rewilding

The Scientist spoke with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers Scott Weiss and Yang-Yu Liu, who propose that people bank stool samples when they’re young and healthy so that they can be transplanted to rejuvenate the gut microbiome later on.

In areas where gray wolf populations have grown, motorists have fewer collisions with deer, likely due to the predators keeping deer away from roadways.

This year’s most captivating illustrations tell stories from the micro scale—such as newborn neurons in the adult brain and bacteria in the infant gut—to the scale of entire ecosystems, including reintroduced predators and rising seas.

As some conservationists and researchers begin to return large carnivores to areas where they once roamed, scientists intensify efforts to study the ecological roles of predators.

A global decline of large carnivores has motivated scientists to understand the animals’ ecological roles, and consider whether reintroducing them can help restore ecosystems.

The release of gray wolves in Yellowstone decades ago still stands as one of the few examples of a predator reintroduction, and the lessons learned continue to be debated. New projects aim to do it again.

Conservation biologist John Ewen discusses the recent reintroduction of Tasmanian devils to mainland Australia after a 3,000-year absence and issues that need to be considered when bringing long-departed animals back into an area.

In chapter 4, “Why Recreate the Woolly Mammoth?” author Britt Wray explores the social consequences of bringing an iconic species back from extinction.

Researchers are using the powerful gene-editing tool to recreate the woolly mammoth.

A new scientific discipline investigates the neurology underlying the experience and the creation of beauty.

Conservationists are reintroducing large animals to areas they once roamed, providing ecologists with the chance to assess whether such “rewilding” efforts can restore lost ecosystems.

An organization hopes to restore natural ecological processes by reintroducing large herbivores to the continent.