https://archive.md/05iv0
"Dozens of American bison graze in the wide-open fields of El Carmen
(Coahuila), a reserve of 140,000 hectares, roughly the same size as Mexico
City. The country’s northern plains had not played host to the bison in 100
years, after decades of indiscriminate hunting and habitat destruction
eradicated the animals. In 2021, following an initiative led by the Mexican
multinational cement company Cemex, bison returned to the grasslands, where the
soil stores huge amounts of carbon, making the region key to the fight against
climate change. Initially, 19 bison were introduced at the reserve; today there
are almost 100. The mammal’s daily routine makes it a perfect vehicle for
regenerating grassland vegetation and sustaining hundreds of species that
coexist with it.
“The even pruning of the grasses [produced by the bison as they eat] helps to
increase the diversity of plants on the ground. They also take care of the
regeneration of ecosystems by carrying seeds from one place to another in their
digestive tract and defecating them,” explains Rurik List, a researcher in
environmental sciences at the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM) in
Mexico City. The bison is a temperate animal, which unwittingly encourages
other species to survive in the spaces it inhabits. Its considerable weight
flattens the grassland in its path, an alteration that helps rodents such as
the Mexican prairie dog, which requires short grass to be able to keep watch
for predators.
Cemex carries out various different conservation initiatives to try to offset
the impact of its operations. The company has more than 250 active quarries
around the world, and tries to minimize its footprint from several
perspectives: rehabilitating the sites they have exploited, preparing them
before starting work to protect their biodiversity, and promoting spaces such
as the El Carmen reserve, which Cemex became involved with 22 years ago. “From
the beginning, a series of studies were carried out to determine what was most
appropriate at the reserve. An inventory of flora and fauna was taken to
determine which conservation targets should be retained. And an analysis was
done to determine the status of the habitat,” says Alejandro Espinosa, director
of the El Carmen reserve."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-malaria-belize-crime-mexico-city-bison-montana/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
