Resource Database

Trends in Literature on Seaweed Restoration Techniques on Barren Grounds in Japan

To detect the trend on seaweed restoration techniques on barren grounds in Japan, domestic literature (> 1,000) published since 1970 were surveyed. The literature contains local survey (18%), experiments and detailed observations (23%), recovery trials (43%) and reviews (16%). The literature increased chronologically with a temporal maximum in 1980-85. Among the local areas, literature was particularly abundant in western coasts of Hokkaido and Pacific coasts of middle Honshu (from the Kii Channel to Cape Inubo). The target seaweed bed types were mostly kelp and Sargassum forests and the dominant causative agents of these bed reductions were intensive grazing by sea urchins and herbivorous fishes. The literature analysis revealed that ‘removal’ of sea urchins and ‘defense’ of seaweeds were unreasonably preceded by employing stones or concrete blocks and transplanting seaweeds. Grazing by herbivorous fishes is a recent problem in southern Japan; the literature abruptly increases after 2000. These may represent some of the reasons why barren ground recovery projects were unsuccessful.

Tropical Forest Restoration: Tree Islands as Recruitment Foci in Degraded Lands of Honduras

Tropical forest recovery in pastures is slowed by a number of biotic and abiotic factors, including a lack of adequate seed dispersal and harsh microclimatic extremes. Accordingly, methods to accelerate forest recovery must address multiple impediments. Here, we evaluated the ability of “tree islands” to serve as “recruitment foci” in a two-year study at three sites in northern Honduras.

Using Ecosystem Engineers to Restore Ecological Systems

Ecosystem engineers affect other organisms by creating, modifying, maintaining or destroying habitats. Despite widespread recognition of these often important effects, the ecosystem engineering concept has yet to be widely used in ecological applications. Here, we present a conceptual framework that shows how consideration of ecosystem engineers can be used to assess the likelihood of restoration of a system to a desired state, the type of changes necessary for successful restoration and how restoration efforts can be most effectively partitioned between direct human intervention and natural ecosystem engineers.

Using Palaeobotanical Techniques to Guide Peatland Restoration: A Case Study from Byron Bay, Australia

This project investigated the vegetation composition that contributed to a peat layer in Byron Bay, using palaeobotanical techniques and makes suggestions to assist formulation of the restoration plan for the Byron Bay site. The major aims of this study were to: establish a chronology for the wetland sediments; detect any major temporal changes in vegetation types; and identify species that have played a key role in the accumulation of peat at this site.

Watering, Fertilization, and Slurry Inoculation Promote Recovery of Biological Crust Function in Degraded Soils

Wetlands for Treatment of Industrial Wastwater: Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park’s Natural Treatment system, Shanghai, China

While the improvement of water quality is systematically addressed in this unique design, this fusion of design disciplines would allow the treatment wetlands to evolve into an attractive natural environment suitable for both wildlife habitats and visitors. The vision calls for a recreational hub for Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park’semployees and visitors, while additionally serving as a wetland research center for academic groups.

When is Restoration Not? Incorporating Landscape-scale Processes to Restore Self-sustaining Ecosystems in Coastal Wetland Restoration

The goal of this paper is to explore restoration concepts, examples, and challenges from the Pacific and Gulf coasts. One of the fundamental concepts explored is change over time – either in the controlling processes or the restoration structure – and how such changes can be meshed with the goals of various restoration efforts. We subsequently review the concepts of ecosystem trajectories, alternative restoration approaches, and the ideal attributes of functional self-sustaining restoration in the context of realities of restoration planning, design, and implementation.

Why Rehabilitate Urban River Systems?

This paper addresses the philosophical question: ‘why rehabilitate urban river systems?’ within an Australian context. Rehabilitation of river systems has become an important objective of many local, state and national governments around the world, who allocate substantial investment into various river projects. An understanding of the various factors influencing stream condition and potential rehabilitation options is essential in order to determine how the process is undertaken, and how success is measured. This paper examines the triple bottom line (economic, social and environmental) factors that influence decision-making with respect to urban stream rehabilitation and management and considers their relative value and importance.

Calidad de Planta Forestal para la Restauracio_n en Ambientes Mediterra_neos: Estado Actual de Conocimientos

En los u_ltimos an_os, un nu_mero creciente de investigadores espan_oles ha dedicado sus esfuerzos al estudio de diversos aspectos de la ecologi_a de brinzales de plantas forestales mediterra_neas. Gracias a estos estudios, y a la tenaz dedicacio_n de numerosos profesionales de la agronomi_a y la viveri_stica, actualmente disponemos de conocimientos ba_sicos sobre la produccio_n de algunas de las especies forestales mediterra_neas ma_s comunes. No obstante, cuanto ma_s profundizamos sobre protocolos de produccio_n de planta o sobre las caracteri_sticas o_ptimas que debe reunir un brinzal de calidad, resulta ma_s evidente la dificultad para establecer recetas comunes. Es precisamente a partir de la constatacio_n de estos resultados, a veces contradictorios, y de la voluntad de difundir estos conocimientos ma_s alla_ del grupo de investigadores directamente involucrados en su obtencio_n, que surge, hace algo ma_s de dos an_os, el foro de discusio_n que ha dado lugar a esta publicacio_n.

Fens and Floodplains of the Temperate Zone: Present Status, Threats, Conservation and Restoration

In this introduction we discuss the most important mire-related terms, present status, threats and conservation and restoration attempts. Floodplains and especially lowland fens are rare and vulnerable ecosystems. They are highly threatened all over the world because of direct conversion to agricultural land and especially the lack of appropriate management and altered catchment hydrology. Finally we present a framework for the conservation and restoration of these ecosystems. This consists of (1) optimising abiotic conditions; (2) safeguarding propagule availability of the target species; (3) creating and maintaining conditions for (re)establishment of these species, and (4) appropriate management to keep the conditions suitable.

Fire and Restoration of Sagebrush Ecosystems

Wildlife managers often resort to prescribed fire to restore sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems thought to have been affected by fire exclusion. However, a fire mosaic of burned and unburned areas may be tolerated by certain wildlife but can be detrimental to sagebrush obligates. This article assesses evidence about the historical frequency and pattern of fire in sagebrush ecosystems and the need for prescribed fire. Fire-scar data from nearby forests require adjustment to estimate fire rotation, the time required to burn once through a sagebrush landscape. Estimates from forests require correction for unburned area and because sagebrush burns less often than forests. Recovery time also might indicate fire rotation.

Forest Ecosystems of an Arizona Pinus Ponderosa Landscape: Multifactor Classification and Implications for Ecological Restoration

Several lines of evidence suggest that although species composition may have been altered since settlement, the same basic ecosystems occurred on this landscape in pre-settlement forests, providing reference information for ecological restoration. Red cinders/Bahia ecosystems were rare historically and > 30% of their area has been burned by crown fires since 1950, indicating that priority could be given to restoring this ecosystem’s remaining mapping units. Ecosystem classifications may be useful as data layers in gap analyses to identify restoration and conservation priorities. Ecosystem turnover occurs at broad extents on this landscape, and restoration must accordingly operate across large areas to encompass ecosystem diversity. By incorporating factors driving ecosystem composition, this ecosystem classification represents a framework for estimating spatial variation in ecological properties, such as species diversity, relevant to ecological restoration.

Grassland Degradation and Our Strategies: A Case from Shanxi Province, China

This paper analyzes the present state of grassland degradation and its management strategies for the future, using Shanxi Province as an example.

Growth in Pure and Mixed Plantations of Tree Species Used in Reforesting Rural Areas of the Humid Region of Costa Rica, Central America

This paper compares productivity of native tree species plantations, in monoculture and mixtures, at La Selva Biological Station in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. In monocultures, Jacaranda copaia, Vochysia guatemalensis, and Vochysia ferruginea were the most productive of 10 species compared. However, J. copaia and V. guatemalensis grew significantly faster in mixtures than in monocultures. A mixture of J. copaia, V. guatemalensis, and Calophyllum brasiliense produced 21% more merchantable volume than a monoculture of J. copaia, which grew the fastest of the three species. Mixed plantations of Dipteryx panamensis, Virola koschnyi, and Terminalia amazonia had productivity rates similar to monocultures of the fastest growing of these species (Virola koschnyi). The productivity of mixed plantations of V. ferruginea, Hyeronima alchorneoides, Genipa americana, and Balizia elegans was intermediate from the respective species’ productivities in monocultures. Cultivating tree species in mixtures affected species’ growth forms and ability to persist on the site.

Impacts of Restoration Treatments on Alien Plant Invasion in Pinus Ponderosa Forests, Montana, USA

Invasion by alien plant species represents a challenge to land managers throughout the world as they attempt to restore frequent fire-adapted ecosystems following decades of fire exclusion The results show that alien species, including transformers, respond to restoration treatments, especially the combined thin-burn treatment. Therefore monitoring for alien species invasion is an essential component of a restoration programme. Abundance of transformer species increased with increasing disturbance intensity, suggesting that less intense single-disturbance treatments (burn-only, thin-only) or incremental treatments may be preferred in some applications. Where more intense treatments are required to meet management objectives, specific strategies, such as seeding of native species, limiting grazing before and after treatment and harvesting over a protective winter snowpack, may be necessary to limit alien invasion.

Lacandon Maya Forest Management: Restoration of Soil Fertility Using Native Tree Species

In southern Mexico, where rainforests are being degraded rapidly, the Lacandon Maya use an agroforestry system that both restores and conserves the rainforest. Their system cycles through field and fallow stages that produce food, medicines, and raw materials, and regenerates tall secondary forest. This investigation identified plants managed by Lacandon to restore soil fertility during fallow. Our research shows that the Lacandon are cognizant of the natural abilities of certain species to fulfill the restoration needs in their systems. It demonstrates that Maya agroforestry and local knowledge could contribute to efforts to conserve and restore rainforests, and reduce deforestation by accelerating fallow in tropical agriculture.

LIFE and European Forests

This publication provides background details on the EU forest sector, and gives details of how LIFE has contributed in terms of: forest restoration, forest biodiversity, forest management and building partnerships to protect and improve forests.

Linking the Spatial Patterns of Organisms and Abiotic Factors to Ecosystem Function and Management: Insights from Semi-arid Environments

Numerous theoretical and modeling studies have demonstrated the ecological significance of the spatial patterning of organisms on ecosystem functioning and dynamics. However, there is a paucity of empirical evidence that quantitatively shows how changes in the spatial patterns of the organisms forming biotic communities are directly related to ecosystem structure and functioning. In this article, I review a series of experiments and observational studies conducted in semi-arid environments from Spain (degraded calcareous shrubland, steppes dominated by Stipatenacissima, and gypsum shrublands) to: 1) evaluate whether the spatial patterns of the dominant biotic elements in the community are linked to ecosystem structure and functioning, and 2) test if these patterns, and those of abiotic factors, can be used to improve ecosystem restoration.

Microfinance, Social Capital and Natural Resource Management Systems: Conceptual Issues and Empirical Evidences

This is a review of various papers on microfinance programmes undertaken in natural resource management projects. An attempt is made to understand how the building of social capital enhances the propensity to develop natural capital. It is argued that there is lack of evidence to show that social capital increases the chance of improving natural capital and discusses various issues associated with natural resource management. The paper also stresses the need to adopt an integrated approach to seek evidence of natural resource building efforts through improving social capital.

Monitoring Ecological Processes for Restoration Projects

Long-term (up to 75 years) studies in the western United States show that short-term monitoring of plant community composition alone incorrectly predicted the failure of treatments that were ultimately successful, and the success of treatments that ultimately failed. We propose that vegetation composition monitoring be combined with one or more ecological process indicators reflecting changes in three fundamental ecosystem attributes on which restoration success depends: soil and site stability, hydrologic function and biotic integrity. These simple, rapid, plot-level indicators reflect changes in resource redistribution and vegetation structure. We include a case study involving restoration of mixed grass prairie on mineland in the west-central United States.

Motivations for the Restoration of Ecosystems

The reasons ecosystems should be restored are numerous, disparate, generally understated, and commonly underappreciated. We offer a typology in which these reasons—or motivations—are ordered among five rationales: technocratic, biotic, heuristic, idealistic, and pragmatic. Three recent examples are given of restoration that blends the technocratic, idealistic, and pragmatic rationales and demonstrates the potential for a more unified approach. The biotic and heuristic rationales can be satisfied within the contexts of the other rationales.

Natural Barriers to Natural Disasters: Replanting Mangroves after the Tsunami

The Indian Ocean tsunami disaster of December 2004 has increased interest in replanting degraded and deforested mangrove areas in Asia to improve coastal protection. Evidence from Thailand suggests that concern over mangrove deforestation by shrimp farms is an important motivation for many coastal households to participate in mangrove rehabilitation. However, successful re-establishment and management of mangroves as effective coastal barriers will require developing new institutions and policies, and must involve coastal communities in Thailand and other Indian Ocean countries in the conservation and protection of their local mangrove forests.

Novel ecosystems: Theoretical and management aspects of the new ecological world order

We explore the issues relevant to those types of ecosystems
containing new combinations of species that arise through
human action, environmental change, and the impacts of
the deliberate and inadvertent introduction of species from
other regions. Novel ecosystems (also termed ‘emerging
ecosystems’) result when species occur in combinations and
relative abundances that have not occurred previously within
a given biome.

Phytomass and Plant Functional Diversity in Early Restoration of the Degraded, Semi-arid Grasslands in Northern China

We analysed vegetation data recorded in the degraded lowland grasslands in Otindag Sandland during the first 4-years of restoration (2001–2004) to investigate: (1) the contribution of individual plant functional type (PFT) to PFT diversity of community and (2) the relationships between primary productivity and biodiversity both at species and PFT levels. Sixteen PFTs were distinguished based on the following traits: (1) life-span (annual vs. perennial); (2) photosynthetic pathway (C3 vs. C4); (3) reproductive mode (clonal vs. non-clonal); and (4) growth form (grass vs. forb). Analysis of data indicates that density, coverage, number of species, phytomass, and relative importance of PFTs depended strongly on life-span, photosynthetic pathway, reproductive mode and growth form. Phytomass was significantly correlated with PFT diversity, but not species diversity. However, the relationship between phytomass and PFT diversity varied greatly with year, with a positive relationship in 2001 and 2004 and a negative one in 2002 and 2003. As the restoration proceeds, the perennial C3 clonal grass became the greatest contributor to PFT diversity.

Plant Traits in Response to Raising Groundwater Levels in Wetland Restoration: Evidence from Three Case Studies

Is raising groundwater tables successful as a wetland restoration strategy? The prevalent traits of the restored wetlands do not coincide with traits belonging to generally targeted plant species of wetland restoration. Long-term observations in restored and control wetlands with different groundwater regimes are needed to determine whether target plant species eventually revegetate restored wetlands.

Pleistocene Rewilding: An Optimistic Agenda for Twenty-First Century Conservation

Large vertebrates are strong interactors in food webs, yet they were lost from most ecosystems after the dispersal of modern humans from Africa and Eurasia. We call for restoration of missing ecological functions and evolutionary potential of lost North American megafauna using extant conspecifics and related taxa. We refer to this restoration as Pleistocene rewilding; it is conceived as carefully managed ecosystem manipulations whereby costs and benefits are objectively addressed on a case-by-case and locality-by-locality basis.

Potential for Successional Theory to Guide Restoration of Invasive Plant-Dominated Rangeland

Successional management has been proposed as a useful model for managing and restoring invasive-plant-dominated rangeland because it provides a framework in which ecological processes can be manipulated by managers to achieve a desired plant community. Our hypothesis was that successively modifying the factors influencing the causes of succession in an integrated fashion would favor the establishment and abundance of native grasses over singularly applied treatments. In most cases, integrating treatments that addressed multiple causes of succession favored a desired plant community. Thus, we accomplished our goal of using successional management to direct plant communities toward native desired species, but the treatments used did not improve species richness. Since naturally occurring native forbs did not respond favorably to any treatment combination, ecological restoration using successional management may best be thought of as an iterative procedure where various components and processes of the system are methodically repaired or replaced over time.

Principles of Natural Regeneration of Tropical Dry Forests for Restoration

Tropical dry forests are the most threatened tropical terrestrial ecosystem. However, few studies have been conducted on the natural regeneration necessary to restore these forests. We reviewed the ecology of regeneration of tropical dry forests as a tool to restore disturbed lands.

Principles of Natural Regeneration of Tropical Dry Forests for Restoration

We reviewed the ecology of regeneration of tropical dry forests as a tool to restore disturbed lands. Dry forests are characterized by a relatively high number of tree species with small, dry, wind-dispersed seeds. Over small scales, wind-dispersed seeds are better able to colonize degraded areas than vertebrate-dispersed plants. Small seeds and those with low water content are less susceptible to desiccation, which is a major barrier for establishment in open areas. Seeds are available in the soil in the early rainy season to maximize the time to grow.

Prioritization of Target Areas for Rehabilitation: A Case Study from West Kalimantan, Indonesia

To rehabilitate degraded forestlands and conserve the remaining forests in Kalimantan, effective measures are needed that accommodate various land uses in the landscape. We present a pragmatic model for prioritizing target areas for rehabilitation and discuss a potential approach, combining traditional reforestation and the forest management methods of local Dayak tribes with the operations of a commercial tree plantation venture, to promote the rehabilitation of elements of the tropical lowland rainforest.