Anthropogenic ecosystem disturbance and the recovery debt

Abstract

Ecosystem recovery from anthropogenic disturbances, either without human intervention or assisted by ecological restoration, is increasingly occurring worldwide. As ecosystems progress through recovery, it is important to estimate any resulting deficit in biodiversity and functions. Here we use data from 3,035 sampling plots worldwide, to quantify the interim reduction of biodiversity and functions occurring during the recovery process (that is, the ‘recovery debt'). Compared with reference levels, recovering ecosystems run annual deficits of 46–51% for organism abundance, 27–33% for species diversity, 32–42% for carbon cycling and 31–41% for nitrogen cycling. Our results are consistent across biomes but not across degrading factors. Our results suggest that recovering and restored ecosystems have less abundance, diversity and cycling of carbon and nitrogen than ‘undisturbed' ecosystems, and that even if complete recovery is reached, an interim recovery debt will accumulate. Under such circumstances, increasing the quantity of less-functional ecosystems through ecological restoration and offsetting are inadequate alternatives to ecosystem protection.

La restauración ecológica en el marco de las compensaciones por pérdida de biodiversidad en Colombia: Un análisis crítico

“…Un estudio similar enfocado en áreas restauradas de ecosistemas terrestres de todo el mundo encontró que, comparados con ecosistemas de referencia, los ecosistemas restaurados mantienen déficits anuales de aproximadamente 50 % en abundancia de organismos, 30 % en diversidad de especies, 36 % en el reciclaje del carbono y 36 % en el reciclaje de nitrógeno (Moreno-Mateos et al 2017). Es decir que tres o cuatro décadas no son suficientes para que los ecosistemas alcancen valores equivalentes a los de ecosistemas usados como referencia.…”

Can land degradation drive differences in the C exchange of two similar semiarid ecosystems?

“…As a result, ecosystem resilience (Holling, 1973) was weakened by long-term disturbances such as land degradation, making degraded ecosystems more vulnerable to climate extremes (Reichstein et al, 2013). In this sense, mitigation policies to confront land degradation should be focused on prevention programs since ecosystem restoration does not recover complete ecosystem functionality (Lal, 2001;Moreno-Mateos et al, 2017). Moreover, even after several decades, relict degradation legacies can remain (Alados et al, 2011).…”

Decision support tools for forest landscape restoration: Current status and future outlook

“…The greater the extent of ecological disturbance, the greater is the restoration debt (Ghazoul and Chazdon 2017;Moreno-Mateos et al 2017). The causes of land degradation must also be addressed to avoid wasted efforts and reduce the future need for restoration interventions.…”