The Need for Strategic Planning in Passive Restoration of Wildlife Populations

Abstract

There are two reasons for strategic planning in passive wildlife restoration: first, to maximize the potential for colonization of restoration sites in challenged landscapes, and second, to maximize the contribution of each restoration project to regional, management area, ecosystem, or target species goals. Landscape configuration and the demographic/dispersal characteristics of target species can govern the level of wildlife response to habitat restoration projects. This is particularly true for fragmented habitats in rapidly suburbanizing areas, where the widely held notion that wildlife can colonize any restored habitat is challenged by barriers to dispersal. Because habitat restoration is a passive means of restoring wildlife populations, equal weight needs to be given to the context (likelihood of site colonization by target species) as well as the content (habitat) of restoration projects. Defining spatial patterns of demography, dispersion, and dispersal allows restorationists to place projects where they can have the greatest impact on the threats and sensitivities of target species, and the greatest contribution to the persistence and/or recovery of populations. Further, it provides a means of evaluating the relative potential worth of different restoration sites. If passive wildlife restoration is to be successful, the constraints to colonization need to be interpreted with regional goals of ecosystem and species management in mind.

Change of fish fauna in ponds after eradication of invasive piscivorous largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, in north‐eastern Japan

“…When the restoration of biota depends on recolonization by native species, consideration must be given to the environmental conditions of the restored site and the mobility of each species and/or distance from colonist pools (Palmer et al, 1997;Scott et al, 2001). Furthermore, Figure 6.…”

Neotropical rainforest restoration: comparing passive, plantation and nucleation approaches

“…Most practitioners consider planting high density of trees in total area a tried-and-true method, but plantations can also be expensive and ecologically insufficient in many environmental contexts (Murcia 1997;Souza and Batista 2004;Sampaio et al 2007;Rey Benayas et al 2008) since they still relies on natural processes, for example, the recovery of pollinators (Dixon 2009), seed dispersers, consumers and mycorrhizae (Ruiz-Jaen and Aide 2005; Brudvig 2011; Morrison and Lindell 2012). More than creating vegetative cover, the success of habitat restoration depends on the arrival of these wildlife colonists (Wunderle 1997;Scott et al 2001;Bowen et al 2007;Pinotti et al 2012;Chazdon 2014;Peña-Domene et al 2014). …”

Conserving the endangered Mexican fishing bat (Myotis vivesi): genetic variation indicates extensive gene flow among islands in the Gulf of California

“…When insular populations go extinct, efforts often are made to restore habitat at those sites in the hope that dispersers from extant populations will recolonize empty patches (Scott et al 2001). Continuing dispersal thereafter may be needed to sustain vulnerable populations by boosting population size (Hanski 1999) and replacing genetic diversity lost to genetic drift (Frankham et al 2002).…”

“…Continuing dispersal thereafter may be needed to sustain vulnerable populations by boosting population size (Hanski 1999) and replacing genetic diversity lost to genetic drift (Frankham et al 2002). Thus, the effectiveness of restoration efforts depends largely on the dispersal behavior of the threatened species (Scott et al 2001). However, accurate information on dispersal is often lacking because of the difficulty of tracking animal movements (Macdonald and Johnson 2001).…”

“…The restoration programs assume that, in lieu of artificial translocation, the threatened species will recolonize restored islands by dispersal from other islands (or the mainland) and that continued dispersal will thereafter sustain vulnerable populations (Scott et al 2001). However, the extent of dispersal by fishing bats is unknown, and documenting these movements using direct methods would be problematical due to the volant, nocturnal activity of the species.…”