Speaker
Description
Rewilding has become an established concept of restoring natural processes, while enhancing biodiversity potential of the landscape. Rewilding creates resilient, self-regulating and self-sustaining ecosystems, while promoting human-wellbeing. The Oder delta is one such landscape chosen for rewilding. It is located at the Baltic coast between Poland and Germany, where the complex ecosystems spanning forests, agricultural land, peatland, and lagoons create ample opportunities for rewilding of a diverse assemblage of biodiversity and recolonization potential for locally extinct species such as the European Bison (Bison bonasus) and Moose (Alces alces).
Here, we present our findings of a retrospective time-series analysis of ~250 years of change (1780 - 2020) in forest cover within a selected region in this landscape. We also present our findings of defaunation events in the past, and more recent recolonization and reestablishment of populations of iconic key-stone species in this region. We analyze various factors including human population dynamics that has affected defaunation, landcover-change, and rewilding success in the Oder delta. We elaborate on change in trophic complexity as a rewilding indicator for this landscape, and suggest various rewilding pathways.
| Status Group | Postdoctoral Researcher |
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