National ecosystem assessments form an essential knowledge base for safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services. We analyze eight European (sub-)national ecosystem assessments (Portugal, United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Flanders, Netherlands, Finland, and Germany) and compare their objectives, political context, methods, and operationalization. We observed remarkable differences in breadth of the assessment, methods employed, variety of services considered, policy mandates, and funding mechanisms. Biodiversity and ecosystem services are mainly assessed independently, with biodiversity conceptualized as underpinning services, as a source of conflict with services, or as a service in itself. Recommendations derived from our analysis for future ecosystem assessments include the needs to improve the common evidence base, to advance the mapping of services, to consider international flows of services, and to connect more strongly to policy questions. Although the context specificity of national ecosystem assessments is acknowledged as important, a greater harmonization across assessments could help to better inform common European policies and future pan-regional assessments.

Experimental restoration may both accelerate and elucidate natural processes of succession on degraded agricultural land by offering insight into factors that influence rates of succession and the composition of resulting communities. A novel study in restoration of degraded tropical agricultural land in coexistence with cattle ranching activities was established in southern Veracruz, Mexico. The experimental planting of 16 mixed-species stands of 18 pioneer and late-successional tree species was established from September to November 2006 on an eroded hillside pasture with an elevational gradient from 182 to 260 m and heterogeneous soil depths. An unusually severe dry season in 2007 killed 72 per cent of the seedlings: least squares regression suggested that survival of six pioneer and 12 late-successional species was mainly explained by initial basal diameter at planting followed by soil depth for pioneers and by elevational position on the hillside for latesuccessional species. Individuals with larger initial size at planting (>4 mm basal diameter), regardless of germination size in a growing house, survived better probably because larger seedlings developed deeper roots that found fissures in substrate underlying thin soils. Interestingly, seedlings small at planting (<4 mm basal diameter) survived as well as large seedlings in deeper (>19 cm) soils, but virtually, all small seedlings died on thin soils (<18·5 cm). Mortality in restoration plantings can be reduced by planting large seedlings of a mix of pioneer and late-successional species, recognizing that soil depth is a key criterion for survival of the smallest seedlings in a cohort.

Ecological restoration has become an important strategy to conserve biodiversity and ecosystems services. To restore 15% of degraded ecosystems as stipulated by the Convention on Biological DiversityPalabras Clave: análisis espacial multicriterio, planificación sistemática de la conservación, proceso participativo, sitios clave de biodiversidad, factibilida de restauración