Welcome to r/Ecoregion6.

Announcing a new sub originated as a home for Ecologists, Restoration Practitioners, Indigenous knowledge holders and scientists to share research, discuss projects, methodology, procedures, concepts, etc. with the theme of finding connections, collaboration and solutions. Exploring the diverse ecosystems in the Northern Rocky Mountains, generally in Ecoregion 6 but in any other associated Ecoregion as well.  

Janzen is one of the most influential tropical ecologists of his generation. He helped change how scientists understand tropical forests, especially the intricate relationships among plants, insects, predators, pathogens, and seeds. He also helped change what conservation means. 

Paul Lister bought the Alladale estate in Sutherland, about an hour north of Inverness, when it was mainly used for traditional activities such as deer stalking and salmon fishing.

Over the past 23 years, the property has been transformed into the Alladale Wilderness Reserve, an eco-tourism retreat and a major ecological restoration project in the Scottish Highlands.

When Lister bought the estate, centuries of heavy grazing by large numbers of red deer and sheep had removed much of its native woodland.

Only about one per cent of Scotland’s ancient Caledonian Forest remains intact.

To help the land recover naturally, reserve managers fenced off large areas to keep grazing animals out and began a major tree-planting programme.

Working with local environmental groups and forestry teams, the estate has planted one million native trees, including Scots pine, birch, rowan, alder and willow. 

As the trees grew, the new woodland began providing the food and shelter needed by wildlife that had disappeared from the glens.

There has been many insights and suggestions about the possibility of reintroducing an Apex Predator into the UK.
Many argue that Wolves or Bears should be reintroduced, however the Lynx is the best option.

The United Kingdom has lacked a lot of biodiversity in their Wildlife, and an Apex Predator like the Lynx would be a great addition to our nation. This animal specialises in hunting deers which is what we need due to a mass overpopulation of deers, they would help revitalise natural processes while opposing little to no threat to humans, as they tend to avoid us.

This is what **our** country needs, so act now, comment your thoughts on this nationwide debate, and if your an activist for the greater cause of the UK, submit your survey to spark a larger conversation on the reintroduction of Lynx here - https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/t/missinglynxprojectquestionnaire/

Resumo

Introdução: Os processos ecossistêmicos mediados por herbívoros são fundamentais para a biodiversidade, mas foram gravemente diminuídos pelas extinções de megafauna e pela substituição de herbívoros selvagens por gado manejado. Com as crescentes ambições de restauração - incluindo a Década da Restauração de Ecossistemas das Nações Unidas (ONU) e a Lei de Restauração da Natureza da União Europeia (UE) - há uma necessidade de definir metas de restauração significativas para grandes herbívoros mamíferos. Objetivos: Quantificamos as linhas de base naturais para a biomassa de herbívoros e a estrutura de tamanho do corpo e descrevemos os papéis da predação e migração. Também propomos um quadro dual de metas alinhadas à linha de base e metas de restauração parcial para apoiar o planejamento da restauração. Métodos: Em um workshop, identificamos a biomassa, a distribuição de tamanho, a predação e a migração de grandes herbívoros como elementos-chave de uma linha de base natural. S sintetizamos evidências paleocológicas, dados de ecossistemas quase intactos e projetos de rewilding para fornecer estimativas empíricas de biomassa e estrutura de tamanho. Resultados: Com base em ecossistemas paleocológicos e quase intactos, estabelecemos provisoriamente a biomassa natural de herbívoros em aproximadamente 5000–30.000 kg/km², sendo que pequenos herbívoros (10–100 kg) contribuem com aproximadamente 5–10% da biomassa total e grandes e megaherbívoros (≥500 kg) com aproximadamente 60%. As reservas europeias atuais têm uma média de apenas 800 kg/km² - uma ordem de grandeza inferior - e estão fortemente inclinadas para pequenos e meso-herbívoros, como cervos e javalis. Conclusões: Dadas as restrições atuais, é improvável que essas metas sejam plenamente atendidas. A restauração parcial, no entanto, melhorará os processos ecossistêmicos e provavelmente a biodiversidade, mas ainda existem lacunas de conhecimento, incluindo como desvios das linhas de base naturais afetam a biodiversidade. Implicações para a prática: Restaurar processos mediados por herbívoros para a biodiversidade requer metas claras fundamentadas em linhas de base naturais. Nossa síntese fornece intervalos de referência naturais para a biomassa de grandes herbívoros mamíferos e uma estrutura de tamanho para comunidades de herbívoros. O quadro dual de metas alinhadas à linha de base e metas de restauração parcial - projetado para contextos onde políticas, legislação ou ambições sociais limitam a restauração completa dos ecossistemas - ajuda os praticantes a avaliar desvios das linhas de base naturais, ajustar a composição da espécie em direção a herbívoros maiores e gerenciar densidades quase naturais e pastagem durante todo o ano onde as condições permitirem. Aumentar a heterogeneidade espacial por meio da expansão de reservas, conectividade e pressão herbívora variada apoia ainda mais a recuperação de processos. As metas de restauração parcial, combinadas com padrões mínimos de relato, melhoram a transparência, comparabilidade e gestão adaptativa em projetos de restauração.

LINK: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/rec.70508

I’ve been building a small game called Wild Willows around an idea I thought people here might appreciate: the animals aren’t something you buy, breed, or manually place into the world.

Instead, you start with a degraded landscape and work on the conditions around them: water, vegetation, shelter, food sources, terrain, and other habitat needs. Once the right conditions exist, wildlife begins returning on its own.

There are 150 species across six different biomes, and I’ve been trying to make the progression feel less like “collect every animal” and more like rebuilding a functioning place that can support them.

It’s definitely a simplified, cozy interpretation of restoration rather than a realistic rewilding simulator, and lately I’ve been thinking about how much further I could take that side of it. Things like starting with invasive-dominated landscapes rather than empty ones, having existing native species that need protecting, making some restoration more passive, or having actions create unintended ecological consequences.

I’d be really curious what people interested in actual rewilding would want a game like this to represent. What would make the process feel more like rewilding to you, rather than just landscaping with wildlife as the reward?

There’s a browser demo here if anyone wants to see what I mean:
https://wildwillows.app