From biodiversity to carbon capture: Saving bison from extinction has brought big benefits to Europe

The European bison is making a comeback across the continent, bringing with it a wealth of wildlife benefits.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Once widespread, Europe’s largest wild land mammal was driven to the brink of extinction in the early twentieth century by hunting and habitat loss.

Now, herds can be found in the UK, Romania, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Belarus and Lithuania.

The resurgence of the European bison

The European bison, or wisent, once inhabited much of the European continent before populations were decimated by hunting.

When the last wild European bison was shot in the Caucasus in 1927, there were fewer than 60 individuals alive in zoos and private parks, according to Rewilding Europe, an organisation dedicated to creating rewilded landscapes.

European bison began to be reintroduced back into the wild as early as the 1950s, and has become one of Europe’s most successful wildlife recovery stories.

Over the last 10 years, the estimated number of free-roaming European bison has increased from 2,579 to 7,000 individuals, with the largest herds found in Belarus and Poland.

Rewilding Europe efforts have resulted in over 100 European bison now roaming free across the Southern Carpathians of Romania, while the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria have been home to a small but growing wild bison population since 2019 – the first time the animal has roamed free there since the Middle Ages.

Bison boost biodiversity in UK woodland

The reintroduction of bison to Europe is also having a wider positive impact on the environment.

In the UK, a herd was rewilded in Blean Woods, Kent, in 2022. Just a few years on, they are already having a “great impact”, conservationist Hannah Mackins told UK newspaper The Independent.

The animals aid woodland regeneration and manage habitats for other wildlife by grazing, felling trees, stripping bark and taking dust baths.

This boosts biodiversity and restores complex ecosystems, rendering environments more robust in the face of climate change.

Mackins says the effect is already noticeable.

“Walking through there, we have a lot more light on the woodland floor, we have species growing through that wouldn’t have had before, because it was so dense with trees, bracken and brambles,” she said.

Bison bridges, two of which are already installed and two which will be constructed by the end of the year, hope to allow the herd access to a much wider area of the woodland.

Romania’s bison help capture carbon

After disappearing from Romania more than 200 years ago, Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania reintroduced bison to the Carpathian mountains in 2014.

A 2024 study from Yale University suggests these massive herbivores could have a role to play in mitigating the impact of climate change.

The herd of 170 individuals could potentially be helping capture and store the carbon released by up to 84,000 average US petrol cars each year.

They do this through a combination of evenly grazing grasslands, recycling nutrients which fertilise the soil, dispersing seeds and compacting the soil to prevent carbon from being released.

Researchers say that, having evolved alongside this ecosystem for millions of years, their removal upset the delicate balance, causing carbon to be released.

The report’s authors noted, however, that their estimated figure could be up to 55 per cent higher or lower. The higher figure is the equivalent of around 84,000 US petrol cars annually and the median average is 43,000 cars.

Bison in the Netherlands bring benefits to songbirds

In the Netherlands, bison are lending a surprising hand to songbirds during breeding season.

In the South Kennermerland National Park, passerine birds upcycle the winter coats that the herd sheds in spring to construct their nests.

According to Wisentproject Kraansvlak, which manages the area, bison hair is favoured because it is woolly and soft, providing good insulation and maintaining the temperature for the eggs.

It says applied biology students are now researching whether this nesting material has an effect on the breeding success of the birds.