Ecosystem Restoration: A Public Health Intervention

Breed, Martin F.; Cross, Adam T.; Wallace, Kiri Joy; Bradby, Keith; Flies, Emily J.; Goodwin, Neva; Jones, Menna Lloyd; Orlando, Laura; Skelly, Chris; Weinstein, Philip; Aronson, James

doi:10.1007/s10393-020-01480-1

Cited by 27 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Positive feedback loops will be initiated to promote greater nature connectedness and societal appreciation for biodiversity, ecological functioning, and ecosystem integrity (Fig. 1), as there is increasing recognition that the practice of ecological restoration can itself be a "public health intervention" (Breed et al 2020), and a "reciprocal healing process" (Nabhan et al 2020) for people involved in restorative activities.…”

Section: Strategies and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also emerging evidence that exposure to biodiverse microbial communities benefits health (Von Hertzen et al 2015;Liddicoat et al 2020), leading to calls to use, design, and restore or establish biodiverse urban green spaces that provide a safe and adequate level of exposure to health-promoting environmental microbiomes (Flies et al 2017(Flies et al , 2018Mills et al 2020). By taking an interventionist and rigorous experimental approach, restoration ecology can clarify mechanisms and provide strong evidence for the largescale and long-term health impacts of restorative interventions (Breed et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Four Islands EcoHealth Network: an Australasian initiative building synergies between the restoration of ecosystems and human health

Bradby¹,

Wallace

Cross

et al. 2021

Restoration Ecology

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Reversing the spiraling trajectory of ecological degradation requires a profound paradigm shift that more explicitly links human and ecosystem health. Human health, as used here, includes well-being and livelihoods, which are largely determined by socio-cultural, economic, and environmental drivers. Ecological restoration and related restorative activities can contribute substantially to human health. However, restoration projects differ widely and health impacts can be difficult to quantify. Interdisciplinary restoration networks are important for investigating the complex socio-cultural, economic, and environmental dynamics that characterize restoration practice and related health outcomes. We present the Four Islands EcoHealth Network (FIEN) as an exemplar for establishing interdisciplinary project connectivity to clarify intersections between ecosystem restoration and human health. FIEN is a cooperative regional restoration network within Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand which aims to research and devise strategies for restoration to simultaneously improve human health and repair native ecosystems. FIEN will operate collaboratively at local and regional scales to expand interdisciplinary research and outreach by linking research with experience-based and Traditional Ecological Knowledge-based restoration activities. The group's primary focus is value-adding to the efforts of its constituent organizations by sharing expertise and methodologies to enable large-scale analysis and comparison across adjacent regions, ultimately disseminating collective results through impactful science communication. We consider explicitly linking human and ecosystem health the best way forward to reverse the current downward trajectory of ecological degradation and declining human health, and propose FIEN as an approach which other restoration-minded groups and coalitions might follow.

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Section: Strategies and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Four Islands EcoHealth Network: an Australasian initiative building synergies between the restoration of ecosystems and human health

Bradby¹,

Wallace

Cross

et al. 2021

Restoration Ecology

Self Cite

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“…Building on the five-point action plan proposed by Breed et al (2020), we provide an overview of needs and opportunities for further elucidating land use-induced spillover and establishing ecological countermeasures as a component of ecological restoration:…”

Section: Action Planmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Considerable work remains, however, before human health is fully regarded as an ecological service (Patz et al 2004;Reaser et al 2020a). Breed et al (2020) identify the lack of quantitative linkages between environmental and human health as a principal knowledge gap that limits understanding of ecological restoration as a public health service. They propose a five-point action plan (outlined later) to elucidate ecological-human health links and firmly establish the ecological restoration-human health nexus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Countermeasures for Pandemic Prevention: When Ecological Restoration is a Human Health Imperative

Reaser¹,

Witt²,

Tabor³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Ecological restoration should be regarded as a public health service. Unfortunately, the lack of quantitative linkages between environmental and human health has limited recognition of these principle. Advent of COVID-19 pandemic provides the impetus for the further discussion. We propose ecological countermeasures as highly targeted, landscape-based interventions to arrest the drivers of land use-induced zoonotic spillover. We provide examples of ecological restoration activities that reduce zoonotic disease risk and a five-point action plan at the human-ecosystem health nexus. In conclusion, we make the case that ecological countermeasures are a tenent of restoration ecology with human health goals.

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“…In the face of ongoing clearing of native vegetation, it is evident that conservation alone is not an adequate strategy to impede biodiversity loss (Simmonds et al ., 2019; Breed et al ., 2020). Thus, ecological restoration is a critical element of biodiversity conservation strategies, and the application of ecological theory can inform restoration of biological diversity and function to degraded sites (Zirbel & Brudvig, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Best served deep: The seedbank from salvaged topsoil underscores the role of the dispersal filter in restoration practice

Waryszak

Standish

Ladd

et al. 2020

Applied Vegetation Science

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Questions: Globally, ecological restoration is required to restore degraded landscapes and to contribute to biodiversity conservation. Ecological theory suggests that manipulating dispersal, abiotic and biotic filters limiting plant re-establishment will improve restoration outcomes. Here, we manipulated spread depth of soil containing a salvaged soil seedbank (dispersal filter), soil compaction (abiotic filter) and herbivore grazing (biotic filter) in a topsoil transfer experiment to test their effects on restoration success. Location: Banksia woodland of the Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia. Methods: Topsoil (upper ~7 cm) with its seedbank was removed from a donor site (20 ha) of recently cleared native vegetation and transferred to six recipient restoration sites (16 ha). Deep (10 cm thick) and shallow (5 cm thick) layers of topsoil were applied in a fully factorial experiment, with and without soil ripping and fencing, respectively. We analysed emergence, survival and functional types (alien/native, life form, fire response) of all vascular plant species for two consecutive years after topsoil transfer. Results: The most successful restoration treatment was deep topsoil with a mean density of 14.3 m −2 native perennial germinants in year one and 7.3 m −2 in year two. Application of deep topsoil increased native seedling emergence by 34% and decreased weed density by 21% compared with shallow topsoil. Overall seedling survival across the two-year period was unaffected by filter treatments (range 0.6%-5%). After two years, the resulting plant community was 6%-38% weed species and of native perennial species, 12%-48% were capable of resprouting. Conclusions: Manipulation of the dispersal filter alone, that is deep topsoil application, can lead to near-equivalent native species number emerging on restoration sites as compared to pre-cleared woodland. However, more research is required to test additional restoration tools to improve survival of biodiverse plant communities. For example, targeted herbicide application coupled with soil ripping to improve weed management and native seedling establishment.

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Ecosystem Restoration: A Public Health Intervention

Cited by 27 publications

References 12 publications

Four Islands EcoHealth Network: an Australasian initiative building synergies between the restoration of ecosystems and human health

Four Islands EcoHealth Network: an Australasian initiative building synergies between the restoration of ecosystems and human health

Ecological Countermeasures for Pandemic Prevention: When Ecological Restoration is a Human Health Imperative

Best served deep: The seedbank from salvaged topsoil underscores the role of the dispersal filter in restoration practice

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