Project description
Rethinking ecosystem restoration
Restoring ecosystems is vital in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss, yet large-scale rewilding, such as reintroducing animals to revive natural processes, remains controversial. Many worry about its long-term effects. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the NetRewild project aims to bring clarity, moving beyond simplistic species-by-species efforts. Instead, it studies the complex web of interactions between animals and plants – who eats what, who disperses seeds, and how traits shape these relationships. By focusing on networks of species interactions across Europe’s Natura 2000 sites, NetRewild seeks to predict how ecosystems respond to changes, from historical herbivore losses to future rewilding scenarios. This science-based approach offers a more reliable, holistic path to restoration.
Objective
Scaling up ecosystem restoration is critical during the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) to combat the climate crisis, enhance biodiversity and restore essential ecosystem services. Trophic rewilding, which often involves the reintroduction of species to reinstate natural processes, is promising but remains controversial due to uncertainties about its broader, long-term impacts on ecosystems. To address these concerns, further research is needed to guide effective, science-based restoration efforts.
In this context, NetRewild addresses key challenges in restoration ecology by focusing on the complexity of species interaction networks that drive ecosystem processes. Interaction networks serve as a key link between individual species and overall ecosystem properties such as structure, stability, and function. This innovative approach moves beyond traditional restoration methods, which typically emphasize individual species or habitats, offering a more holistic perspective on ecosystem dynamics. NetRewild will use trait-based models to predict animal-plant interactions and associated ecological functions, such as seed dispersal and plant regeneration, based on species traits and assemblages across Natura 2000 sites. The research will focus on two main areas: first, how functional traits explain the mechanisms driving interaction patterns and ecological processes, addressing a critical knowledge gap essential for predicting future ecosystem impacts; second, how historical changes in herbivore communities and future rewilding scenarios shape ecosystem function and stability. The expected results will provide a science-based foundation for actionable strategies to support successful rewilding initiatives, while integrating insights from real-world applications.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringecosystem-based managementecological restoration
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
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Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark