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MarlenBrawndo t1_iy7h5xf wrote

This has been well known since the beginning of time..

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poisonoakman t1_iy7i1ud wrote

But rejoice! Now science has weighed in and we can accept it as a thesis and not just the careful observations made over a million years and passed down.

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enemy_lettuce838 t1_iy7krj3 wrote

"Hey, this works like we thought it does, right?

"Yep, like we thought it does."

So at least there's that.

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ehjhockey t1_iy9igf5 wrote

Probably the most significant scientific accomplishment that I’ve seen in my lifetime was the discovery of the Higs Boson (probably butchered that) particle and that really was just “is that thing we think is there actually there?” “Yup there it is”

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RedditIsDogshit1 t1_iy9l1ak wrote

I vouch when science chines in more as a strong checkbox that we can fund more money to whatever insights were drawn

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becritical t1_iy9nlpp wrote

Yes exactly, they are beating this to death, it seems tropical zoologists only care about seed dispersal.

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I_am_Enos t1_iy7ipsh wrote

That was my thought. This seemed like a huge waste of time.

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Wagamaga OP t1_iy7gurx wrote

As UN climate talks close in Egypt and biodiversity talks begin in Montreal, attention is on forest restoration as a solution to the twin evils roiling our planet. Forests soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide and simultaneously create habitat for organisms. So far, efforts to help forests bounce back from deforestation have typically focused on increasing one thing—trees—over anything else. But a new report uncovers a powerful, yet largely overlooked, driver of forest recovery: animals. The study by an international team from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Yale School of the Environment, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute examined a series of regenerating forests in central Panama spanning 20 to 100 years post-abandonment. The unique long-term data set revealed that animals, by carrying a wide variety of seeds into deforested areas, are key to the recovery of tree species richness and abundance to old-growth levels after only 40 to 70 years of regrowth.

“Animals are our greatest allies in reforestation,” says Daisy Dent, a tropical ecologist from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the study’s senior author. “Our study prompts a rethink of reforestation efforts to be about more than just establishing plant communities.” The report also notes that situating regenerating forests near patches of old growth, and reducing hunting, encourages animals to colonize and establish. “We show that considering the wider ecosystem, as well as features of the landscape, improves restoration efforts,” says Sergio Estrada-Villegas, a biologist now at Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá, Colombia) and the study’s first author.

Seed dispersal by animals is key to forest expansion. In the tropics, over 80 percent of tree species can be dispersed by animals, which transport seeds throughout the landscape. Despite this, forest restoration efforts continue to focus on increasing tree cover rather than reestablishing the animal-plant interactions that underpin ecosystem function. “Figuring out how animals contribute to reforestation is prohibitively hard because you need detailed information about which animals eat which plants,” says Estrada-Villegas.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2021.0076

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reyntime t1_iyagwsx wrote

And to create area for wild animals to thrive and to rewild, we need to massively cut back on meat consumption, one of the largest drivers of biodiversity loss and land use/degradation/deforestation.

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looking_for_helpers t1_iyb7tsq wrote

If we become a weekend-only carnivores, we can cut our meat consumption by up to 71%

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Blitzed_ca t1_iy7jckx wrote

Too bad we’re also running out of those

Maybe we can just let the free market sort nature out

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captainsham_ t1_iy7i5hk wrote

We are devolving under the illusion we are getting more capable, the collapse is going to be unfathomable

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SpaceCadetSinchi t1_iy83cx8 wrote

It’s great to know that over 60% of animals on the planet have disappeared in the last half century or so. Feels hopeful. Glad I’m never gonna make it to retirement age.

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Smokron85 t1_iy87xz5 wrote

Oh hey! Guess what we deleted 70% of in the last 50 years....

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Juggs_gotcha t1_iy8htvt wrote

I'm just going to state the obvious here, the natural processes for forest recovery are on the span of multiple human lifespans. The rate of destruction is exponentially higher than any possible recovery. No human alive now will live to see the forests that their fathers saw. No grandchild will live to see what their parents saw, as a matter of fact. The damage is catastrophic.

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islandstyls t1_iyb8i06 wrote

This is the sad part - people think we can actually bring back what we've destroyed. Nature's destruction has a lasting and long effect, longer than any of us will live to see.

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ilski t1_iy8k11r wrote

To be fair you can also have humans carrying those seeds.

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zachmoe t1_iyae4j3 wrote

Yah, just get Mr. Beast to trick other people to do it for $$$.

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Tahoeclown t1_iy8ksui wrote

Its almost as if its a whole ecosystem working together! Who’d a thunk it?!

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Anacreon t1_iy995km wrote

MFW I remember that humans are also animals

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BeowulfShaeffer t1_iy9c24w wrote

It’s encouraging to see that once humanity completely collapses the forests will be healthy again in less than 100 years.

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Ayato_23 t1_iy7hizf wrote

u realize that now! or u gotta prove everything

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