Introduced herbivores restore Late Pleistocene ecological functions

@article{Lundgren2020IntroducedHR,
  title={Introduced herbivores restore Late Pleistocene ecological functions},
  author={Erick J. Lundgren and D. Ramp and John Rowan and Owen Middleton and Simon D Schowanek and {\'O}scar Sanisidro and Scott P Carroll and Matt Davis and C. Sandom and J. Svenning and Arian D. Wallach},
  journal={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences},
  year={2020},
  volume={117},
  pages={7871 - 7878}
}
Significance Humans have caused extinctions of large-bodied mammalian herbivores over the past ∼100,000 y, leading to cascading changes in ecosystems. Conversely, introductions of herbivores have, in part, numerically compensated for extinction losses. However, the net outcome of the twin anthropogenic forces of extinction and introduction on herbivore assemblages has remained unknown. We found that a primary outcome of introductions has been the reintroduction of key ecological functions… Expand
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20 Citations

20 Citations

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Citation Type

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Many terrestrial herbivore assemblages—and hence ecosystems—would remain trophically downgraded, even after bringing back all extant, native herbivores, and complementary interventions would be required to achieve complete functional restoration. Expand
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