Resource Database

The Padu System of Community-based Fisheries Management: Change and Local Institutional Innovation in South India

As a commons institution, the padu system in Vallarpadam Island, Cochin, Kerala, defines the group of rights holders and resource boundaries and fishingsites. It is caste-specific, gear- specific (stake-nets) and species specific (shrimp). As used in Vallarpadam, and elsewhere in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, padu is characterized by the use of lottery for rotational access. The institution functions in providing equitable access, collective social responsibility, and rule-makingand conflict resolution. The emergence of the institution in the study area is a response to change in markets and legislation in the 1970s. It may also be seen a response of fishing communities to keep their options open, that is, to be resilient.

The Restoration of Forest Biodiversity and Ecological Values

Large investments are being made in the establishment of tree plantations on degraded land in Asia. These initiatives are often politically driven and aspire to achieve both economic and environmental benefits. However, the lack of clarity about the precise objectives of these schemes means that they often fail to yield either local economic or global environmental benefits. There is often a failure to negotiate with all concerned stakeholders and to recognize and resolve trade-offs. Subsidies have often had perverse impacts, and market forces may be better drivers of economic objectives of restoration programmes. Security of tenure and use rights is an important but often neglected requirement for achieving sustainability. Remnant patches of natural vegetation, even when degraded, are often valuable sources of local biodiversity in restoration schemes.

The Role of Native Species Plantations in Recovery of Understory Woody Diversity in Degraded Pasturelands of Costa Rica

Tropical timber plantations provide a variety of environmental services, including recovery of biodiversity on degraded lands. For example, plantations can speed forest successional processes by improving microsite conditions and attracting seed dispersers, thus promoting woody regeneration. Timber species have been hypothesized to differ in understory recruitment success. In the present research, understory regeneration of woody plants was compared for six native timber species on tropical plantations in the Atlantic humid lowlands of Costa Rica.

The Working for Water Programme in South Africa: The Science Behind the Success

The Working for Water programme is remarkable in many ways, but in particular it has had extraordinary success in linking pressing environmental, social and economic issues in a country with many such issues to deal with. The initial premise that invasive plant species, particularly woody species from Australia and elsewhere, posed a major threat to the extraordinary biodiversity found in South Africa, and in particular the Cape region was complemented by research indicating that invasive woody species were likely to use more water than the native vegetation and hence would reduce runoff into streams, adversely affecting water supplies. This and subsequent research was then communicated by a special working group of scientists to key politicians in the newly elected democratic government.

Thinking Big with Whole-Ecosystem Studies and Ecosystem Restoration: A Legacy of H.T. Odum

More recently we have been engaged in whole-ecosystem experiments, partially inspired by the work of Odum, at created wetlands in northeastern Illinois to investigate effects of water turnover on ecosystem function and in Ohio to provide insight on the long-range large-scale effects of hydrology and macrophyte planting on ecosystem function. We have also carried out major ecosystem-scale studies in coastal Louisiana, investigating the value of these ecological systems in treating wastewater and restoring lost landscape in coastal Louisiana. These studies in the Midwest and Mississippi delta form the basis of determining design standards on creating and restoring wetlands in the Mississippi River Basin to reduce the Gulf of Mexico hypoxia and regain many lost ecosystem functions over a large part of North America.

Using Ecological Restoration to Constrain Biological Invasion

Biological invasion can permanently alter ecosystem structure and function. Invasive species are difficult to eradicate, so methods for constraining invasions would be ecologically valuable. We examined the potential of ecological restoration to constrain invasion of an old field by Agropyron cristatum, an introduced C3 grass. To our knowledge, this study provides the first indication that restoration can act as a filter, constraining invasive species while allowing colonization by native species. These results suggest that resistance to invasion depends on the identity of species in the community and that restoration seed mixes might be tailored to constrain selected invaders. Restoring areas before invasive species become established can reduce the magnitude of biological invasion.

A Framework for Risk Analysis in Ecological Restoration Projects

This report is a framework document that provides the general planner with a basic understanding of risk analysis in the USACE six-step ecosystem restoration planning process. The USACE objective in ecosystem restoration, one of the primary missions of the USACE Civil Works program, is to contribute to national ecosystem restoration by measurably increasing the net quantity and/or quality of desired ecosystem resources. The focus of this report is on risk analysis: identifying the range of possible outcomes from alternative ecosystem restoration actions, assessing the potential for achieving the desired outcome, characterizing the likelihood of adverse consequences, and communicating these findings to stakeholders and decision makers.

A Multiple Watershed Approach to Assessing the Effects of Habitat Restoration Actions on Anadromous and Resident Fish Populations

The purpose of this pilot project was to explore methods for evaluating past habitat restoration actions and their effects on fish populations. By doing so, the project will provide a foundation of retrospective analyses, on which to build prospective, multi-watershed designs for future habitat restoration actions. By addressing questions about habitat restoration and monitoring (in coordination with other related efforts), we hope that this project will catalyze a shift in the Basin’s paradigm of habitat restoration, moving from implementation of individual watershed projects towards rigorously designed and monitored, multiwatershed, adaptive management experiments.

An Ecosystem Approach to Restoring West African Drylands and Improving Rural Livelihoods through Agroforestry-based Land Management Interventions

The project aims to promote an ecosystems approach for sustainable management of the Parkland ecosystems (integrated crop-tree-livestock systems) of the semi-arid lowlands of West Africa. The project will build regional and local capacity in environmental policy development for restoring the West African Parklands with the ultimate aim of improving human well-being and alleviating poverty.

An Invasive Alien Species Strategy for Canada

Special Feature on Vegetation Restoration (2003)

The 19 papers presented in this Special Feature result from the Conference on Restoration Ecology, held from 25-31 August 2002 in Budapest, Hungary.

Species-rich Plantings Increase Biomass and Nitrogen accumulation in a Wetland Restoration Experiment

Our test of the hypothesis that biomass and nitrogen would increase with more species-rich plantings simultaneously vegetated a salt marsh restoration site and demonstrated that on average, randomly chosen, 6-species plantings accumulated more biomass and nitrogen than the mean for 0- and 1-species assemblages, with the mean for 3-species assemblages being intermediate. Thus, ecosystem function, as measured by biomass and N accumulation, increased with species richness regardless of dominance by the highly productive Sv. We conclude that manipulating the richness and composition of plantings offers ecosystem restorationists an effective tool for accelerating the rate of functional development.

Status and Restoration of Peatlands in Northern Europe

Here, we summarize different approaches and restoration techniques developed for peatland management in Estonia, Sweden, and Finland where peatlands are abundant. Without rewetting, plant colonisation on abandoned cut-away areas is slow due to harsh hydrological and microclimatic conditions. However, after restoration, cut-away peatlands may return to a functional state close to that of pristine mires, and therefore restore a net carbon sink function within a few years. In addition, restoration techniques can help to create buffer zones between terrestrial and limnic ecosystems that reduces the nutrient loading imposed on watercourses by forestry operations. Restoration may also be important for peatland conservation programs as drained peatlands are part of present and future conservation areas. Finally, restoration actions in themselves can have negative environmental impacts.

Technologies for lake restoration

Lakes are suffering from different stress factors and need to be restored using different approaches. This paper review the different techniques used to restore lakes degraded by various disturbance types.

Terrestrial Arthropods as Indicators of Ecological Restoration Success in Coastal Sage Scrub (California, U.S.A.)

Success of a restoration project often is evaluated on the basis of plant cover only. Recovery of a native arthropod fauna is also important to achieve conservation goals. I sampled arthropod communities by pitfall trapping in undisturbed, disturbed, and restored coastal sage scrub habitats in southern California. Vegetation characteristics did not differ significantly between the newly restored site and disturbed sites, or between mature restoration sites and undisturbed sites. In contrast, arthropod communities at all restored sites were, as a group, significantly different from both disturbed and undisturbed sites. As found in other studies of other restoration sites, arthropod communities are less diverse and have altered guild structure. If restoration is to be successful as compensatory mitigation, restoration success standards must be expanded to include arthropods.

The challenges of restoring vegetation on tidal, hypersaline substrates

Our attempts to restore salt marsh plain vegetation in Southern California led to greater appreciation of
the importance of environmental stress and stochastic events and their potential for interaction. Hypersalinity and
other factors are extremely difficult to ameliorate, especially in large restoration sites.

The Importance of Phytogenic Mounds (Nebkhas) for Restoration of Arid Degraded Rangelands in Northern Sinai

Natural accumulation of wind-borne sediments within or around the canopies of plants plays an important role in the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of many coastal and desert ecosystems. The formation of such phytogenic mounds (nebkhas) creates patches that can strongly influence the spatial distribution of plant and soil resources. In land restoration of arid and semiarid environments it is important to study the potential role of such biological patchiness that may provide sites for coexistence of species with different life and growth forms. Our main objective was to test whether the nebkhas of a leguminous shrub, Retama raetam (white broom), promote restoration of herbaceous vegetation and soil in the degraded rangelands of northern Sinai.

The Potential of Soil Seedbanks in the Ecological Restoration of Grasslands and Heathland Communities

This study aimed at evaluating the potential role of persistent soil seedbanks in restoring grassland and heathland communities in sites that have been afforested or are currently cultivated. To do so, we used the results of 16 case studies and an analysis of the database of Thompson et al. (1997). Generally, there is a decrease in total seed density with increasing age since abandonment or transformation. This decline is much faster for species of calcareous or alluvial grasslands than for heathland and grassheath species. During succession, seeds of target species disappear from the seedbank, owing to seed senescence.

Threatened Species Recovery Planning and Aboriginal Community Involvement

The Aboriginal Involvement in Recovery Planning Project has sought to address numerous issues. Most importantly, it has focused on assessing collaborative mechanisms, which will allow ongoing partnerships in this area of planning across NSW. It has also attempted to assess how the NPWS might meet the new legislative requirement to consider Indigenous interests while at the same time having limited resources and a heavy workload which requires hundreds of Recovery Plans to be produced in the next few years.

Use of Sheep Grazing in the Restoration of Semi-natural Meadows in Northern Finland

The biodiversity of species-rich semi-natural meadows is declining across Europe due to ceased management. In this study we aimed to find out how successfully the local species richness of an overgrown semi-natural mesic meadow could be restored by sheep grazing after a long period of abandonment. The cover of vascular plant species in grazed plots and ungrazed exclosures was studied for five years and the responses of different functional plant groups were followed (herbs vs grasses, tall vs short species, species differing in flowering time, species representing different Grime’s CSR strategies and species indicative of rich vs poor soil). We suggest that to succeed in restoration it is useful to determine the responses of different functional plant groups to grazing. Grassland managers need this information to optimize the methods and timing of management used in restoration. Additional management practices, such as mowing, may be needed in mesic meadows to decrease the dominance of tall species. The availability of propagules seemed to restrict further increase of species richness in our study area.

Using Soil and Litter Arthropods to Assess the State of Rainforest Restoration

The present study investigated recolonization patterns of selected soil and litter arthropods following replanting of pasture with rainforest species in the Mary River catchment of eastern subtropical Australia. While extensive research has been conducted in rehabilitated mined sites in Australian dry sclerophyll forests, very little attention has been paid to rainforest restoration on previously pastoral land. We examined the utility of soil and litter arthropod groups for monitoring the progress of restoration, and the relationship between arthropod assemblage patterns and environmental factors potentially under the control of those doing the replanting.

Wetland Restoration Thresholds: Can a Degradation Transition Be Reversed with Increased Effort?

Previous attempts to reverse the degradation of a coastal wetland and restore nesting habitat for an endangered bird showed that adding nitrogen could temporarily increase the height of Spartina foliosa, but not produce self-sustaining tall canopies. We asked if increased effort (up to five years of N fertilization) would shift canopy attributes across the hypothesized threshold. Thirty plots were treated with 0-5 yr of urea addition, and all were followed for 5 yr. Canopies were robust while urea was being added, but Spartina reverted to short stature soon after fertilization ended, supporting R. J. Hobbs and D. A. Norton’s concept of an irreversible transition. However, specific outcomes depended on the choice of response variable (six comparisons), the choice of reference data (initial conditions, same-year data, and pooled data), and the choice of statistical design (repeated measures vs. complete design), indicating the need to assess experiments thoroughly before making strong recommendations for management.

Will Restored Tidal Marshes Be Sustainable?

We assess whether or not restored marshes in the San Francisco Estuary are expected to be sustainable in light of future landscape scale geomorphic processes given typical restored marsh conditions. Our assessment is based on a review of the literature, appraisal of monitoring data for restored marshes, and application of vertical accretion modeling of organic and inorganic sedimentation. The ultimate long-term threat to the sustainability of tidal marshes is the interruption of coastal rollover-the process by which landward marsh expansion in response to sea level rise compensates for shoreline erosion. Bay front development now prevents most landward marsh expansion, while shoreline erosion is expected to accelerate as sea level rises.

A Monitoring and Evaluation System for Forest Landscape Restoration in the Central Truong Son, Vietnam

The main part of the report introduces the Central Truong Son, looks at previous data gathering exercises in the area and then suggests a framework for a monitoring and evaluation system. A series of indicators are proposed along with possible sources of information and, where necessary, the steps needed to build capacity to measure particular indicators. The report also outlines steps needed to analyse data and lays out a possible format for an Annual State of the Central Truong Son report. A final section lays out the steps needed to implement the monitoring and evaluation system. The background report is supplemented by a series of annexes, which provide more detail on how some of the indicators might be measured, including draft questionnaires relating to stakeholder perceptions, poverty alleviation and biodiversity and sustainable forest management, along with a proposal for a regular transect along the Ho Chi Minh highway.

Advancing Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) in Asia and the Pacific

Over the past several decades, scattered efforts have been made to develop and apply ANR approaches to forest restoration. Whilst knowledge in this area has grown considerably, it is now apparent that there are additional opportunities to diversify strategies and to expand restoration work. Given the low cost and numerous benefits from ANR, it would seem logical that ANR be accepted and applied broadly. Surprisingly, however, ANR techniques are still vastly under-appreciated and under-utilized in the region. This is in part due to the fact that few efforts have been made to promote ANR. It is in this context that this selection of papers has been compiled, to synthesize the current knowledge on ANR. This overview presents a short summary of the selected papers and some general themes emerging from the workshop.

Bush regeneration: A practical guide to contract management

This guide offers a flexible, ’adaptive management’ model based on ongoing communication and negotiation between the contractor and the contract administrator. This approach requires both the contract administrator and the contractor to have a thorough understanding of the aims of the project and the strategies adopted to achieve them.

Buying Time: A User’s Manual for Building Resistance and Resilience to Climate Change in Natural Systems

The manual addresses all of the major biomes with practical ideas of how to begin increasing the resiliency of ecosystems and plan our protected areas in response to the threat of climate change. Some of these strategies are in line with the conservation strategies we have been working on for years—reducing fragmentation, building corridors, reducing threats, and increasing resiliency in general.

Impacts of Early- and Late-Seral Mycorrhizae during Restoration in Seasonal Tropical Forest, Mexico

Disturbance of vegetation and soil may change the species composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which may in turn affect plant species responses to AMF. Seasonal tropical forest in Mexico is undergoing rapid conversion to early-successional forest because of increased wildfire and may require restoration. The responses of six early- and late-successional tree species were tested using early- and late-successional AMF inoculum. The results suggest that early-seral AMF should be used when seedlings are inoculated for restoration, even for late-seral tree species.

Landscape Restoration: Moving from Generalities to Methodologies

Large-scale, landscape-level restoration actions are widely implemented but receive little attention from academic ecologists. We review the methods used to assess the role of these processes in past studies, and suggest ways to use past and ongoing restoration activities to increase our understanding of large-scale processes and improve restoration projects. To make better use of past restoration, we recommend the use of a number of alternative analytical approaches that have become widely applied in conservation biology and wildlife management but have yet to be adopted in restoration ecology.

Managing Micro-evolution: Restoration in the Face of Global Change

Evidence is mounting that evolutionary change can occur rapidly and may be an important means by which species escape extinction in the face of global change. Consequently, biologists need to incorporate evolutionary thinking into management decisions in conservation and restoration ecology. Here, we review the genetic and demographic properties that influence the ability of populations to adapt to rapidly changing selective pressures. To illustrate how evolutionary thinking can influence conservation and restoration strategies, we compare the potential of two California plant communities (vernal pools and blue oak woodlands) to evolve in response to global change. We then suggest ways in which restoration biologists can manipulate the genetic architecture of target populations to increase their ability to adapt to changing conditions. While there may not be any universal rules regarding the adaptive potential of species, an understanding of the various processes involved in microevolution will increase the short- and long-term success of conservation and restoration efforts.