Trophic rewilding benefits a tropical community through direct and indirect network effects

Reintroducing four frugivore species—channel-billed toucans, red-humped agoutis, brown howler monkeys, and yellow-footed tortoises—into the Tijuca National Park (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) significantly enhanced the local seed dispersal network by increasing connectance, nestedness, robustness, and indirect ecological interactions. The study found that the combined effect of reintroducing multiple species (refaunation) was greater than the sum of their individual effects, as some interaction pathways involved several reintroduced species simultaneously. These network changes were more pronounced than if four random species had been reintroduced, suggesting that strategic refaunation can restore ecological functionality more effectively than single-species reintroductions alone.

Mittelman, P., Landim, A. R., Genes, L., Assis, A. P. A., Starling‐Manne, C., Leonardo, P. V., Fernandez, F. A. S., Guimarães Jr, P. R., & Pires, A. S. (2021). Trophic rewilding benefits a tropical community through direct and indirect network effects. Ecography, 2022(4). Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.05838