Toward prediction in the restoration of biodiversity

Brudvig, Lars A.

doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12940

Cited by 63 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(83 reference statements)

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“…Predicting if restored plant communities will become self‐sustaining over time is a challenge, particularly in forests and woodlands, because even the oldest reforestation projects are immature relative to mature vegetation (Ngugi et al ; Brudvig ). In addition, while definitions of success in restoration vary (Ruiz‐Jaen & Mitchell Aide ), young projects often fail to meet vegetation growth and structural targets (Suding et al ; Suding ; Wilson et al ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Predicting if restored plant communities will become self-sustaining over time is a challenge, particularly in forests and woodlands, because even the oldest reforestation projects are immature relative to mature vegetation (Ngugi et al 2011;Brudvig 2017). In addition, while definitions of success in restoration vary (Ruiz-Jaen & Mitchell Aide 2005), young projects often fail to meet vegetation growth and structural Author contributions: TLS, JMD, MMM devised the project and developed research questions; JRE provided details on the survey data; TLS, JRE processed the survey data; TLS collated online functional trait data, analyzed data, and created all figures; all authors contributed to the writing and editing of the manuscript.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparing the recovery of richness, structure, and biomass in naturally regrowing and planted reforestation

Staples

Mayfield

England

et al. 2019

Restoration Ecology

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The clearing of natural vegetation for agriculture has reduced the capacity of natural systems to provide ecosystem functions. Ecological restoration can restore desirable ecosystem functions, such as creating habitat for animal conservation and carbon sequestration as woody biomass. In order to maintain these beneficial ecosystem functions, restoration projects need to mature into self‐perpetuating communities. Here we compared the ecological attributes of two types of restoration, “active” tree plantings with “passive” natural forest regeneration (“natural regrowth”) to existing remnant vegetation in a cleared agricultural landscape. Specifically, we measured differences between forest categories in factors that may predict future restoration failure or ecosystem collapse: aboveground plant biomass and biomass accrual over time (for regrowing stands), plant density and size class distributions, and diversity of functional groups based on seed dispersal and growth strategy traits. We found that natural regrowth and planted forests were similar in many ecological characteristics, including biomass accrual. Despite this, planted stands contained fewer tree recruit and shrub individuals, which may be due to limited recruitment in plantings. If this continues, these forests may be at risk of collapsing into nonforest states after mature trees senesce. Lower shrub density and richness of mid‐story trees may lead to lower structural complexity in planting plots, and alongside lower richness of fleshy‐fruited plant species may reduce animal resources and animal use of the restored stand. In our study region, natural regrowth may result in restored woodland communities with greater conservation and carbon mitigation value.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing the recovery of richness, structure, and biomass in naturally regrowing and planted reforestation

Staples

Mayfield

England

et al. 2019

Restoration Ecology

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“…The creation of new habitat through restoration is an important strategy to compensate for loss or degradation of natural and semi‐natural ecosystems (Young, ). Habitat restoration has been attempted in a wide range of systems and locations, but restoration success is variable (Suding, ), and a predictive understanding of why restoration success varies is needed (Brudvig, ). Such variation is influenced by the environmental suitability of restored sites and other filters on initial community assembly, and subsequent successional development, yet the relative importance and interaction of these has rarely been studied (Brudvig et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such variation is influenced by the environmental suitability of restored sites and other filters on initial community assembly, and subsequent successional development, yet the relative importance and interaction of these has rarely been studied (Brudvig et al., ). Niche models have been widely used to aid conservation management, for example by predicting species distributions under climate change (Araújo, Cabeza, Thuiller, Hannah, & Williams, ), but their potential to predict restoration outcomes, and the mechanisms leading to these, has yet to be realized (Brudvig, ; Brudvig et al., ). Here, we apply niche models to test whether environmental suitability accounts for outcomes in restored saltmarsh, and to test for signatures of different successional mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is saltmarsh restoration success constrained by matching natural environments or altered succession? A test using niche models

Sullivan

Davy

Grant

et al. 2017

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Restored habitats, such as saltmarsh created through managed realignment, sometimes fail to meet targets for biological equivalence with natural reference sites. Understanding why this happens is important in order to improve restoration outcomes.Elevation in the tidal frame and sediment redox potential are major controls on the distribution of saltmarsh plants. We use niche models to characterize 10 species’ responses to these, and test whether differences in species occurrence between restored and natural saltmarshes in the UK result from failure to recreate adequate environmental conditions.Six species occurred less frequently in recently restored marshes than natural marshes. Failure of restored marshes to achieve the elevation and redox conditions of natural marshes partially explained the underrepresentation of five of these species, but did not explain patterns of occurrence on older (>50 years) restored marshes.For all species, an effect of marsh age remained after controlling for differences in environmental conditions. This could be due to differences in successional mechanism between restored and natural marshes. In recently restored marshes, high‐marsh species occurred lower in the tidal frame and low‐marsh species occurred higher in the tidal frame than in natural marshes. This supports the hypothesis that competition is initially weaker in restored marshes, because of the availability of bare sediment across the whole tidal frame. Species that establish outside their normal realized niche, such as Atriplex portulacoides, may inhibit subsequent colonization of other species that occurred less frequently than expected on older restored marshes. Synthesis and applications. Niche models can be used to test whether abiotic differences between restored sites and their natural counterparts are responsible for discrepancies in species occurrence. In saltmarshes, simply replicating environmental conditions will not result in equivalent species occurrence.

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“…In restoration ecology, the quality of the prediction of a trajectory will depend on both the number and the relevance of the measures on which this trajectory is based (Laughlin et al, ). At the community level, these measures can be both quantitative (e.g., species richness and eveness) and qualitative (e.g., specific composition) and inform about different ecosystem properties (Brudvig, ). Therefore, for the sake of precision, several community‐related metrics were used during this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of management on vegetation trajectories during the early‐stage restoration of previously arable land after hay transfer

Garrouj

Alard

Corcket

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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The restoration of floodplain grasslands has benefited from many studies of the underlying mechanisms. Among the operational tools that resulted, hay transfer is now used increasingly to alleviate the effects of limited seed dispersal and recruitment. To improve this method, we still need to understand how it can affect restoration trajectories, and particularly their direction and magnitude during the early stages of restoration. Based on concepts from the field of community ecology theory, we investigated the effects of early‐stage management through grazing or mowing on restoration trajectories after soil harrowing and hay transfer. We established a randomized block design experiment and quantified several community‐related metrics to formalize restoration trajectories for 3 years after hay transfer on a previously arable alluvial island in southwestern France. Whatever the management treatment, the species richness and evenness were significantly higher in hay‐inoculated than in control plots. This effect was linked to the recruitment of species originating not only from the reference grassland through hay transfer, but also from the seed bank, a well‐known effect of soil harrowing. Although generally oriented toward the reference grassland, the origin, direction, and magnitude of the trajectory of hay‐inoculated plots all depended on the management applied. Sheep grazing applied at the same time as hay transfer enhanced the recruitment of reference species as from the first experimental year, because it controlled aboveground competition and maintained the window of opportunity open for a sufficiently longer period of time. Our findings show that the type of management applied simultaneously to hay transfer influences the origin of a grassland trajectory, while its direction and magnitude are dependent on the management applied in subsequent years. Grazing immediately after hay transfer may be appropriate to accelerate the recruitment of species from the reference grassland.

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Toward prediction in the restoration of biodiversity

Cited by 63 publications

References 47 publications

Comparing the recovery of richness, structure, and biomass in naturally regrowing and planted reforestation

Comparing the recovery of richness, structure, and biomass in naturally regrowing and planted reforestation

Is saltmarsh restoration success constrained by matching natural environments or altered succession? A test using niche models

The effects of management on vegetation trajectories during the early‐stage restoration of previously arable land after hay transfer

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