Bring in the replacements
Field experiments suggest introduced species could play understudy for extinct ones
By Sid Perkins
Missing links in ecosystems disrupted by extinctions could be restored by introducing species that perform the same function, field experiments on a remote island suggest.
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But some scientists caution against the controversial process, called “rewilding.”.
Mauritius, a remote island in the Indian Ocean, lost many of its unique creatures after Europeans colonized the island in the 17th century. Besides its most famous extinction, the dodo, the island has lost giant tortoises, pigeons, fruit bats and a giant lizard, says Dennis M. Hansen, a tropical ecologist at StanfordUniversity. Those die-offs now threaten many of the island’s plants, especially the species that depend on frugivores to disperse their seeds.