Reintroduced agouti individual (Dasyprocta leporina) and its wild-born offspring in Tijuca National Park, Brazil. Agoutis were one of the four frugivore species reintroduced in this Atlantic Forest remnant with the aim to restore ecological interactions, mainly zoochoric seed-dispersal. This ecosystem-level restoration strategy focused on re-establishing trophic interactions through species reintroduction is known as trophic rewilding. Our study explores the community-scale effects of such reintroductions by modelling changes in the seed-dispersal network. We found out that multiple species’ reintroductions increase community robustness to extinction and have an effect beyond restoring pairwise interactions, because they change how extant species are indirectly linked to each other in an ecological community. Photo credit to: Marcelo Rheingantz / Refauna

This paper is part of our Restoration Special Issue.

 

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