Large herbivores play key roles in terrestrial ecosystems. Continuous defaunation processes have produced cascade effects on plant community composition, vegetation structure, and even climate. Wood-pastures were created by traditional management practices that have maintained open structures and biodiversity for millennia. In Europe, despite the broad recognition of their biological importance, such landscapes are declining due to land-use changes. This calls for finding urgent solutions for wood-pasture conservation. To test whether introducing an ecological replacement of an extinct wild horse could have positive effects on wood-pasture restoration, we designed a 3-year rewilding experiment. Horses created a more open wood-pasture structure by browsing on seedlings and saplings, affected tree composition via selective browsing and controlled the colonization of woody vegetation in grassland-dominated areas. Thus, rewilding could be a potential avenue for wood-pasture restoration and biodiversity conservation. However, such benefits may not materialize without a necessary paradigm and political shift.

Casa FÉNIX solution for the emergency is a modular and progressive construction system based on a prefabricated timber structure that provides a great variety of growing possibilities. This initiative, originally conceived to take part in the 2014 Solar Decathlon Europe Competition, is central to many research activities carried out by the Department of Architecture of the Santa María Technical University of Valparaíso, Chile, the most recent of which is the FONDEF IDeA project “Systematization of non-structural components for an emergency house” Within the framework of this research, a lightweight, easy-to-assemble, low-cost wall solution has been developed. It consists on a sandwich panel composed of an expanded polystyrene (EPS) core and a cardboard honeycomb reinforcement on both sides, which constitutes air chambers. The inclusion of reflective layers on each of the sides of the air chambers significantly increases the thermal resistance of the element with no significant weight increase. The work addresses the winter performance of the aforementioned wall element variations, characterized by their thermal transmittances, U. The study has been carried out with analytical (UNE-EN-ISO 6946) and computational (THERM) models, which have been compared and validated by means of experimental tests. Transmittance tests carried out for different variations of the solution show compliance with the regulatory requirements for the three climatic zones of central Chile that gather 60% of the country's population. From these data a complete set of alternatives have been developed in order to respond to the different thermal demands of nine climatic zones of the country, that range from the aridity of the Atacama Desert to the cold Patagonian regions. Keywords: Vivienda de emergencia, Panel de fachada, Aislamiento reflectivo, Simulación térmica. Transmisión de calor.

Humans are today the main drivers of global changes, likely due to an increasing disconnection from nature. The loss of human-nature interaction results in many detrimental effects for human health and well‐being as well as multiple effects on nature and environmental conservation. Fostering opportunities for human-nature interaction may therefore have positive effects not only for human health and well-being, but also for global biodiversity at large. This is particularly relevant for children since natural experiences at an early age might condition future pro-environmental attitudes in adulthood. We present a study that offers an overview of the wildlife observation opportunities available in Scandinavia in close proximity to urban areas. Mammal species were visually identified and the observation length noted. We recorded seven common mammalian species. The highest probabilities of observing any mammalian species occurred in July. Roe deer was the only species with 100% probability of observation at any given month. The observation probability for hare and fox was higher in May, for badger in June, while for wild boar and red deer the probability peaked in July, and for moose was maximized in August. Overall, the observation probability was highest around 21:45, yet great variation occurred among the different species. A vast proportion of the European population has grown in urban areas with little or no contact with natural ecosystems and wildlife. This is a challenge since many European societies are alienated from nature, while it also serves as an opportunity to increase human-nature interaction through wildlife observation and may therefore tackle the current shifting baseline syndrome. Our results provide a toolkit for European urban residents to engage in wildlife observation opportunities and may therefore facilitate human-nature interaction, which may dually mitigate the detrimental effects of extinction of experience and strengthen biodiversity and conservation science.