewing the current literature, and highlighting unintentional rewilding and spontaneous wildlife comebacks as underused sources of information. Together, these lines of evidence show that trophic cascades may be restored via species reintroductions and ecological replacements. It is clear, however, that megafauna effects may be affected by poorly understood trophic complexity effects and interactions with landscape settings, human activities, and other factors. Unfortunately, empirical research on trophic rewilding is still rare, fragmented, and geographically biased, with the literature dominated by essays and opinion pieces. We highlight the need for applied programs to include hypothesis testing and science-based monitoring, and outline priorities for future research, notably assessing the role of trophic complexity, interplay with landscape settings, land use, and climate change, as well as developing the global scope for rewilding and tools to optimize benefits and reduce human–wildlife conflicts. Finally, we recommend developing a decision framework for species selection, building on functional and phylogenetic information and with attention to the potential contribution from synthetic biology.
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Cites
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Defaunation in the Anthropocene
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Self-citationTrophic Downgrading of Planet Earth
Estes, J. A., Terborgh, J., Brashares, J. S., Power, M. E., Berger, J., Bond, W. J., Carpenter, S. R., Essington, T. E., Holt, R. D., Jackson, J. B. C., et al. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1205106 · Cited by 4,087
Self-citationStatus and Ecological Effects of the World’s Largest Carnivores
Ripple, W. J., Estes, J. A., Beschta, R. L., Wilmers, C. C., Ritchie, E. G., Hebblewhite, M., Berger, J., Elmhagen, B., Letnic, M., Nelson, M. P., et al. (2014) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1241484 · Cited by 3,667
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Cited by
Defining a land boundary for sustainable livestock consumption
Van Zanten, H. H. E., Herrero, M., Van Hal, O., Röös, E., Muller, A., Garnett, T., Gerber, P. J., Schader, C., & De Boer, I. J. M. (2018) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/gcb.14321 · Cited by 406
“We suggest that defining a “biodiversity boundary” and the possibilities of rewilding for the world’s grasslands are important topics for future research (Newbold et al., 2016; Svenning et al., 2016).”
BackgroundAnimals and the zoogeochemistry of the carbon cycle
Schmitz, O. J., Wilmers, C. C., Leroux, S. J., Doughty, C. E., Atwood, T. B., Galetti, M., Davies, A. B., & Goetz, S. J. (2018) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aar3213 · Cited by 372
Self-citationBakker, E. S., Gill, J. L., Johnson, C. N., Vera, F. W. M., Sandom, C. J., Asner, G. P., & Svenning, J.-C. (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1502545112 · Cited by 368
Self-citationEcological and evolutionary legacy of megafauna extinctions
Galetti, M., Moleón, M., Jordano, P., Pires, M. M., Guimarães, P. R., Pape, T., Nichols, E., Hansen, D., Olesen, J. M., Munk, M., et al. (2018) · Biological Reviews · doi:10.1111/brv.12374 · Cited by 274
Self-citationAlternative Biome States in Terrestrial Ecosystems
Pausas, J. G., & Bond, W. J. (2020) · Trends in Plant Science · doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2019.11.003 · Cited by 252
Metadata
- Authors
- Svenning, J.-C., Pedersen, P. B. M., Donlan, C. J., Ejrnæs, R., Faurby, S., Galetti, M., Hansen, D. M., Sandel, B., Sandom, C. J., Terborgh, J. W., & Vera, F. W. M.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2015-10-26
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 898-906
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- OpenAlex
- W1860836819
- Cited by
- 614
- References
- 12
- FWCI
- 33.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
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- Svenning, J.-C., Pedersen, P. B. M., Donlan, C. J., Ejrnæs, R., Faurby, S., Galetti, M., Hansen, D. M., Sandel, B., Sandom, C. J., Terborgh, J. W., & Vera, F. W. M. (2016). Science for a wilder Anthropocene: Synthesis and future directions for trophic rewilding research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1502556112
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
