Lecture Fifteen - Rewilding Flashcards
What is the problem with pastoral areas?
They have experienced severe overgrazing, with no potential for species diversity.
What is the main message of Larkin’s poem?
That with urban expansion, land used can never come back.
What is the benefit of wildlife surrounding a nuclear site?
People are kept out of an exclusion zone, so there is decreased human presence and farming, which increases biodiversity.
Why were wolves introduced to Yellowstone?
To address the number of elks affecting hardwood trees
What can be the effect of introducing top mammals?
Can generate a trophic cascade
In the next 100 years, what percentage of Britain’s land (and land in hectares) do we want to be occupied by key species?
4.5% (1 million hectares)
What animals are part of the rewilding initiative in Oostaverdplassen in the Netherlands?
- Large ungulates
- Feral horses
- Grazing mammals
Describe a rewinding event in the UK.
Illegal beaver release in River Otter.
Introduced to 2-hectare area.
Substantial changes to hydrology.
What are the wider benefits of beaver introduction?
- Natural pools created by beavers act as a filtration system for water
- Could help with managing flood risk
What are the benefits that beavers may have on fisheries?
- Fish can hide from predators
- Abundance of rearing habitats
- Good overwintering habitats
- Flow refuge; can escape main flow as is slower.
Why are we concerned about the possibility of introducing the European Bison to the UK?
It has never been native to the UK.
How many wolf packs in Yellowstone? Why?
- 11 wolf packs.
- Extremely territorial and wide-ranging, require a lot of space.
Describe the change in wolf population since release in Yellowstone.
50% fall in wolves in core elk regions.
What is the problem with beavers in Scotland?
Tayside beaver population building dams and causing localised flooding for farmers with valuable crops.
Why don’t fishermen like the introduction of beavers?
Impeded fish movement due to dams.
