Widespread habitat for Europe's largest herbivores, but poor connectivity limits recolonization

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F23%3A00571521" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/23:00571521 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/68081766:_____/23:00571521 RIV/60460709:41330/23:97312 RIV/00216208:11310/23:10454391 RIV/00027073:_____/23:N0000063

Result on the web

<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.13671" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.13671</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13671" target="_blank" >10.1111/ddi.13671</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Widespread habitat for Europe's largest herbivores, but poor connectivity limits recolonization

Original language description

Aim: Several large-mammal species in Europe have recovered and recolonized parts of their historical ranges. Knowing where suitable habitat exists, and thus where range expansions are possible, is important for proactively promoting coexistence between people and large mammals in shared landscapes. We aimed to assess the opportunities and limitations for range expansions of Europe's two largest herbivores, the European bison (Bison bonasus) and moose (Alces alces).Location: Central Europe.Methods: We used large occurrence datasets from multiple populations and species distribution models to map environmentally suitable habitats for European bison and moose across Central Europe, and to assess human pressure inside the potential habitat. We then used circuit theory modeling to identify potential recolonization corridors.Results: We found widespread suitable habitats for both European bison (> 120,000 km(2)) and moose (> 244,000 km(2)), suggesting substantial potential for range expansions. However, much habitat was associated with high human pressure (37% and 43% for European bison and moose, respectively), particularly in the west of Central Europe. We identified a strong east-west gradient of decreasing connectivity, with major barriers likely limiting natural recolonization in many areas.Main conclusions: We identify major potential for restoring large herbivores and their functional roles in Europe's landscapes. However, we also highlight considerable challenges for conservation planning and wildlife management, including areas where recolonization likely leads to human-wildlife conflict and where barriers to movement prevent natural range expansion. Conservation measures restoring broad-scale connectivity are needed in order to allow European bison and moose to recolonize their historical ranges. Finally, our analyses and maps indicate suitable but isolated habitat patches that are unlikely to be colonized but are candidate locations for reintroductions to establish reservoir populations. More generally, our work emphasizes that transboundary cooperation is needed for restoring large herbivores and their ecological roles, and to foster coexistence with people in Europe's landscapes.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10619 - Biodiversity conservation

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Diversity and Distributions

ISSN

1366-9516

e-ISSN

1472-4642

Volume of the periodical

29

Issue of the periodical within the volume

3

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

423-437

UT code for WoS article

000913515400001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85146160642