Trophic rewilding restructure the insect communities according to their functional traits: Insights from a multitaxa study 

Walte et al., 2026

1. Trophic rewilding, or returning vertebrate megaherbivores to defaunated ecosystems, is advocated for restoring ecosystems and biodiversity conservation. As many groups of modern insects radiated during the Neogene era into landscapes inhabited by abundant megafauna, they should be adapted to disturbances provided by megaherbivores' presence.
2. In the Czech Republic, 11 fenced localities have been trophically rewilded by horse, the reconstructed ‘aurochs’, wisent and water buffalo, in various combinations, since 2016 onwards. At these localities, we established 1-ha plots in a rewilded/control design, characterised their vegetation and surveyed butterflies (passive monitoring since the rewilding onset), macro-moths, bees and wasps, ants and orthopterans (single-season rewilded/control surveys). We analysed the data using mixed linear models to compare insect species' richness and abundances and constrained ordinations with interpretation of ordination scores by the life history traits to investigate effects on species' composition.
3. Trophically rewilded plots hosted more species and individuals of bees+wasps and orthopterans. They did not differ from controls in the other groups. Rewilding affected species' composition in all targeted groups, supporting smaller-sized, specialised and less mobile species; butterflies and moths developing on small forbs; and ant trait composition did not respond to rewilding.
4. Synthesis and applications. Presence of large ungulates increased richness and abundance of some insect taxa. Across taxa, it supported life history traits declining in modern industrialised landscapes. Trophic rewilding thus represents a way to remedy undesirable effects of land use intensification, and to mimic conditions in which a substantial proportion of temperate insect biodiversity has evolved.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.70399

Succession as a unifying model of ecosystem ecology and conservation 

Allgeier  and Zak, 2026

Restoring ecosystem function and services requires a refined understanding of ecological succession because of the increased frequency and magnitude of disturbances in the Anthropocene. Ecosystem ecology has gained increasing attention for its utility in conservation over the past decade because it relies on fundamental principles to generate models from which basic processes, such as primary, secondary, or ecosystem production, can be predicted—all of which form the basis for ecological services. Despite this, ecosystem ecology lacks a unifying framework that can provide universal predictions about the trajectory of ecosystem production and, thus, can be effectively applied to restore ecosystem function and services in the Anthropocene.

Succession is a fundamental concept in ecology because it provides perspectives on how ecosystems change over time and respond following disturbance. It is also a useful concept for conservation and restoration because human activity has increased the frequency and magnitude of disturbances globally. Ecosystem ecology offers a unique perspective on succession because it views dynamics through the lens of process-based currencies—such as net ecosystem production—that subsume multiple simultaneous properties of energy and nutrient flow, thereby providing a useful measure with which to monitor and anticipate net change. Studying succession through these perspectives reveals fundamental patterns that unify central principles of ecosystem ecology and provide a predictive model on which to base conservation and restoration efforts.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169534726001503

Mathematics in the Age of AI

Terence Tao 

True solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without human obligation. One’s inner voices become audible. One feels the attraction of one’s most intimate sources. In consequence, one responds more clearly to other lives.

Wendell Berry