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The Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve, Netherlands, was established on polder land reclaimed from Lake IJsselmeer in 1968. Re‐wilding was initiated at this site from 1983 with the introduction of Heck cattle (Bos taurus), Konik horses (Equus ferus caballus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus). Moreover, a multitude of ponds were created throughout the reserve between 1985 and 2000 for avian biodiversity. The site is managed with a policy of minimal intervention, i.e. the population size of freely roaming large herbivores is not controlled by culling, no supplementary feeding is given during winter and vegetation is not managed. The only intervention is aimed to avoid unnecessary suffering and consist in shooting animals identified as too weak to survive winter. Most of the research examining the relationship between large herbivores and their impact on landscapes has used extant studies. An alternative approach is to estimate the impact of variations in herbivore populations through time using fossil dung fungal spores and pollen in sedimentary sequences. The ponds at Oostvaardersplassen provided the ideal settings for Baker et al. to develop further the dung fungal spore method and determine the relationship between spore abundance in sediments and herbivore biomass densities. Their results indicate that this method provides a robust quantitative measure of herbivore population size over time. Photo credit: © Henk Hupkes, Staatsbosbeheer