Where The Wild Things Were: Re-wilding and the Sixth Extinction - Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change - page 45

Shakesby 2011). The palaeoecological record shows that even the Bialowieza Forest, in Poland,
that is feted as primeval wilderness, has over a thousand years of human management his-
tory, and the forest cannot therefore be classified as virgin or primeval (Mitchell and Cole
1998). Management of woodlands for heterogeneity increases biodiversity by providing habi-
tat for light-loving plants, birds, and insects, and also provides a wider range of ecosystem
services and livelihood options (see Chapter 6). Land abandonment and changing agricul-
tural practices provide can cause landscapes homogenization as forest canopies regenerate
(see Chapters 6 and 7) but at the same time provide enormous potential for expanding the
scope and reach of re-wilding efforts in Europe (Shakesby 2011, Weissteiner et al. 2011, Nav-
arro and Pereira 2012, Monbiot 2013b). Therefore, there are excellent ecological and social
reasons for re-wilding European woodlands and there are now growing populations of wild
ponies, European elk, European bison, and wild boar that are restoring the heart of the wood-
land experience for European nature lovers.
The rise of herbivore populations raises new questions about their management, and the
next stages of the re-wilding process will be to tackle the thorny issue of carnivore reintroduc-
tions. Red kites and griffon vultures already provide success stories, and at present there are
moves to reintroduce wolves and lynx in selected remote areas. Rewilding Europe (<http://
www.rewildingeurope.com/>) have already started work on seven areas—Western Iberia,
Eastern Carpathians, Danube Delta, Southern Carpathians, Velebit, Central Apennines—and
wolves are rebounding naturally in many areas as conflict with agriculture diminishes.
Carnivores as keystone species
Reintroducing carnivores is a key component of many re-wilding plans. Carnivores require
specifically reserved areas where they can hunt without conflict with domestic livestock.
They also require these reserves to be embedded in a permeable landscape, which allows
them to connect with other populations and widens the area available to hunting. Successful
conservation of carnivores therefore benefits many other species and embodies the three
core principles of conservation at the landscape level: core reserves, connectivity, and key-
stone species (Soule and Noss 1998). Predators influence many species through cascading
interactions that influence not only prey species, the resources they consume, and habitat
structure, but also other smaller predators that must compete for prey (Ripple and Beschta
2004, Estes et al. 2011). When top carnivores are lost from ecosystems, populations of meso-
predators may increase, while scavengers may lose significant food sources. Vegetation might
also undergo profound changes as herbivore populations change in size and relative abun-
dance (Terborgh et al. 2006, Johnson 2009, Galetti and Dirzo 2013, Dirzo et al. 2014b, Seddon
et al. 2014).
In North America, the grey wolf has lost 53% of its historic range, and few populations sur-
vive in the 48 contiguous United States (Laliberte and Ripple 2004). One of the most famous
examples of re-wilding carnivores is the reintroduction of the grey wolf ( Canis lupus ) to
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA. Wolves were extirpated from the Yellowstone