Rewilding Research Papers

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There is a developing importance between the nature conservationists in connection with the hypothesis of rewilding which is defined as an ambitious model of ecological restoration that aims to generate ecosystem services through a natural process, rather than the micro-management associated with traditional approaches to conserving endangered species (Rubenstein et. al. 2005). It is usually a hands-off method of reintroduce keystone species such as beaver and wolves which are capable of re-organising the whole ecosystems through the predictor behavioral effects (Donlan et.al. 2005). As revolutionary scientific ideas began to develop, it brought about the idea bringing back the megafauna such as lions and elephants to North America have created a very heated debate. In contrast the concept, termed ‘Pleistocene Rewilding’ is considered as a succession of carefully managed ecosystem manipulations that would counter the pest-and-weed biotas which are promoted by human impact, secondly it facilitates the evolution and persistence of large vertebrates on a global scale and thirdly it changes the underlying premise of conservation from managing extinction to actively restoring biological processes (Donlan et.al. 2005).Furthermore Pleistocene rewilding is seen as a radical departure from the normality which has caused it to receive major criticism from other science specialist. While there are reasonable criticisms regarding Pleistocene rewilding, it is a hypothesis that deserves more testing and support.
The main objective of Pleistocene re-wilding is to reintroduce African and Asian megafauna (Donlan, 2005, Rubenstein et al. 2006). Donlan (2005) argues that this is a promising step since the species that will be introduced will be pro...

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...eté towards predators and diseases have rendered reintroductions unsuccessful hence the introduction of exotic species such as elephants as proxies for mastodons for example would generate even more human-wildlife interactions and conflicts, such as those currently taking place in Africa (Rubenstein et. al. 2006).
In my point of view, the article by Donlan (2005) provides very little evidence to support their claims, few references to previous literature, and biased opinion. Lastly the graphs illustrated have no quantitative data. On the hand the article by Rubenstein et. al. (2005) is much more comprehensive in addressing the flaws in the first article. Therefore Pleistocene re-wilding must not be implemented simply because the introduced species might fail to adapt to the new environment. High costs and disease outbreak are another challenge that can’t be ignored

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