The article summed up:
Trophic rewilding is gaining momentum as a method of ecological restoration
However, we currently have little integration between rewilding and functional ecology, traditionally being focused on the effects of large mammal reintroductions on species (taxonomic) diversity
In this paper, we review the evidence for the ways in which large mammals influence the expression of plant functional traits (e.g. plant height, leaf nitrogen content, leaf dry matter content), in order to build a set of hypotheses about how rewilding may effect the functioning of plant communities
We conduct a case study of the European flora, to investigate the broad relationship between plant traits and a species ability to cope with herbivory
We extend these ideas to plant invasions, and hypothesise how more complex assemblages of herbivores (and carnivores) may be able to reduce the dominance of individual species and promote functional diversity of ecosystems
The traits of plant and animals provide a pathway to generality in scientific findings, which is of great importance for scaling up restoration approaches across a diversity of environments and in the face of widely emerging human-created novel ecosystems
