Around the world, there is growing desire and momentum for ecological restoration to happen faster, with better quality, and in more extensive areas. The question we ask is how can laws and governmental regulations best contribute to effective, successful, and broad-scale restoration? In the state of São Paulo, Brazil, there is a legal instrument (SMA 08-2008) whose aim is to increase the effectiveness of tropical forest restoration projects in particular. It establishes, among other things, requirements regarding the minimum number of native tree species to be reached within a given period of time in restoration projects and the precise proportion of functional groups or threatened species to be included when reforestation with native species is used as a restoration technique. There are, however, two differing perspectives among Brazilian restoration ecologists on the appropriateness of such detailed legal rules. For some, the rules help increase the chances that mandatory projects of ecological restoration will succeed. For the other group, there is no single way to achieve effective ecosystem restoration, and the existing science and know-how are far from sufficient to establish standardized technical and methodological norms or to justify that such norms be imposed. Both points of view are discussed here, aiming to help those developing new legislation and improving existing laws about ecological restoration. The precedents established in São Paulo, and at the federal level in Brazil, and the ongoing debate about those laws are worth considering and possibly applying elsewhere.
Failures in reforestation are often attributed to nutrient limitation for tree growth. We compared tree performance and nitrogen and phosphorus relations in adjacent mixed-species plantings of contrasting composition, established for forest restoration on Ultisol soil, originally covered by tropical semi-deciduous Atlantic Forest in Southeast Brazil. Nutrient relations of four tree species occurring in both planting mixtures were compared between a legume-dominated, speciespoor direct seeding mixture of early-successional species (''legume mixture''), and a species-diverse, legume-poor mixture of all successional groups (''diverse mixture''). After 7 years, the legume mixture had 6-fold higher abundance of N 2 -fixing trees, 177% higher total tree basal area, 22% lower litter C/N, sixfold higher in situ soil resin-nitrate, and 40% lower in situ soil resin-P, compared to the diverse mixture. In the legume mixture, non-N 2 -fixing legume Schizolobium parahyba (Fabaceae-Caesalpinioideae) had significantly lower proportional N resorption, and both naturally regenerating non-legume trees had significantly higher leaf N concentrations, and higher proportional P resorption, than in the diverse mixture. This demonstrate forms of plastic adjustment in all three non-N 2 -fixing species to diverged nutrient relations between mixtures. By contrast, leaf nutrient relations in N 2 -fixing Enterolobium contortisiliquum (FabaceaeMimosoideae) did not respond to planting mixtures. Rapid N accumulation in the legume mixture caused excess soil nitrification over nitrate immobilization and tighter P recycling compared with the diverse mixture. The legume mixture succeeded in accelerating tree growth and canopy closure, but may imply periods of N losses and possibly P limitation. Incorporation of species with efficient nitrate uptake and P mobilization from resistant soil pools offers potential to optimize these tradeoffs.
RESUMO -A iniciativa de legislar sobre técnicas de restauração é recente no Brasil e, de acordo com as informações disponíveis, inédita no mundo, havendo controvérsias sobre a conveniência dessa legislação. Na tentativa de trazer luz ao debate, desenvolveu-se análise crítica da Resolução da Secretaria do Meio Ambiente do Estado de São Paulo, que normatiza o reflorestamento heterogêneo de áreas degradadas. Considerou-se que a norma se baseia em pressupostos que não encontram respaldo em experimentação científica, uma vez que o entendimento dos processos ecológicos envolvidos na restauração está longe de ser suficientemente completo para permitir legislar, com segurança e detalhamento, sobre o assunto. Adicionalmente, considerouse que nem os profissionais que elaboram projetos nem os que atuam no licenciamento e fiscalização detêm o conhecimento necessário para aplicar a norma. Entende-se ainda que o rigor das normas cerceia a criatividade e a iniciativa do cientista e do restaurador e, assim, constitui barreira a mais a dificultar a descoberta de soluções inovadoras e, especialmente, a retardar a expansão das áreas restauradas. Do ponto de vista da conservação da biodiversidade, considera-se que a indução de demanda comercial de material biológico de espécies raras ou ameaçadas, prevista na Resolução, pode colocar em risco a conservação das populações naturais dessas espécies, que deveriam ser alvo de programas específicos. Não parece, em suma, que a instituição dessa Resolução tenha contribuído para acelerar o ritmo de ampliação das áreas restauradas e tampouco para aumentar a probabilidade de sucesso das iniciativas de restauração.Palavras-chave: Legislação ambiental, Restauração ecológica e Resolução SMA 08. LEGAL RULES FOR ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION: AN ADDITIONAL BARRIER TO HINDER THE SUCCESS OF INITIATIVES?ABSTRACT
Restoring forest landscapes is critical in the face of continued global forest loss and degradation. In this article, we explore some challenges underlying the delivery of global commitments to restore forest landscapes. We propose that three fundamental questions need to be resolved upfront for the effective implementation of Forest Landscape Restoration and related commitments: (1) What social and ecological landscape objectives are being sought through Forest Landscape Restoration? (2) How are specific areas being selected for restoration? (3) How is success measured when restoring forest landscapes? We believe that there is an urgent need to adequately answer these questions to successfully implement political commitments for large‐scale forest restoration.
Brazil's riparian forests are continuously threatened by conversion into agricultural areas, causing not only degradation and loss of vegetation but also negative changes in soil properties and ecosystem services. In order to select vegetation and soil variables that are affected by degradation and to evaluate whether forest structure can be used as a proxy for soil ecosystem services, two watersheds in eastern Amazon were chosen as a study area in which four degradation levels were identified (very high, high, moderate and low), based on forest canopy openness and height. Vegetation structural characteristics, water infiltration rates, and soil properties were evaluated in 24, 1,000 m 2 permanent plots. Results indicated that forest degradation significantly reduced soil carbon, phosphorus, cation exchange capacity, silt proportion, total porosity, and water content as well as water infiltration rate. Vegetation structure was a good proxy for monitoring soil ecosystem services (i.e. regulation of water flow, erosion control and life-supporting). Tree height and basal area, as well as herb biomass, were identified as the best vegetation indicators for changes in soil properties that underlie ecosystem services. Application of this strategy may facilitate the monitoring and modeling of riparian forest ecosystem services across broader spatial scales, to help guide efficient restoration efforts and conservation policies.
A B S T R A C TDirect seeding is a potential technique to restore forests; however, further studies are needed before its application on a large scale. We carried out a field experiment in a deforested area in southern Brazil to test the technical and economic feasibility of a direct seeding system with high tree species diversity to restore the tropical seasonal forest. We also compared species performances and tested the effects of seed size and successional group on tree seedling emergence and development. The trial was established at two different sowing times using 31 tree species. For two years after sowing we evaluated seedling emergence, establishment, survival and early growth of tree species, weed competition and costs for plantation establishment and early maintenance. Most species had low seedling emergence and establishment, but high survival rates, implying that low seedling emergence is the main barrier to community assembly that must be overcome. The most successful species had larger seeds, belonged to non-pioneer categories and had slower growth rates. Final costs after two years were lower than has been reported in the literature for most restoration planting using seedlings both in Brazil and elsewhere; however, seedling density was low. Although direct seeding may be a feasible alternative to decrease planting costs, the poor species performances and low seedling density may reduce its applicability. Thus, we recommend direct seeding only in association with the planting of pioneer species seedlings.
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