The Rewilding Institute

Field research shows that ecosystem integrity is often dependent on the functional presence of large carnivores. John Terborgh of Duke University has studied the ecological effects of eliminating large carnivores (jaguars, pumas, and harpy eagles) from tropical forests. He tells us that big cats and eagles are major regulators of prey species numbers—the opposite of the once-upon-a-time ecological orthodoxy that saw them as unimportant. He has also found that the removal or population decline of large carnivores can alter plant species composition, particularly the balance between large- and small-seeded plants, due to increased seed and seedling predation by superabundant herbivores that are normally regulated by large carnivores. This is called top-down regulation. from Rewilding North America, by Dave Foreman. Read more - https://lnkd.in/gqa5Mia6 #rewilding #carnivores

An ecological or wildlife corridor is a clearly defined geographical space that is governed and managed over the long term to maintain or restore effective ecological connectivity.[4] The following terms are often used similarly: ‘linkages,’ ‘MegaLinkages,’ ‘wildway,’ ‘safe passages,’ ‘ecological connectivity areas,’ ‘ecological connectivity zones,’ and ‘permeability areas.’ The term corridor suggests a single conduit, whereas the term linkage is commonly used to refer to a connectivity area with multiple strands. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gF4D_8Cm #rewilding

Large roadless areas are essential for rewilding because they protect large carnivores and other sensitive species from depredation and disturbance by people. Dave Parsons, former team leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Mexican Wolf recovery project, did an in-depth review of how roads impact a variety of species for The New Mexico Highlands Wildlands Network Vision, and found that species from wolves to bighorn sheep need roadless refuges. https://lnkd.in/gpKGMZti #rewilding

The shorthand definition of Rewilding is the "3 C's"--conservation of Cores, Corridors, and Carnivores. The ultimate goal of rewilding efforts is to mitigate the species extinction crisis and restore healthy and sustainable ecosystem function in areas that require little or no human intervention or management. (See: The Science Behind Continental Scale Conservation) That vision is of dynamic but stable self-regulating and self-sustaining ecosystems with near pre-human levels of species diversity. John Davis observed that "Rewilding, in essence, is giving the land back to wildlife, and wildlife back to the land." https://lnkd.in/geJxPGUh

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Attn Rewilders! We need your help! We got some great news on a $20,000 matching grant. If you help us with our new jaguar program and our Mogollon Wildway work, you can double your impact on World Rewilding Day! Details: https://rewilding.org/wrd Please share! #rewilding