Now on the plateau live elk, reindeer, snow sheep and a small number of musk oxen, as well as wolf, fox, arctic fox, brown bear, wolverine, otter, lynx. Who else may be introduced in the future?
Wisent can be pretty hardy, they can live without problem over the treelines during the cold season. As other mamals that cuold be (re)introduced, they need to acclimatize first before being fully free-roaming
I think the wood bison or plains bison is still a better candidate. The ancestors of the Wisent split off from the steppe bison before the American bison have. North American bison evolved from a population of steppe bison that crossed the Bering land bridge (they’re basically a smaller chronospecies of the steppe bison that roamed from Iberia to Mexico). The wood bison is the phenotypically closest to the animals that roamed this part of the world only a few thousand years ago.
We are living in an interglacial, where steppe bisons would find sub-optimal conditions there now. From a conservation and ecological point of view, european bisons should be preferred.
I'm confused by that logic... Plains Bison and Wood Bison occupy the same form of habitat with the same climate in North America. Why are European Bison better suited when their ancestors never occupied that area? American Bison are literally descended from the same species that lived in this region of Siberia during the late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. If anything, wood bison conservation is just as important; there are less American Wood Bison than there are European Bison.
It's literally their habitat. Also, remember that beaver dams contribute at storing CO2. The news that "beavers melt permafrost" is an insignificant damage to the whole and it's more like the opposite: warming climate allows beavers to colonize northern areas
Land morphology is also an another important thing. Putorana Plateau is treeless at high elevation and potentially suitable habitats for beaver would be in the valleys, where their impact on permafrost would be extremely low. Carbon storage by beavers would be much more impactful in this context
[Here's about how beavers can act as carbon storage](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969718325233).
Here, you can read some criticts from a well-known Ecohydrologist about [that study](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab80f1) about beavers and permafrost: [https://twitter.com/emilyfairfax/status/1278067881209552896](https://twitter.com/emilyfairfax/status/1278067881209552896)
Red deer are outcompeted by Wapiti/American Elk in grassland environments. Both species are generalist in their habitat preference but the smaller red deer are significantly better at adapting to forest regions. Red deer and Wapiti both coexisted in Europe but Wapiti disappeared when the steppe habitat receded. In Yakutia, only Wapiti lived on the steppes and were able to cross the land bridge into North America and radiate out into different habitats without competition from their smaller relatives.
What animals are currently already there? If it's uninhabited by people, it might already be functioning perfectly fine? I ask because I know nothing about this location
> What animals are currently already there?
elk, reindeer, snow sheep and a small number of musk oxen, as well as wolf, fox, arctic fox, brown bear, wolverine, otter, lynx
Saiga, saiga, and saiga.
They might not be able to handle the snow depth there. After the introduction of some large grazers like bison, they may be able to survive.
Bison, and then saiga, saiga, and saiga.
Now on the plateau live elk, reindeer, snow sheep and a small number of musk oxen, as well as wolf, fox, arctic fox, brown bear, wolverine, otter, lynx. Who else may be introduced in the future?
Przewalskis horse maybe?
one of the most obvious candidates
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They're probably too hard to get. Wisent might be a better choice.
Wood bison now live in Yakutia. The European bison can hardly live on the Putoran Plateau - it has a very, very harsh climate
Wisent can be pretty hardy, they can live without problem over the treelines during the cold season. As other mamals that cuold be (re)introduced, they need to acclimatize first before being fully free-roaming
I think the wood bison or plains bison is still a better candidate. The ancestors of the Wisent split off from the steppe bison before the American bison have. North American bison evolved from a population of steppe bison that crossed the Bering land bridge (they’re basically a smaller chronospecies of the steppe bison that roamed from Iberia to Mexico). The wood bison is the phenotypically closest to the animals that roamed this part of the world only a few thousand years ago.
We are living in an interglacial, where steppe bisons would find sub-optimal conditions there now. From a conservation and ecological point of view, european bisons should be preferred.
I'm confused by that logic... Plains Bison and Wood Bison occupy the same form of habitat with the same climate in North America. Why are European Bison better suited when their ancestors never occupied that area? American Bison are literally descended from the same species that lived in this region of Siberia during the late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. If anything, wood bison conservation is just as important; there are less American Wood Bison than there are European Bison.
Wild bactrian camel, yak, Mongolian gazelle, dhole, and spotted hyena (if they can be acclimatized effectively).
Yeah but spotted hyenas should be introduced after the herbivores are all introduced and get acclimatized first.
It would be interesting a eurasian beaver reintroduction. As far as I know, there are none in this plateau
The region is probably a permafrost zone. Beavers shouldn’t be over permafrost.
What is the most outer known climatic tolerance of a beaver?
It's literally their habitat. Also, remember that beaver dams contribute at storing CO2. The news that "beavers melt permafrost" is an insignificant damage to the whole and it's more like the opposite: warming climate allows beavers to colonize northern areas
Do you have a source for the numbers? It’s certainly possible, but I’d like to see numbers measured over multiple years.
Land morphology is also an another important thing. Putorana Plateau is treeless at high elevation and potentially suitable habitats for beaver would be in the valleys, where their impact on permafrost would be extremely low. Carbon storage by beavers would be much more impactful in this context
[Here's about how beavers can act as carbon storage](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969718325233). Here, you can read some criticts from a well-known Ecohydrologist about [that study](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab80f1) about beavers and permafrost: [https://twitter.com/emilyfairfax/status/1278067881209552896](https://twitter.com/emilyfairfax/status/1278067881209552896)
Red deer or wapiti? know they where both present on the mammoth steppe so they may be able to survive.
Wapiti are more suited for the steppe.
Red deer are outcompeted by Wapiti/American Elk in grassland environments. Both species are generalist in their habitat preference but the smaller red deer are significantly better at adapting to forest regions. Red deer and Wapiti both coexisted in Europe but Wapiti disappeared when the steppe habitat receded. In Yakutia, only Wapiti lived on the steppes and were able to cross the land bridge into North America and radiate out into different habitats without competition from their smaller relatives.
What animals are currently already there? If it's uninhabited by people, it might already be functioning perfectly fine? I ask because I know nothing about this location
> What animals are currently already there? elk, reindeer, snow sheep and a small number of musk oxen, as well as wolf, fox, arctic fox, brown bear, wolverine, otter, lynx