Eric Esquibel Coracero

Candidature

PhD Candidate

Thesis title

Mammalian Rewilding: Implications for Soil Properties, Microbial Communities, and Ecosystem Functions

Research project

Rewilding is a promising restoration approach that aims to enhance degraded ecosystem functions and biodiversity by reintroducing keystone species (e.g., threatened and locally extinct animals) and minimizing disturbances (e.g., human activities, exotics, and biological invasion) within the landscape.

Our partnership with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) for the rewilding happening in various reserves across New South Wales offers a unique opportunity to study how the approach impacts the ecosystem structure and processes, addressing key gaps in the existing literature. Particularly, there is lack of information and focus on how mammalian excreta and digging activities alters soil properties, microbial communities, and ecosystem function both in rewilding and non-rewilding efforts, globally. Hence, this PhD thesis seeks to fill these critical gaps through the following chapters supporting the expansion of our understanding of the ecological impacts of rewilding in Australia:

1.       Scats and splashes: the potential of mammalian excreta to influence soil properties, microbial communities, and ecosystem functions in a rewilded landscape

A combination of a field survey of dung deposition across vegetation types and microsite patches to evaluate their contributions to carbon and nutrient storage, with field and glasshouse dung and urine manipulation experiments comparing current and anticipated mammalian excreta under rewilding to assess impacts on soil properties, microbial communities, and ecosystem functions.

2.       Digging deep: The impacts of actual and simulated disturbances by an ecosystem engineer on soil microbial communities and ecosystem functions

A field experiment assessing the role of natural and simulated Eastern Bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) diggings in shaping the physicochemical and biological properties of soil as well as soil-based functions such as nutrient accumulation and decomposition.

3.       Animal-mediated soil modifications: the roles of mammalian dung and digging on early seedling performance

A glasshouse experiment comparing the contribution of mammalian dung and digging on plant establishment and early seedling performance.

The results of these chapters contribute to a deeper understanding of the belowground and aboveground impacts of rewilding, offering insights into how the different mammals and ecosystem engineers influence soil health and ecosystem functions. The findings aim to inform future rewilding initiatives and enhance the management and conservation of Australia's unique landscapes.

Supervisors

Yolima Carrillo, Uffe Nielsen, Eleonora Egidi, Sam Travers (DCCEEW)