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Rewilding North America Set Aside to Become the Would See the Introduction of Giant Introduction of Giant Wilderness Again Focus: Brave New World REWILDING NORTH One elephant AMERICA at a By Alexandra Mushegian round sloths occupy a small but was the major cause of these extinctions. time Gbeloved role in the collective Without exception, the timing of major imagination. These five-ton, seventeen- biodiversity reductions on all continents foot hamster-like herbivores, which and large islands coincides with the ar- went extinct somewhere around 10,000 rival of early humans, with many species years ago, are commonly found as dying out within a few hundred years skeletons posing in natural history mu- after humans arrived (1). seums. Populations of these animals The only continents still possessing were thriving in North America when noteworthy megafaunal diversity— humans first arrived over the Bering Africa, and to a lesser extent, Asia—are Land Bridge along with mammoths, the continents where humans coevolved lions, saber-toothed cats, twenty-pound with animals for the longest time. Now, beavers, and several species of giant due to political and socioeco- tortoise, not to mention a multitude of nomic instability in those deer and ox-like species. Shortly after regions, they are in danger humans arrived, they all died out. there too. The Pleistocene epoch, which ended Some scientists believe 10,000 years ago (in archaeological that the loss of large ver- terms, the end of the Paleolithic), was tebrate biodiversity has a golden age of animal exoticism world- graver consequences than wide. Why it ended—why this geologi- merely a reduction in worldwide cal period saw a series of massive global biodiversity. Ecological studies suggest collapses of large animal biodiversity— that large herbivores and predators are is a contentious topic. Many argue that crucial to maintaining healthy, robust the primary reason was climate change ecosystems. Some see the loss of these in the form of global deglaciation. species as one that will have perilous fu- Increasingly, though, studies are sug- ture consequences. In response, they’ve gesting that it was human activity, in the come up with a controversial plan: they form of hunting, habitat alteration, and want to bring them back to the USA. the introduction of new diseases, that 14 Harvard Science Review • fall 2008 rewilding-2.indd 14 2/9/2009 11:29:34 PM Focus: Brave New World Pleistocene Rewilding group dedicated to rescuing fish habi- In 2005, a group of scientists pub- tats such as mangroves and salt marshes. lished a two-page proposal in Nature. But the radicalism of the Pleistocene This short paper had enormous scope rewilding concept lies in the scale of “Stipulating carefully and ambition. In response to what they the project in both time and space. saw as the takeover of North America Proponents of this plan want to restore planned, progressive by “dandelions and rats,” Josh Donlan ecosystems that existed 13,000 years ecological studies and his colleagues proposed that a vi- ago, and they want to revert to wilder- and small-scaled able solution might be to use African ness areas of thousands of square miles. experiments, and Asian species as analogues of Stipulating carefully planned, progres- Pleistocene rewilding sive ecological studies and small-scaled extinct Pleistocene North American would see the species, introducing them to areas of experiments, Pleistocene rewilding North America set aside to become the would see the introduction of giant introduction of giant wilderness again. If done right, they tortoises, horses, camelids (llamas), and tortoises, horses, claimed, this method would restore most unexpectedly, lions, cheetahs, and camelids (llamas), and North American ecological health and elephants to the American Southwest most unexpectedly, save species from extinction (2). and Great Plains regions. All of these lions, cheetahs, and Ecological restoration projects are species had close relatives living in undertaken all the time. Peregrine fal- North America during the Pleistocene elephants to the cons, for example, were on the brink (the Asian elephant, for example, is American Southwest and of extinction from DDT contamina- more closely related to the woolly mam- Great Plains regions.” tion before a program bred together moth than it is to the African elephant) several subspecies from both the New (4). These species would be set loose and Old Worlds and reintroduced them to pursue their normal predator-prey into the wild. Peregrines have proven to interactions to reshape the American be adaptable and appear to be thriving environment. (3). Many conservation agencies strive This plan would represent a shift in Mammoths are one of the to restore endangered habitats, such as conservation practice from focusing groups of animals that lived on on cataloging and slowing biodiversity the North American landmass the National Oceanic and Atmospheric before becoming extinct. Administration’s Restoration Center, a loss to actively managing and promoting credit: Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis Science Vol 319. 7 March 2008 p. 1331 credit: Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis Science Vol fall 2008 • Harvard Science Review 15 rewilding-2.indd 15 2/9/2009 11:29:34 PM Focus: Brave New World The diagram to the left maps the correlation between human arrival and extinction of indig- enous species, as well as the strength of that evidence. predators, as well as some of the more impressive herbi- vores, play a disproportion- ately large role in maintain- ing “ecological function.” “Ecological function” means, roughly, an ecosystem’s abil- ity to rebound from shocks, adapt to changing condi- tions, and evolve to greater and greater fitness—in other words, general vitality. Preda- tors help control herbivore populations, keeping them from over-expanding, de- stroying all vegetation, and subsequently starving. The importance of this “top- down” control effect has been confirmed in many situ- ations. Plant biomass declined by 40% in parts of the Arctic productive, diverse ecosystems. research, the next step would be to find tundra from which predators huge tracts of land to be rewilded. The were excluded (7). Closer to home, The Plan authors of the paper suggest economi- many areas of the United States are Pleistocene rewilding would start cally depressed regions of the Great facing problems because out-of-control with small-scale ecological studies of Plains as good candidates for such an deer populations are decimating forests the way exotic species respond to being endeavor. The area would be securely and living perpetually half-starved and repatriated to North American envi- fenced and given the status of a national disease-ridden (and also carrying Lyme ronments. These studies would start park or nature preserve. Hopefully, it disease, a debilitating illness that is with less dramatic species—tortoises, would become a tourist attraction that spread from deer to humans by ticks) llamas—and would progress to more would bring economic benefits to the (8). Deers’ previous predators, wolves challenging species like big cats. Many surrounding region. and mountain lions, are largely absent species, such as cheetahs, already exist Similar plans are already being at- in the wild because they were hunted in captivity in the US; they would be tempted in at least two spots in the as dangers by humans, and because placed on large private properties with world: Oostvaardersplassen, a nature their forest habitats are too fragmented 306 . 1 October 2004 credit:Science Volume potential prey and the predator-prey reserve in the Netherlands focusing on to allow them to have the large areas interactions and dynamics over time restoration of large ungulates, and Len- they need to thrive. A recent review of would be carefully studied by experts skiye Stolby, Siberia, commonly known multiple studies from Venezuelan ter- on the species (5). In addition, informa- as “Pleistocene Park.” (6). restrial and various marine ecosystems tion about the flora of the Pleistocene concludes that “we live in a largely top- could be reconstructed from pollen in The Benefits of Rewilding down regulated world” (9). the fossil record. Why exactly are large vertebrates so Large herbivores, too, contribute to Once there is a significant body of important? Various studies show that ecosystem diversity, usually by virtue 16 Harvard Science Review • fall 2008 rewilding-2.indd 16 2/9/2009 11:29:34 PM Focus: Brave New World of their very size and gawkiness—for have ecologically harmful effects due Questions to Ponder example, elephants trample vegetation to unforeseen interactions with the cur- The debate about Pleistocene rewild- and tortoises dig long burrows. These rent natives. Furthermore, introduced ing raises deep and important questions sorts of activities create heterogeneity species could carry latent pathogens about humans’ role in the biosphere. in the environment, opening up a vari- that might thrive in a new setting, bring- Are we responsible for atoning for ety of ecological niches than can then ing diseases that might threaten both the destructiveness of our thirteen be filled by different plant and animal nature and agriculture. Even if there are thousand year old ancestors? Are we a species. The more diverse and varied a not dramatically deleterious effects, the species like any other, our capacity for landscape is, the greater its robustness desired outcome of increasing ecologi- destruction just part of our evolution- and adaptability. By feeding on shrubs cal function might simply not happe, if ary advantage? Or is it now our role to and saplings, elephants maintain grass- assumptions about species interactions serve as large-scale gardeners, making land ecosystems; camelids feed on the and ecological roles turned out to be sure the world thrives? What does it type of weedy, scrubby species that oth- wrong (12). Extensive research is cer- mean when we influence the course of erwise threaten to take over landscapes. tainly necessary to evaluate the threat evolution? As the idea of Pleistocene In the Siberian “Pleistocene Park,” of these sorts of problems.
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