News Ecosystems

Bring in the replacements

Field experiments suggest introduced species could play understudy for extinct ones

By Sid Perkins

- More than 2 years ago

Missing links in ecosystems disrupted by extinctions could be restored by introducing species that perform the same function, field experiments on a remote island suggest.

REPTILIAN JOHNNY APPLESEED? Seeds contained in the fruit of Syzygium mammillatum (top), an endangered tree found only on the island of Mauritius, formerly were dispersed by a creature now extinct.