Table 2.

Characteristics of the five ecological measures of the TRAAIL within the five categories: effort-intensive conservation management, minimal rewilding, partial rewilding, near-full rewilding, and full rewilding

	Effort-intensive conservation management	Minimal rewilding	Partial rewilding	Near-full rewilding	Full rewilding
1 Continuity of the accessibility to the ecosystem for the animals	Low e.g., seasonal grazing regimes	High e.g., year-round grazing regimes	High e.g., year-round grazing regimes	High e.g., year-round grazing regimes	High e.g., year-round grazing regimes
2 Opportunities for animals to exert their natural ecological function under low management regime	Low e.g., provision of fodder year-round	Intermediate–high e.g., provision of supply fodder under extreme harsh winter periods	Intermediate–high e.g., periodical population regulation to avoid inbreeding	High e.g., periodical population regulation to avoid overabundance in a predator-free context	High Ideally the only human intervention is the initial (re)introduction of the animal species/race
3 Potential of animal species to advance self-regulating biodiverse ecosystems		Low Poor match between animal species and its habitat preferences, e.g., races of dairy cattle in a semi-wet meadow	Intermediate–high Moderate to good match between animal species and its habitat preferences, e.g., European bison on a semi-wet meadow	High Good match between animal species and its habitat preferences, e.g., water buffalo on a semi-wet meadow	High Good match between animal species, their ecological functions and the habitat, e.g., water buffalo and European bison on a semi-wet meadow
4 Potential of the ecosystem to support natural population dynamics			Low e.g., too small, too fragmented, or too homogenous to support natural population dynamics	Intermediate –high e.g., size and habitat heterogeneity support moderate to high levels of natural population dynamics	High e.g., quantity and quality of ecosystem is not limiting natural population dynamics in any way
5 Potential of the ecosystem to support natural species interaction networks				Low e.g., red deer with no presence of predators	Intermediate e.g., presence red deer and wolves, but poor presence of other apex consumers (e.g., brown bear), scavengers (e.g., eagles) decomposers (e.g., dung beetles), and potential competitors (e.g., other large herbivores) High e.g., same as above plus presence of other apex consumers, scavengers, decomposers and competitors