Find research datasets worth reusing

FIGURES 9–16 in Restoration of the genus Hampsonascia Volynkin (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini) with descriptions of five new species

FIGURES 9–16. Hampsonascia (9–14) and Sesapa (15–16) spp.: adults. Depositories of the specimens: 9–11, 14 and 16 in MWM/ZSM (11 ex CAV); 12 and 13 in CAV; 15 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK).

FIGURES 1–8 in Restoration of the genus Hampsonascia Volynkin (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini) with descriptions of five new species

FIGURES 1–8. Hampsonascia spp.: adults. Depositories of the specimens: 1, 2 and 4 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 3, 5 and 8 in MWM/ZSM (8 ex CAV); 6 and 7 in CKC.

FIGURES 35–38 in Restoration of the genus Hampsonascia Volynkin (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini) with descriptions of five new species

FIGURES 35–38. Hampsonascia spp.: female genitalia. Depositories of the specimens dissected: 35 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 36 in CKC; 37 in MWM/ZSM; 38 in CAV.

FIGURES 23–26 in Restoration of the genus Hampsonascia Volynkin (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini) with descriptions of five new species

FIGURES 23–26. Hampsonascia spp.: male genitalia. Depositories of the specimens dissected: 23 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 24 and 25 in MWM/ZSM; 26 in CKC.

FIGURES 1–8 in Restoration of Ghoria sericeipennis Moore (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae: Lithosiini)

FIGURES 1–8. Ghoria spp.; adults. Depositories of the specimens: 1 and 4 in NHMUK (©The Trustees of NHMUK); 2, 3, 5–8 in MWM/ZSM.

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Data from: A burning issue: Savanna fire management can generate enough carbon revenue to help restore Africa's rangelands and fill protected area funding gaps

Many savanna-dependent species in Africa including large herbivores and apex predators are at increasing risk of extinction. Achieving effective management of protected areas (PAs) in Africa where lions live will cost an estimated USD >$1-2 B/year in new funding. We explored the potential for fire management-based carbon-financing programs to fill this funding gap and benefit degrading savanna ecosystems. We demonstrated how introducing early dry season fire management programs could produce potential carbon revenues (PCR) from either a single carbon-financing method (avoided emissions) or from multiple sequestration methods ranging from USD $59.6-$655.9 M/year (at USD $5/ton) or USD $155.0 M–$1.7 B/year (at USD $13/ton). We highlighted variable but significant PCR for savanna PAs from USD $1.5–$44.4 M/year per PA. We suggest investing in fire management programs to jump-start the United Nations Decade of Ecological Restoration to help restore degraded African savannas and conserve imperiled keystone herbivores and apex predators.

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →

Flowering time advances since the 1970s in a sagebrush steppe community: implications for management and restoration

Climate change is widely known to affect plant phenology, but little is known about how these impacts manifest in the widespread sagebrush ecosystem of the Western US which supports a number of wildlife species of concern. Shifts in plant phenology can trigger consequences for the plants themselves as well as the communities of consumers that depend upon them. We assembled historical observations of first flowering dates for 51 species collected in the 1970 and 80s in a montane sagebrush community in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and compared these to contemporary phenological observations targeting the same species and locations (2016-2019). We also assembled regional climate data (average spring temperature, day of spring snowmelt, and growing degree days) and tested the relationship between first flowering time and these variables for each species. We observed the largest change in phenology in early spring flowers, which as a group bloomed on average 17 days earlier, and as much as 36 days earlier, in the contemporary data set. Mid-summer flowers bloomed on average 10 days earlier, nonnative species 15 days earlier, and berry-producing shrubs 5 days earlier, while late summer flowering plants did not shift. The greatest correlates of early spring and mid-summer flowering were average spring temperature and day of snowmelt, which was 21 days earlier, on average, in 2016-2019 relative to the 1973-1978. The shifts in flowering phenology that we observed could indicate developing asynchronies or novel synchronies of these plant resources and wildlife species of conservation concern including: Greater sage-grouse, whose nesting success is tied to availability of spring forbs; grizzly bears -- which rely heavily on berries for their fall diet; and pollinators. This underscores the importance of maintaining a diverse portfolio of native plants in terms of species composition, genetics, phenological responsiveness to climatic cues, and ecological importance to key wildlife and pollinator species. Redundancy within ecological niches may also be important considering that species roles in the community may shift as climate change affects them differently. These considerations are particularly relevant to restoration and habitat-enhancement projects in sagebrush communities across western North America.

Genome-wide analysis of natural and restored eastern oyster populations reveals local adaptation and positive impacts of planting frequency and broodstock number

The release of captive-bred plants and animals has increased worldwide to augment declining species. However, insufficient attention has been given to understanding how neutral and adaptive genetic variation are partitioned within and among proximal natural populations, and the patterns and drivers of gene flow over small spatial scales, which can be important for restoration success. A seascape genomics approach was used to investigate population structure, local adaptation, and the extent to which environmental gradients influence genetic variation among natural and restored populations of Chesapeake Bay eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica. We also investigated the impact of hatchery practices on neutral genetic diversity of restored reefs and quantified the broader genetic impacts of large-scale hatchery-based bivalve restoration. Restored reefs showed similar levels of diversity as natural reefs, and striking relationships were found between planting frequency and broodstock numbers and genetic diversity metrics (effective population size and relatedness), suggesting that hatchery practices can have a major impact on diversity. Despite long-term restoration activities, haphazard historical translocations, and high dispersal potential of larvae that could homogenize allele frequencies among populations, moderate neutral population genetic structure was uncovered. Moreover, environmental factors, namely salinity, pH, and temperature, play a major role in the distribution of neutral and adaptive genetic variation. For marine invertebrates in heterogeneous seascapes, collecting broodstock from large populations experiencing similar environments to candidate sites may provide the most appropriate sources for restoration and ensure population resilience in the face of rapid environmental change. This is one of a few studies to demonstrate empirically that hatchery practices have a major impact on the retention of genetic diversity. Overall, these results contribute to the growing body of evidence for fine-scale genetic structure and local adaptation in broadcast-spawning marine species and provide novel information for the management of an important fisheries resource.

Influence of beaver mimicry restoration on habitat availability for fishes, including Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus)

Beaver-dam-mimicry is an emergent conservation practice. We evaluated the influence of constructed riffles, a unique type of beaver mimicry aimed to store water and allow fish passage, on habitat for fishes in one control reach and one manipulated reach with mimicry structures added. The beaver mimicry reach had deeper pool habitats and deeper and wider riffle habitats compared to an unmanipulated control reach. Dissolved oxygen was similar among reaches, averaging 8.7 ± 0.2 and 8.9 mg/L in the beaver mimicry and control reaches, respectively. Sediment size was also similar among reaches, with a D50 of 8.1 and 10.6 mm in the beaver mimicry and control reaches, respectively. The beaver mimicry reach had little to no overhanging bank vegetation or riparian vegetation shade cover, while the control had 38% of its bank covered by canopy and 56% overhung by vegetation. These riparian characteristics result from a legacy of livestock grazing and lack of consistent vegetation planting during restoration. Longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) and white sucker (Catostomus commersonii) dominated in the beaver mimicry reach, together comprising 70% of the fish assemblage post-structure installation. Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) were not found in the beaver mimicry reach but were present in the control, albeit in small numbers of only 3% of the assemblage post-structure installation. These results highlight the need to consider both in-stream and riparian habitat features for fishes, as well as timescales of both hydrological and ecological outcomes in restoration design.

Data from: Spatial variation in the biotic and abiotic filters of oyster recruitment: Implications for restoration

Attempts to restore marine ecosystems are increasing, but the success of projects remains variable. For marine invertebrates, the establishment of self-sustaining populations requires a larval supply as well as conditions that permit recruitment. Abiotic and biotic conditions that determine recruitment can vary across environmental gradients and have opposing or reinforcing effects. We assessed how predation and tidal inundation influence recruitment of the reef-forming oyster, Saccostrea glomerata, at 15 sites, 5 estuaries and 8 degrees of latitude in eastern Australia. Oysters recruited to all 15 sites, but their density displayed spatially variable effects of tidal inundation and caging. Effects of tidal inundation and caging were weakest at the two lower-latitude estuaries where recruitment was low overall, average temperature and turbidity were high and dissolved oxygen low. At higher-latitude estuaries, where abiotic conditions were more favourable for recruitment, recruit density displayed tidal elevation gradients that were dependent on caging and time. Initially, recruit density decreased with tidal inundation (and exposure to finfish predators), in the uncaged but not the caged treatment. However, over time the elevation gradient disappeared, and recruitment and survival of oysters was greater in caged than uncaged treatments irrespective of elevation. Synthesis and applications: Our results suggest that both abiotic (i.e. temperature, turbidity and dissolved oxygen) and biotic (i.e. predation) factors can negatively influence oyster recruitment and, hence, restoration success. Consequently, oyster reef restoration projects should be planned to prioritise sites with low turbidity, high dissolved oxygen and low predation unless these stressors can be mitigated. Restoration projects that are designed with knowledge of local stressors are more likely to be successful.

opencc-by-4.0Jan 2022View details →

Inducing seed dispersal by ants of valuable plant species for restoration

Database that supports the manuscript (not yet published) entitled: "Inducing seed dispersal by ants of valuable plant species for restoration".

Tropical forest restoration in the Eastern Himalaya: Evaluating early survival and growth of native tree species

Asian tropical forests have among the highest rates of forest loss in the world. Ecological restoration is a vital step for biodiversity maintenance and climate change mitigation. For restoration practice, evaluation of species performance at early stages is crucial to avoid failure of the efforts and for screening species suitable to a region. Though the long-term performance of restoration plantings has been well-documented, few studies have evaluated the performance during the establishment of the planted saplings, especially in South and Southeast Asia. Restoration efforts in Northeast India, a region experiencing high forest loss, is limited by the lack of species-specific data on survival and growth. We compared inter-specific variation in seasonal survival and growth rates (diameter and height) for multiple native rainforest species from this region. We planted 3022 saplings of 50 species at a degraded open forest site. After 18 months, sapling survival varied between 9.1–94.3% for 32 species, and only six species showed "excellent" survival after 18 months. Eight out of 17 species that were tested for seasonal variation in survival showed significant differences in survival between seasons. While the diameter growth rate varied for species between seasons, the height growth rate was different between both species and season, but the interaction term between species and season was not significant. Certain animal-dispersed, medium to large-seeded primary forest species performed well and are vital for future restoration efforts in this region.

Manipulating plant microbiomes in the field: native mycorrhizae advance plant succession and improve native plant restoration

The plant microbiome is critical to plant health and is degraded with anthropogenic disturbance. However, the value of re-establishing the native microbiome is rarely considered in ecological restoration. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are particularly important microbiome components, as they associate with most plants, and later successional grassland plants are strongly responsive to native AM fungi. With five separate sites across the United States, we inoculated mid- and late successional plant seedlings with one of three types of native microbiome amendments: 1) whole rhizosphere soil collected from local old-growth, undisturbed grassland communities in Illinois, Kansas, or Oklahoma, 2) laboratory cultured AM fungi from these same old-growth grassland sites or 3) no microbiome amendment. We also seeded each restoration with a diverse native seed mixture. Plant establishment and growth was followed for three growing seasons. The reintroduction of soil microbiome from native ecosystems improved restoration establishment. • Including only native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities produced similar improvements in plant establishment as what was found with whole soil microbiome amendment. These findings were robust across plant functional groups. Inoculated plants (amended with either AM fungi or whole soil) also grew more leaves and were generally taller during the three growing seasons. Our research shows that mycorrhizal fungi can accelerate plant succession and that the reintroduction of both whole soil and laboratory cultivated native mycorrhizal fungi can be used as tools to improve native plant restoration following anthropogenic disturbance.

Evaluating the success of upland hay meadow restoration in the North Pennines, UK, using green hay transfer

1. Traditionally managed mesotrophic species-rich upland hay meadows conforming to the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) MG3b, are one of the rarest grassland types in the UK, with substantial declines in botanical diversity over the last 50 years. Intensive spring grazing, earlier cut dates and increases in soil fertility causes a decline in characteristic positive indicator species in MG3b meadows, shifting communities from species-rich MG3b, to NVC MG6 meadows, and finally to species-poor NVC MG7 meadows. 2. The North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership's Hay Time project aimed to improve the knowledge of upland hay meadows, and to investigate the success of seed addition of key positive indicator species. A landscape-scale restoration programme was undertaken between 2006 and 2012, harvesting seed from 82 species-rich donor meadows and spreading seed onto 89 receptor meadows (2282ha). Seed was harvested as green hay, using two types of donors: an MG6 donor (classed as restoration, with species such as Rhinanthus minor), or using an MG3b donor (classed as enhancement, with species such as Geranium sylvaticum). All 89 meadows were monitored, with a baseline botanical survey, and a repeat survey three to five years after seed addition. In addition, 41 meadows that did not have seed addition were monitored (controls). 3. Species-richness, diversity and floristic composition improved in 77 meadows three to five years after seed addition. Eighteen plant species had an increase in frequency in the receptor meadows but did not increase in frequency in the control meadows. The most successful were eight positive indicators which were annuals or fast-growing perennial plants (Anthoxanthum odoratum, Euphrasia spp., Myosotis discolor, Plantago lanceolata, Ranunculus acris, R. minor, Trifolium dubium and Trifolium pratense). However, rarer characteristic MG3b plants such as Alchemilla spp., G. sylvaticum, and Cirsium heterophyllum showed little signs of establishing. 4. Botanical evidence is demonstrating that seed addition using green hay is a successful way of restoring meadows to an MG6 community. What is now needed is an effective method to establish characteristic MG3b plants. Hand-collecting seeds and establishing plug plants, alongside seed addition and maintaining traditional management practises is one possible way forward.

Ecosystem restoration and belowground multifunctionality: a network view

Ecological restoration is essential to reverse land degradation worldwide. Most studies have assessed the restoration of ecosystem functions individually, as opposed to a holistic view. Here we developed a network-based ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) framework to identify key functions in evaluating EMF restoration. Through synthesizing 293 restoration studies (2900 observations) following cropland abandonment, we found that individual soil functions played different roles in determining the restoration of belowground EMF. Soil carbon, total nitrogen and phosphatase were key functions to predict the recovery of belowground EMF. On average, abandoned cropland recovered about 19% of EMF during 18 years. The restoration of EMF became larger with longer recovery time and higher humidity index, but lower with increasing soil depth and initial soil carbon. Overall, this study presents a network-based EMF framework, effectively helping to evaluate the success of ecosystem restoration and identify the key functions.

Restoration priorities for Caatinga dry forests: landscape resilience, connectivity and biodiversity value

1. Restoration actions can halt biodiversity loss and rescue its services. However, in order to be effective, priority areas for restoration should be chosen based on objective large-scale restoration planning. Here, a multi-criteria graph theory (GT) framework is proposed to indicate priority areas for active restoration, based on landscape resilience, landscape connectivity, and biodiversity conservation value, focusing on threatened endemic plant species. 2. We applied this GT framework to 10,406 catchment basins of the Brazilian Caatinga, the largest seasonally dry tropical forest of the New World. Vegetation cover and within-catchment connectivity were used to identify catchments of intermediate landscape resilience, which in principle offer more effective opportunities for restoration. Then, such catchments were independently classified into (i) three classes according their value for between-catchment connectivity and (ii) three classes of biodiversity conservation value, based on richness of threatened, endemic plant species. By the integration of landscape resilience, landscape connectivity and biodiversity conservation values, three priority classes for restoration were generated. 3. The multi-criteria framework generated several restoration priority cut-offs. Prioritization based on landscape resilience selected 36% of the Caatinga catchments as high priority for restoration. By independently adding landscape connectivity and biodiversity conservation value, only 12% and 3% of the catchments, respectively, were considered high priority. By combining all three criteria, 9% of the catchments were selected as high priority and less than 1% as top priority for restoration. 4. Synthesis and applications: The multicriteria GT framework for restoration prioritization, which maximizes the effectiveness of restoration actions, landscape connectivity for climate change adaptation and conservation of threatened species, can be applied worldwide under different budged limitations and spatial scales, being useful for private, state, and federal initiatives.

opencc-by-4.0Sep 2021View details →

Toward General Speech Restoration With VoiceFixer - Training Data

This data set contains speech data and noise data for the paper: VoiceFixer: Toward General Speech Restoration with Neural Vocoder. If you found this dataset helpful, please consider citing:  <blockquote> <pre>@article{liu2021voicefixer, title={VoiceFixer: Toward General Speech Restoration with Neural Vocoder}, author={Liu, Haohe and Kong, Qiuqiang and Tian, Qiao and Zhao, Yan and Wang, DeLiang and Huang, Chuanzeng and Wang, Yuxuan}, journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.13731}, year={2021} }</pre> </blockquote>

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →

Restoration and fuel hazard reduction result in equivalent reductions in Crown fire behavior in dry conifer forests

Over the past several decades, the management of historically frequent-fire forests in the western U.S. has received significant attention due to the linked ecological and social risks posed by the increased occurrence of large, contiguous patches of high-severity fire. As a result, efforts are underway to simultaneously reduce potential fire and fuel hazards and restore characteristics indicative of historical forest structures and ecological processes that enhance the diversity and quality of wildlife habitat across landscapes. Despite widespread agreement on the need for action, there is a perceived tension among scientists concerning silvicultural treatments that modify stands to optimally reduce potential fire behavior (fuel hazard reduction) versus those that aim to emulate historical forest structures and create structurally complex stands (restoration). In this work, we evaluated thinning treatments in the Black Hills National Forest that exemplify the extremes of a treatment continuum that ranges from fuel hazard reduction to restoration. The goal of this work was to understand how the differing 3-dimensional stand structures created by these treatment approaches altered potential fire behavior. Our results indicate that restoration treatments created higher levels of vertical and horizontal structural complexity than the fuel hazard reduction treatments but resulted in similar reductions to potential crown fire behavior. There were some tradeoffs identified as the restoration treatments created larger openings which generated faster mean rates of fire spread; however, these increased spread rates did not translate to higher levels of canopy consumption. Overall, our results suggest that treatments can create vertical and horizontal complexity desired for restoration and wildlife habitat management while reducing fire hazard and that they can be used in concert with traditional fuel hazard reduction treatments to reduce landscape scale fire risk. We also provide some suggestions to land managers seeking to design and implement prescriptions that emulate historical structures and enhance forest complexity.

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →

Microbial community from species rich meadow supports plant specialists during meadow restoration

Soil properties and soil microbial communities can greatly affect plant communities, especially in disturbed ecosystems. However, their relative contribution to the final effect on plants has rarely been assessed. We manipulated the soil microbial community in microcosms by inoculating sterilized soils originating from preserved species-rich meadow and a restored meadow with a high and low diversity of microbial inoculum (manipulated by dilution of microbial community extract) from those soils in full factorial manner, yielding eight treatments (2 soil origins × 2 inoculum sources × 2 levels of inoculum diversity). In general, the biomass of plant meadow specialists (Filipendula vulgaris, Phleum phleoides, and Prunella grandiflora) was greater with the preserved meadow inoculum than with the restored meadow inoculum but tended to be greater in the restored meadow soil than in the preserved meadow soil. Two meadow generalists (Festuca rubra, and Centaurea jacea) were not significantly affected by soil origin, inoculum source, or inoculum diversity, but third generalist Plantago media produced greater biomass in the preserved meadow soil than in the restored meadow soil. Total aboveground biomass was not affected by the treatments, but total belowground biomass was greater with microbial inoculum from the preserved meadow than from the restored meadow, and this increase was greater in the restored meadow soil than in the preserved meadow soil. Our results indicate strong responses of the preserved meadow specialists to the soil microbial community, which may explain why they are rare in the meadows that were restored following agricultural use.