Europe sees a growing interest in re-establishing ecosystems with a dominant role of natural processes. The Oostvaardersplassen ecosystem in the Netherlands is a unique example of the creation of a novel ecosystem through embankment of former lake, and introduction of free ranging populations cattle, horses and red deer, where the largest predator is the red fox. In addition, various geese species visit the area in high numbers. The dynamics of the herbivore assemblage in relation to vegetation change was studied during 30 years, and compared to savanna ecosystems in Africa that do contain large predators as lion and leopard.
Results/Conclusions
With the growth of the total herbivore biomass in the Oostvaardersplassen, we found the smaller herbivores to increasingly outcompete the largest herbivore in the system, and explain this by associated changes in vegetation structure, food availability and overall population densities. This will be contrasted to dynamics of African savannahs, where larger predators especially control the smaller herbivores, giving a competitive advantage to larger herbivores, with important implications for vegetation dynamics and ecosystem functioning. We discuss the discuss the implications of these findings for rewilding strategies and the establishment of novel grazing ecosystems in a setting of cultural/agricultural landscapes, where protected area size and neighboring land use often restrict the range of species that is introduced.