Pleistocene Park is a major initiative that includes an attempt to restore the mammoth steppe ecosystem, which was dominant in the Arctic in the late Pleistocene. The initiative requires replacement of the current unproductive northern ecosystems by highly productive pastures which have both a high animal density and a high rate of biocycling.
Established in 1977, the North-East Scientific Station has become one of the world's largest Arctic research stations, providing varied opportunities for study throughout the year in various disciplines such as ecology, climate change, arctic biology, permafrost studies, hydrology, limnology, geophysics, atmospheric physics, and others. NESS has 3 laboratories with modern equipment and the ability to welcome up to 50 researchers at a time.Experiments with animal reintroductions were begun in 1988. Currently, Pleistocene Park consists of an enclosed area of 16 square kilometers that is home to 5 major herbivore species: bison, musk ox, moose, horses and reindeer.
At the end of the Pleistocene, steppe ecosystems were the dominant ecosystems on the planet. In Europe, Northern Asia and Northern America the Mammoth steppe ecosystem dominated. In more southern regions, characterized by a high density of animals, rich herbaceous vegetation, and high rates of biogeochemical cycling. For an ecosystem to be sustainable it must have large heavy grazers, such elephants, ruminants such as cows and goats, predators suchs as wolves and tigers etc. High animal density allowed only grasses to be the dominating vegetation, since only grasses can sustain active grazing. Shrubs, moss and trees were either trampled or broken.
After the Bowling warming event in 14650 BP man started an active expansion into Siberia, the Arctic and through the Bering straight to America, reaching the southern part of South American within 200 years. Along with the increase in human population, came an increasein knowledge and skills. Climate warming provided wood and shelter in the places previously too severe for survival. Thanks to new technologies and possibilities man changed from being an herbivore and carrion eater into a predator within the steppe ecosystem.
The appearance of a new predator is always a stress to the ecosystem as a whole and to herbivores in particular, and the appearance of a predator which continuously developed its hunting abilities and behavior became a stress which the ecosystem couldn’t sustain. The populations of animals which persisted through the migration wave substantially decreased and they had to hide in forests and mountains. As a result, tens of millions of square kilometers of pastures and grasslands, were left without herbivores.
Summer grass was left uneaten as litter on the ground surface. Nutrients were retained in the litter and thus removed from the biological cycle. Shrubs and trees were not trampled. Levels of transpiration decreased, which caused an increase run off and soil depletion. These processes led to pasture degradation and in several hundreds of years the richest steppe ecosystems were replaced by modern ecosystems of low productivity, and animal populations could not recover their density:the food base was gone In the centuries since, with the development of agriculture, most of the forests and wetlands were replaced with artificial ecosystem management and domestic pastures.
