Rewilding Australia

摘要

A current controversy in Australian conservation biology is the introduction of one or more species to help "manage" an ecosystem "naturally," continuously and cheaply instead of artificially, episodically and expensively - as with human management. In Australia, advocates of "rewilding" have proposed introducing native species, exotic species and even extinct species. Although rewilding proponents usually talk in terms of species, their primary concern is "lost" ecological functions caused by species extinctions. Functions of the greatest interest are those delivered by species with a big role in ecosystems. These so-called "keystone" species are often large predators or herbivores.