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. 2021 Jan;50(1):101-112.
doi: 10.1007/s13280-020-01320-0. Epub 2020 Mar 9.

Experimental rewilding may restore abandoned wood-pastures if policy allows

Pablo Garrido  1   2   3 , Lars Edenius  4 , Grzegorz Mikusiński  5   6 , Anna Skarin  7 , Anna Jansson  8 , Carl-Gustaf Thulin  4   8
Affiliations

Experimental rewilding may restore abandoned wood-pastures if policy allows

Pablo Garrido et al. Ambio. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Large herbivores play key roles in terrestrial ecosystems. Continuous defaunation processes have produced cascade effects on plant community composition, vegetation structure, and even climate. Wood-pastures were created by traditional management practices that have maintained open structures and biodiversity for millennia. In Europe, despite the broad recognition of their biological importance, such landscapes are declining due to land-use changes. This calls for finding urgent solutions for wood-pasture conservation. To test whether introducing an ecological replacement of an extinct wild horse could have positive effects on wood-pasture restoration, we designed a 3-year rewilding experiment. Horses created a more open wood-pasture structure by browsing on seedlings and saplings, affected tree composition via selective browsing and controlled the colonization of woody vegetation in grassland-dominated areas. Thus, rewilding could be a potential avenue for wood-pasture restoration and biodiversity conservation. However, such benefits may not materialize without a necessary paradigm and political shift.

Keywords: Ecological replacement species; Horse browsing; Paradigm shift; Political constrain; Rewilding; Wood-pasture restoration.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Study area and experimental design. Exclosures represent control plots where herbivory was excluded. Their location on the map is approximate (see “Materials and methods” for details). The enclosures were considered the experimental area where horses were introduced. b Vegetation surveys in the experimental areas were performed parallel to exclosures (controls; see details in b)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Height/diameter ratio for trees in experimental and control plots. This ratio was utilized as proxy to elucidate horse browsing effect on vegetation structure
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Effects of grazing and browsing on experimental and control areas at Krusenberg estate in 2016 (after 3-year experiment)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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