"A novel ecosystem is one that has been heavily influenced by humans but is not under human management. A working tree plantation doesn't qualify; one abandoned decades ago would. A forest dominated by non-native species counts, like Mascaro's mango forest, even if humans never cut it down, burned it or even visited it."
This is my favorite part:
"In the end, the question of novel ecosystems, like so many questions in ecology and conservation, boils down to what should be valued most in nature. For people who value processes, such as Mascaro, novel ecosystems are great hubs of active evolution. For those who value ecosystem services, any novel ecosystem could be better or worse than what came before depending on how it operates. For those who care about global extinctions or about preserving historical ecosystems, they are bad news."
More from Nature
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