When is restoration not?

Quantifying ecosystem service trade-offs: The case of an urban floodplain in Vienna, Austria

“…The remaining riverine wetlands are also altered by straightening and dredging of river channels for navigation purposes (Hesselink, 2002) and confined (Jungwirth et al, 2002) by flood protection measures such as construction of levees and embankments (Henry et al, 2002;Hey and Philippi, 2006;Mauchamp et al, 2002). The reduced floodplain dynamics has turned many riverine wetlands into static, shallow and lake-like systems Hohensinner et al, 2008), with a reduced integrity of floodplain ecosystem functions (Hale and Adam, 2007;Simenstad et al, 2006;Weigelhofer et al, 2011). The degradation of floodplain ecosystem functions is particularly far progressed in urban settings.…”

An appraisal of adaptive management planning and implementation in ecological restoration: case studies from the San Francisco Bay Delta, USA

“…As restoration initiatives move toward large, landscape-scale projects, as in the Delta, adaptive management may provide a scientific framework that can support more complex projects and result in better ecological restoration, as also described by Simenstad et al (2006) and Cabin (2007). Innovative solutions to the challenges encountered by restoration practitioners will help transition adaptive management from a promising theoretical concept to a workable management strategy.…”

Expected Shifts in Nekton Community Following Salinity Reduction: Insights into Restoration and Management of Transitional Water Habitats

“…Shallow water areas are therefore characterised by strong gradients in environmental conditions such as salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, trophic status and sediment granulometry, these being driven not only by natural processes, but also by multiple anthropogenic pressures [49]. Overall, salinity levels range from polyhaline (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30) to euhaline (>30) conditions, although values can reach 5 in areas closer to freshwater inputs, depending on the intensity of river discharges [66]. This heterogeneity contributes to creating a complex mosaic of islands, saltmarshes, mud and sand-flats, seagrass meadows and man-made structures.…”

“…In recent years, a variety of schemes have been carried out in estuaries and coastal lagoons all over the world, aiming at re-establishing specific habitats previously degraded or lost [17,18] and enhancing the status of faunal communities [19][20][21][22]. Due to the central role of salinity in transitional water ecosystems, its management by means of hydrological and morphological improvement have been of particular interest for scientists and practitioners in these environments [16,23,24], and in many instances, the control of salinity has been proposed as a measure to achieve ecological restoration. For example, increasing and stabilising salinity levels in enclosed lagoon basins by enhancing connections with the sea would improve trophic status and conservation of vulnerable habitats such as saltmarshes and seagrass meadows [25], as well as fishery yields and faunal diversity [26].…”