- Find Information
- Research Guides
- WRC 1013/1023: Freshman Composition: Exploring Critical Issues
WRC 1013/1023: Freshman Composition: Exploring Critical Issues
Sources for WRC 1013: Christina Frasier, Darren Meritz & Pamela Mahan
Introduction: Rewilding
"Rewilding" is a popular term for the ecological restoration of land that has been developed or used for agriculture. The readings below illustrate some of the benefits and detriments to rewilding in different areas around the world.
Rewilding
- Perino, A., et al., Rewilding complex ecosystems, Science"The concept of rewilding has evolved from its initial emphasis on protecting large, connected areas for large carnivore conservation to a process-oriented, dynamic approach."image: pixabay.com
- Tree, I., The Knepp wildland project, Biodiversity"These unforeseen outcomes or ‘emergent properties’ point to the huge potential of process-led rewilding pro-jects like Knepp. By allowing natural processes to func-tion, providing scope for complexity and spontaneity, and allowing nature to reveal itself, rather than dictating the formulae ourselves, we can gain new and valuable insights into the preferred habitats and behaviour of some of the UK’s rarest species and perhaps even, in the process, find a way out of the funnel of diminishing returns."image: pixabay.com
- Hoogendoorn, et al., Tourism as an incentive for rewilding: The conversion from cattle to game farms in Limpopo province, South Africa, Journal of Ecotourism."All of the respondents noted that game are more self-sufficient than cattle, and consequently require less labour and less management. The financial returns per hectare, therefore, made game farming a more economically viable option, without arduous constraints on time and resources."image: pixabay.com
- Brown, A., et al., Natural vs anthropogenic streams in Europe: History, ecology and implications for restoration, river-rewilding and riverine ecosystems services, Earth Science ReviewsIt is clear from this review that it is impossible to return lowland streams and floodplains of temperate Europe to anything approximating an originally natural state or a hypothetical natural equilibrium condition with reference to a point in the past. To even start the process would require the removal of huge quantities of legacy or anthropogenic overbank sediments, which itself would pose a major problem of disposal. It is, nevertheless, possible to recognise complex, often-multi-channel systems, which have high biodiversity and channel-floodplain linkage, remnants of which frequently persist and which are often depicted on early maps and which can form planforms for restoration.
- Li, L., et al., Rewilding cultural landscape potentially puts both avian diversity and endemism at risk: A Tibetan Plateau case study, Biological Conservation"In setting objectives of ecological restoration projects, we concluded that it should not be automatically assumed that multiple objectives can be met simultaneously following the reversion of environmental degradation. A precise set of indicators should be established to evaluate the achievement of each restoration objective. For the biodiversity objective, the population status of endemic species can be used as an evaluation benchmark."
- Andriuzzi, W. S., & Wall, D. H., Soil biological responses to, and feedbacks on, trophic rewilding, Philosphical Transaction B."Trophic rewilding aims at (re)introducing large herbivores and/or their predators where they are missing due to humans. In the debate on its merits and risks, a crucial component of the ecosystems whose functioning rewilding seeks to restore has been thus far quite neglected—soil. Perhaps tellingly, in two recent reviews on rewilding terms such as ‘soil’, ‘below ground’, ‘decomposition’, ‘mineralization’, ‘root’ and ‘rhizosphere’ never appear—not even in the titles of the references."
- Smith, P., Copying ancient woodlands: A positive perspective, Biodiversity & Conservation"A ‘created woodland’ need not meet preconceived ideals to benefit individual organisms."image: pixabay.com
- Smalley, A., Wild by nature: North American animals confront colonization"So many histories of colonizing in British North America have been told as tales of wildness lost. Many more have been relayed as accounts of wildness conquered. But if we allow animals to be actors in our stories, quite different narratives emerge. One is a human history of wildness, but the other is an animal history of colonization. Both deserve our attention."image: pixabay.com