Assessing Restoration of Ecosystem Functioning in Brazilian Subtropical and Tropical Streams

Abstract

Rivers and streams provide many ecosystem services, including provision of food, water purification, and nutrient abatement. Ecosystem functioning, the set of processes that regulate the fluxes of energy and matter, is the backbone of ecosystem services. A myriad of human impacts affects the functioning of running waters. To reduce these impacts, strategies for conservation and recovery of riparian vegetation, as well as direct interventions for stream restoration, have been carried out. However, these actions have been more limited in sub/tropical than in temperate regions. Based on case studies from southeastern Brazil and comparisons with their temperate counterparts, we illustrate and discuss how restoration of riparian canopy cover and stream reconfiguration through the addition of wood can influence two key ecosystem processes: nutrient retention and metabolism. Our findings indicate that the distinctive environmental features of the sub/tropical climate strongly shape the effect of stream restoration on ecosystem functioning. However, as in the temperate climate, effects are rarely monitored for a long time after the restoration, indicating the need for their longer-term assessment. Understanding how restoration evolves over time to impact the functioning of sub/tropical streams is fundamental for the management and conservation of these strategic water bodies and the relevant ecosystem services they provide.

Short‐term hydromorphological and ecological responses of using woody structures for river restoration in a tailing‐impacted tropical river

“…River restoration techniques are used to mitigate human activities such as agriculture and deforestation that change and degrade landscapes causing physical habitat degradation, pollution, species loss, riparian vegetation modification, and hydrogeomorphological and ecological negative alterations resulting in a threat to biodiversity (Feld et al, 2011; Vitousek et al, 1997). These techniques are based on returning to natural or similar natural environmental conditions (Cunha et al, 2022; Dai et al, 2021; Lin et al, 2020; Palmer et al, 2014).…”