Towards an integrated ecological restoration approach for abandoned agricultural fields in renosterveld, South Africa

Ruwanza, Sheunesu

doi:10.17159/sajs.2017/a0228

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The low success rate of the Remove‐grass‐sow‐plant treatment could possibly be due to the high remaining grass component within the surrounding habitat of treatment plots, that were still distributing seed into the plot area. Alien grass species grow faster than native plants (Acosta et al 2006; Ruwanza 2017) and can produce high quantities of seed. There is a possibility that some of the existing native seeds could have been removed with the invasive grass layers or that the results here are linked to the features of the tested site itself, which had a very distinct history of alien grass species being present.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using fire, planting, and topsoil translocation for restoration in South African Fynbos: assessing the success and cost‐effectiveness of various restoration treatments

Retief,

Nsikani,

Geerts

2024

Restoration Ecology

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The successful restoration of endangered habitat types at a low cost is of vital importance. We tested how successful and cost‐effective six combinations of restoration treatments were in the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa. Treatments were applied to an area that was primarily covered invasive alien grasses. Treatments that tested combinations of burning, direct sowing of seed, and planting of seedlings, aimed to test the synergistic effect of three treatment factors. Topsoil translocation aimed to determine if this, combined with planting, can restore native shrub cover and whether the addition of mulch and seed can improve overall success. The mechanical removal of invasive grasses, sowing and planting, were tested in the absence of fire. Both topsoil translocation treatments and the treatment that had been burned, sown and planted (“Burn‐sow‐plant”) led to plant species richness resembling near‐pristine plots and approximately 30% higher than the burn‐only treatment (“Burn”). Native shrub cover was the highest for treatments which included planting. Survival for planted species was 36–41% higher for Burn‐sow‐plant. The contribution of sowing was low, with 9–16% of species sowed being present across treatments. We show that topsoil translocation can be successful if combined with planting. Burn‐sow‐plant was most successful at a reasonable cost, despite planting being expensive, whereas Burn and Burn‐sow were less successful, but cheaper. The treatment in which grass was removed before sowing and planting was the least successful and most expensive. We conclude that the most successful treatments are not necessarily the most expensive.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using fire, planting, and topsoil translocation for restoration in South African Fynbos: assessing the success and cost‐effectiveness of various restoration treatments

Retief,

Nsikani,

Geerts

2024

Restoration Ecology

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“…Gentili et al (2015) made a similar recommendation for degraded grasslands in Italy. In a review of South African renosterveld old-field restoration studies, Ruwanza (2017) found that factors inhibiting ecological restoration interact to lock the system in a degraded state; they recommend an integrated approach using multiple methods to improve restoration outcomes.…”

Section: Box 2 Passive Versus Active Restoration Approachessummary Of Global Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological restoration of ecosystems degraded by invasive alien plants in South African Fynbos: Is spontaneous succession a viable strategy?

Holmes

Esler

Wilgen

et al. 2020

Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa

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Ecological restoration is a global imperative to reverse widespread habitat loss and degradation, including by invasive alien plants. In South Africa's Core Cape Subregion, alien tree invasions are widespread and their control continues to be a major undertaking. As funding is limited, active restoration interventions are rarely implemented and the focus is on invader removalthe assumption being that ecosystems will self-repair. This paper reviews research findings from the past three decades to assess in which situations spontaneous succession is a viable strategy for restoring alien-invaded ecosystems. We found that ecosystems can self-repair, provided that key biotic and/or abiotic thresholds have not yet been crossed. Self-repair has been observed in many cases where dense invader stands with short residence times have been cleared and where diverse native plant growth forms survive, either in the aboveground vegetation or in soil seed banks. However, several factors influence this generalisation, including the identity of the invader, the ecosystem type, and the efficacy of alien control. Thresholds are crossed sooner with invasions of alien Acacia and Eucalyptus species than those of Hakea and Pinus species, resulting in lower potential for spontaneous recovery. Lowland fynbos ecosystems are less resilient to invasion, and have a lower capacity for self-repair, than mountain fynbos ecosystems. Poorly implemented alien plant control measures can result in a resurgence of the invader to the detriment of native species recovery. We outline some management principles for optimising spontaneous succession potential and integrating alien control and restoration interventions.

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“…Although some renosterveld remnants, namely the shrubs D. rhinocerotis and Helichrysum spp. and the geophyte Oxalis purpurea are recruiting [37,42], most of these are scattered along old field furrows as compared to ridges [31]. The above-mentioned open grassy old fields (>75% grass cover) differ from the adjacent natural vegetation not only in the degree of woody cover (>75% woody cover) but also in the abundance of the herbaceous and geophyte species [37].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Topsoil Transfer from Natural Renosterveld to Degraded Old Fields Facilitates Native Vegetation Recovery

Ruwanza

2020

Sustainability

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The transfer of soils from intact vegetation communities to degraded ecosystems is seen as a promising restoration tool aimed at facilitating vegetation recovery. This study examined how topsoil transfer from intact renosterveld to degraded old fields improves vegetation diversity, cover, and composition. Transferred topsoil were overlaid on 30 quadrats, each measuring 1 m2, in May 2009. Eight years following the initial soil transfer, vegetation diversity in the soil transfer site showed an increase towards the natural site compared to the old field site where no soil transfer was administered. Both species richness and cover for trees and shrubs in the soil transfer site increased towards the natural site, though this was not the case for herbs and grasses. One-way analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) showed significant (R = 0.55) separation in community composition between sites. The study concludes that soil transfer from intact renosterveld to degraded old fields is a promising restoration technique because it increases species diversity and cover and facilitates vegetation recovery. A significant restoration implication of this study is that soil transfer introduces key renosterveld native tree and shrub species that can facilitate successful restoration and act as restoration foci or nurse plants.

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Towards an integrated ecological restoration approach for abandoned agricultural fields in renosterveld, South Africa

Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

Using fire, planting, and topsoil translocation for restoration in South African Fynbos: assessing the success and cost‐effectiveness of various restoration treatments

Using fire, planting, and topsoil translocation for restoration in South African Fynbos: assessing the success and cost‐effectiveness of various restoration treatments

Ecological restoration of ecosystems degraded by invasive alien plants in South African Fynbos: Is spontaneous succession a viable strategy?

Topsoil Transfer from Natural Renosterveld to Degraded Old Fields Facilitates Native Vegetation Recovery

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