Supplementary material from "Pleistocene Arctic megafaunal ecological engineering as a natural climate solution?"
Natural climate solutions (NCS) in the Arctic hold the potential to be implemented at a scale able to substantially affect the global climate. The strong feedbacks between carbon-rich permafrost, climate and herbivory suggest an NCS consisting of reverting the current wet/moist moss and shrub-domina...
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ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4782891.v1 2023-05-15T14:52:57+02:00 Supplementary material from "Pleistocene Arctic megafaunal ecological engineering as a natural climate solution?" Macias-Fauria, Marc Jepson, Paul Zimov, Nikita Yadvinder Malhi 2019 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4782891.v1 https://rs.figshare.com/collections/Supplementary_material_from_Pleistocene_Arctic_megafaunal_ecological_engineering_as_a_natural_climate_solution_/4782891/1 unknown The Royal Society https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0122 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4782891 CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences Plant Biology 40308 Palaeontology incl. Palynology FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Collection article 2019 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4782891.v1 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0122 https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4782891 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Natural climate solutions (NCS) in the Arctic hold the potential to be implemented at a scale able to substantially affect the global climate. The strong feedbacks between carbon-rich permafrost, climate and herbivory suggest an NCS consisting of reverting the current wet/moist moss and shrub-dominated tundra and the sparse forest–tundra ecotone to grassland through a guild of large herbivores. Grassland-dominated systems might delay permafrost melt and reduce carbon emissions—especially in Yedoma regions while increasing carbon capture through increased productivity and grass and forb deep root systems. Here we estimate the potential dynamics of rates of arctic megafaunal introduction and expansion—based on bison and horse, with the aim of evaluating the feasibility of generating an ecosystem shift that is economically viable in terms of carbon benefits and of sufficient scale to play a significant role in global climate change mitigation. We find support for a megafauna-based arctic NCS yielding substantial income in carbon markets. However, scaling up such projects to have a significant effect on the global climate is challenging given the large number of animals required over a short period of time (30 years considered). A first-cut business plan is presented based on practical information—costs and infrastructure—from Pleistocene Park (northeastern Yakutia, Russia). A 10-yr experimental phase incorporating three separate introductions of herds of approximately 1000 individuals each in northeastern Siberia is costed at US$114 million, with potential returns—i.e. financial benefits expressed as a proportion of the invested capital—of approximately 0.3–0.4% yr −1 towards the end of the period, and greater than 1% yr −1 generated after it. Institutional friction and the potential role of new technologies in the reintroductions are discussed.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions'. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change permafrost Tundra Yakutia Siberia DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Arctic |
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collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences Plant Biology 40308 Palaeontology incl. Palynology FOS Earth and related environmental sciences |
spellingShingle |
Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences Plant Biology 40308 Palaeontology incl. Palynology FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Macias-Fauria, Marc Jepson, Paul Zimov, Nikita Yadvinder Malhi Supplementary material from "Pleistocene Arctic megafaunal ecological engineering as a natural climate solution?" |
topic_facet |
Environmental Science Ecology FOS Biological sciences Plant Biology 40308 Palaeontology incl. Palynology FOS Earth and related environmental sciences |
description |
Natural climate solutions (NCS) in the Arctic hold the potential to be implemented at a scale able to substantially affect the global climate. The strong feedbacks between carbon-rich permafrost, climate and herbivory suggest an NCS consisting of reverting the current wet/moist moss and shrub-dominated tundra and the sparse forest–tundra ecotone to grassland through a guild of large herbivores. Grassland-dominated systems might delay permafrost melt and reduce carbon emissions—especially in Yedoma regions while increasing carbon capture through increased productivity and grass and forb deep root systems. Here we estimate the potential dynamics of rates of arctic megafaunal introduction and expansion—based on bison and horse, with the aim of evaluating the feasibility of generating an ecosystem shift that is economically viable in terms of carbon benefits and of sufficient scale to play a significant role in global climate change mitigation. We find support for a megafauna-based arctic NCS yielding substantial income in carbon markets. However, scaling up such projects to have a significant effect on the global climate is challenging given the large number of animals required over a short period of time (30 years considered). A first-cut business plan is presented based on practical information—costs and infrastructure—from Pleistocene Park (northeastern Yakutia, Russia). A 10-yr experimental phase incorporating three separate introductions of herds of approximately 1000 individuals each in northeastern Siberia is costed at US$114 million, with potential returns—i.e. financial benefits expressed as a proportion of the invested capital—of approximately 0.3–0.4% yr −1 towards the end of the period, and greater than 1% yr −1 generated after it. Institutional friction and the potential role of new technologies in the reintroductions are discussed.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions'. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Macias-Fauria, Marc Jepson, Paul Zimov, Nikita Yadvinder Malhi |
author_facet |
Macias-Fauria, Marc Jepson, Paul Zimov, Nikita Yadvinder Malhi |
author_sort |
Macias-Fauria, Marc |
title |
Supplementary material from "Pleistocene Arctic megafaunal ecological engineering as a natural climate solution?" |
title_short |
Supplementary material from "Pleistocene Arctic megafaunal ecological engineering as a natural climate solution?" |
title_full |
Supplementary material from "Pleistocene Arctic megafaunal ecological engineering as a natural climate solution?" |
title_fullStr |
Supplementary material from "Pleistocene Arctic megafaunal ecological engineering as a natural climate solution?" |
title_full_unstemmed |
Supplementary material from "Pleistocene Arctic megafaunal ecological engineering as a natural climate solution?" |
title_sort |
supplementary material from "pleistocene arctic megafaunal ecological engineering as a natural climate solution?" |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4782891.v1 https://rs.figshare.com/collections/Supplementary_material_from_Pleistocene_Arctic_megafaunal_ecological_engineering_as_a_natural_climate_solution_/4782891/1 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change permafrost Tundra Yakutia Siberia |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change permafrost Tundra Yakutia Siberia |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0122 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4782891 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4782891.v1 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0122 https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4782891 |
_version_ |
1766324366594801664 |