Restoring riparian forest in the Atlantic Forest: does planting seedlings make a difference?

Abstract

Planting seedlings remains the most popular method of forest restoration, but passive restoration may become a new promise to reduce costs, despite concerns about its efficacy. Here, we present a study of a riparian forest recovery program in the Southern Atlantic Forest, Brazil. The objective was to compare planting seedlings and passive restoration eight years since restoration started and assess the influence of cattle presence in the restoring areas. We analyzed the structure, diversity, and composition of the woody community in the upper (canopy) and lower strata (understory) versus six environmental variables, including edaphic, landscape and geographical variables, restoration method (planting seedlings versus passive restoration), presence of cattle inside the restoration areas, and presence of adjacent crop plantations. Passive restoration generated a more diverse woody community and a higher proportion of climax and zoochoric species in the lower stratum than active restoration. Cattle presence was significantly associated with lower species richness and density of plants, as well as a higher proportion of pioneer species and low proportion of zoochoric and climax species. The results suggest that cattle can delay forest succession, besides reducing diversity. Passive restoration should be considered suitable for the region, and the efficiency of cattle exclusion needs to be improved.

Identificación de áreas prioritarias para la restauración de bosques de montaña en la zona alta de la cuenca del río La Antigua, Veracruz

“…La recuperación de la vegetación en las áreas identificadas de mayor prioridad podría contribuir a reducir la erosión del suelo y deslave en el margen del cauce y zonas adyacentes, a la par de contribuir a la provisión y calidad del agua en la cuenca (Antonini et al, 2022;Naiman et al, 1998). La exclusión del ganado y la siembra de especies de árboles y arbustos nativos para acelerar el proceso de recuperación pueden ser estrategias adecuadas si las condiciones del sitio y el paisaje lo favorecen (Inhamuns et al, 2021;Trujillo-Miranda et al 2018). Por lo tanto, para determinar las técnicas que deben ser prescritas se requieren diagnósticos de las condiciones específicas del sitio.…”

Species of leaf litter are more important than urbanization effects for litter mass loss in semi-arid river

“…N, F, temperature, dissolved oxygen and electrical conductivity), and iii) water ow abrasion power (Rezende et al 2014a). Also, the vegetation surrounding water bodies plays a fundamental role in supplying organic matter to the aquatic system (Bambi et al 2017), which can undergo anthropogenic alterations due to changes in land use (Bambi et al, 2022;Inhamuns et al, 2021;Brandão et al, 2022).…”

“…terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems(Rezende et al 2019), especially in the less structured riparian vegetation of semi-arid regions(Rezende et al 2018), and emphasize the crucial role of riparian vegetation in ecosystem processes(Inhamuns et al 2021) Higher mass loss was observed in river sections downstream of urban areas compared to those upstream. This result may be related to the higher values of electrical conductivity and turbidity observed in water samples collected downstream of urban areas(Rezende et al 2014a).…”

Recruitment varies among milkweed seed sources for habitat specialist but not generalist

“…As the need for and scope of ecological restoration has increased, seed‐based restoration has become a principal method for restoring native plant communities (Broadhurst et al 2008; Merritt & Dixon 2011; Perring et al 2018). Depending on landscape connectivity and land use history, some sites are capable of passive restoration, while others require active restoration via introduction of plant material (Jones et al 2018; Inhamuns et al 2021). Establishment from seed can be considerably less expensive than using plugs (Török et al 2011), and easier to implement quickly at scale.…”