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opennotspecifiedJan 2020View details →

FIGURE 3 in Restore the name Lilium tenii H.Lév. (Liliaceae), which has priority over the later synonym L. lijiangense L.J.Peng

FIGURE 3. Pictures from the field of Lilium lijiangense L.J.Peng. A, habit; B, flower; C, stem and leaves; D, enlarged leaves showed seven to nine veins and white hairs at the leaf base (highlight by white circles).

opennotspecifiedJan 2020View details →

FIGURE 1 in Restore the name Lilium tenii H.Lév. (Liliaceae), which has priority over the later synonym L. lijiangense L.J.Peng

FIGURE 1. One of the syntypes of Lilium tenii collected by Father Siméon Ten on 15 August 1907 (Ten P.S. 435, E00381814) from Dongchuan (Tong-Tchouan) of Yunnan Province, China.

opennotspecifiedJan 2020View details →

FIGURE 2 in Restore the name Lilium tenii H.Lév. (Liliaceae), which has priority over the later synonym L. lijiangense L.J.Peng

FIGURE 2. One of syntypes of Lilium primulinum var. ochraceum collected by Delavay on 1 September 1882 (Delavay J.M. 369, P00730975) from Yunnan, China.

Knowledge needed for large-scale landscape restoration projects: scientific and experiential. 13.2B Session, Society for Ecological Restoration Conference 2024, Room Hurt, 16:30 -18:00, Thursday, 29th August

Disclaimer: The DOI of this video does not apply to the content of the slides of the contributors' presentations during this session. The authors of each communication maintain their copyright on the content of the presentations' slides. The creators' roles were as follows: I. V. A., chair, session coordinator, and presenter; B. S., session coordinator; E. P. M., session coordinator, and presenter; H. J., presenter; F. S., presenter; W. E., presenter; G. M., presenter; and P. I., presenter. Session description This session aimed to explore the critical capacities and functions relevant to the large-scale ecosystem restoration (LER) economy and point out the complementarity of scientific and experiential knowledge and the key role of case studies in increasing this resilience. The restoration economy can be defined as “the market consisting of a network of businesses, investors, consumers, and government initiatives engaging in or driving the economic activity related to ecological restoration.” Its segment dealing with LER can be delimited by the large complexity of the system related to the natural, legislative, institutional, funding, project structure, and organizational network to implement the project, as well as of the economic sectors involved in implementing the projects. Success or failure depends on the interplay between the variables describing the environment of the project, its structure, and its functioning. For success, the uptake of scientific information is as important as the experiential (tacit) knowledge of practitioners, stakeholders, and policymakers. Scientific knowledge can be delivered to the LER economy by structures (models) and data (variables and measurements/estimations of their values). Still, in practice, it is often not a limiting resource. Experiential knowledge can be transferred to some extent by narratives (stories, opinions, examples in common language). The role of case studies for LER is to provide hints about what worked and did not work in other situations and, on this basis, to prepare the adaptive management and increase the resilience of each new project. The session provided opportunities for scientists to interact with practitioners about the problem of LER adaptive management and illustrate the issues with examples of scientific knowledge transfer to current or potential projects and case studies. The session was conceived as crosscutting the missions of the LER and European sections of the Society of Ecological Restoration. It is relevant for the development of the restoration economy in the EU through the implementation of the future European Nature Restoration Law, its effectiveness, and its efficiency.   Session report Three key elements emerged from the session: ·       Even though there is a widespread need for this kind of knowledge in all phases of project and program cycle development, the role of experiential knowledge/ know-how in ecological restoration is not explicitly treated. ·       The proprietary know-how can be included in portfolios of patents for technologies and services needed in landscape restoration, which are open-access or undisclosed by practitioners. These types are functionally complementary in the restoration industry and appropriate for specific circumstances. ·       One can test hypotheses about the role of experiential knowledge in the success of landscape restoration through changes in human resources and human resource formation practice by including people or practices that increase the role of experiential knowledge in the overall knowledge capital available in the social ecosystem implementing the restoration programs and projects.   Narrative of the session: The session showed exciting complementarity between various restoration project phases and provided solid arguments about the importance of experiential knowledge [1]. In the first communication, Jeoelen showed us social science research about what factors positively and negatively control cooperation in the restoration ecosystem of individuals, private organizations, NGOs, and public institutions. Then, she provided information about guidelines for practitioners about how to build trustful relations. She was asked what solutions one has when there are people in the team with undesirable traits, and the answer was to avoid such persons from the very beginning or, if one needs that in the team for other qualities, to discuss with them explicitly the problems. The second speaker, Sebastian, contributed with a complex process-based socio-ecological model presentation and its use in decision-making. His question was about the possibility of including details of cost-benefit analysis in the models of stakeholders' decisions, and the answer was that, in principle, it is possible. However, one must also consider the model's optimal complexity in terms of incertitude propagation. In the third presentation, Pal and Erik presented the practical approach to peatland restoration in catchments from Norway. In their context, it seemed feasible because of data available for hydrological modeling from other state monitoring systems and the fact that most restoration projects occurred on public land. Several examples demonstrated the approach's success in a catchment near Oslo, where the public's interest in recreation is high, and there is support for restoration. The question from the audience related their work to the first presentation of the session topic, namely human resources and trust building with stakeholders. In their context, the usual interactions and roundtables with stakeholders before the start of the projects, as well as continuous formal and informal communication in the implementation phase, were enough to build the needed social capital for a successful restoration outcome. In the first online presentation, Martina provided details about non-formal education projects in marine areas that need restoration ecology. The target group was children, but the projects also engaged adults and environmental professionals from the local socio-ecological systems, thus propagating the informed trust building to the whole community. Her details pointed out the experiential approach in education. Iulia from WWF Romania underlined the importance of case studies in communicating restoration's positive and negative aspects to practitioners. She touched on critical points of experiential knowledge related to the genuine national-scale social interest in restoration, despite the significant interest of local users and local authorities and even the existence of funding for restoration. The lack of cooperation between institutions is a limiting factor for up-scaling the restoration to the full Lower Danube River scale. Even in these conditions, WWF-Romania managed to implement many restoration projects on the Danube River and built a solid relationship with the local people by putting an equal accent on nature and people in the design and implementation phase of the projects. Iulia was asked what they do when there are problems with environmental management (such as illegal garbage disposal) that are not formally relevant to the restoration project but occur in the communities they work with. The answer was that they adopted a proactive and solution-oriented approach and started discussions with the people to identify potential solutions and even develop new projects in cooperation that targeted those problems. Finally, Virgil referred to the audience to the content of this supplementary material, as available on the WhatsApp group of the conference in its preliminary form, and communicated about the cross-cutting session 13.0 from Friday as a framework for further discussion of the issues and disentangling opportunities and challenges in landscape restoration.  His presentation showed the relationship between scientific knowledge and experiential one (know-how) in the technology readiness level system. It illustrated this notion by developing a TRL6 environmental service for the cumulative impact assessment of multiple active management actions in contaminated river basins, including restoration of buffer zones and control of mining point sources by remediation projects [2].   Operational concept of experiential knowledge: ·       Experiential knowledge is undiscursive knowledge needed for practical activities, particularly ecological restoration. ·       Related terms: know-how, tacit knowledge. ·       We acquire it by working with experienced people, and the chains of transfer lead to practical traditions. ·       It can be transferred to some extent by narratives, films, etc, formally communicated by case studies in professional societies, but personal interactions are decisive for the successful transfer. ·       It complements scientific knowledge, forming the knowledge capital needed for ecological restoration. ·       It can be proprietary, non-proprietary, disclosed, and undisclosed. ·       Its availability geographically and in specific phases of the restoration programs and project cycles limits the success of the restoration. ·       Due to its complexity, large-scale ecosystem/landscape restoration is highly sensitive to the impact of a lack of experiential knowledge. ·       Experiential knowledge is needed at the first level in all phases of the program and project cycles and in all themes associated with landscape restoration (at general objectives formulation, implementation/monitoring, financing, and supporting the local economies). Appendix 1 of the full report [1] shows a potential distribution of the contributions to landscape restoration sessions and workshops by these themes, referring in several cases to experiential knowledge). ·       An extra level of experiential knowledge is needed to successfully transfer first-level know-how/ experiential knowledge. ·      Despite its unstructured and informal/unprocedural reality, one can test hypotheses about the role of experiential knowledge in the success of landscape restoration through changes in human resources and human resource formation practice by including people or practices that increase the role of experiential knowledge in the overall knowledge capital available in the social ecosystem implementing the restoration programs and projects. This complements the challenge of hypotheses testing at scientific standards of active measures in restoring ecological networks (large-scale ecosystems, landscapes). Notes [1] For the place of the contributions of this session in the general landscape of the conference, one can download the full report here: <a href="https://virgiliordache.com/2024/08/31/scientific-vs-experiential-knowledge-13-2b-session-report-sere-2024-tartu-estonia/">https://virgiliordache.com/2024/08/31/scientific-vs-experiential-knowledge-13-2b-session-report-sere-2024-tartu-estonia/</a> [2] The pdf of his presentation is available for download at <a href="https://virgiliordache.com/2024/08/24/grounding-the-landscape-scale-restoration-for-biogeochemical-services-on-cumulative-impact-assessment-a-process-based-approach/">https://virgiliordache.com/2024/08/24/grounding-the-landscape-scale-restoration-for-biogeochemical-services-on-cumulative-impact-assessment-a-process-based-approach/</a> Acknowledgments We thank the organizers of the SERE 2024 conference and the technical team involved in broadcasting and registering this video. We also thank to the persons from the audience who contributed with questions and comments.

Beltie Burn restored reach cross section survey data 2020-2024

Annual survey cross section data from 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.  Surveyed with a Leica GS16 dGPS.  Data in csv file format.  Coordinates based on Ordnance Survey datum.    Data collection funded by the Scottish Government Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services (RESAS) Division Research Programme.

opencc-by-4.0Sep 2024View details →

Dataset article "Management and restoration of Mediterranean inland saline lakes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions"

Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.

Restored legume acts as a 'nurse' to facilitate plant compensatory growth and biomass production in mown grasslands

Legume restoration was conducted in a temperate grassland in Hulunbuir, northeastern Inner Mongolia, China, by reseeding native legumes. This process was followed by annual mowing and phosphorus (P) application over a seven-year period (2014–2020). Throughout this period, we measured aboveground biomass, plant diversity, and the relative biomass of five functional plant groups each year. In 2020, we assessed six functional traits of 15 common plant species in both legume-restored and naturally-restored grasslands, respectively. Using these trait values and relative biomass data, we calculated community-weighted means and functional diversity indices for each plot.

AI-Assisted Restoration of Yangshao Painted Pottery Using LoRA and Stable Diffusion

Images related to the paper *AI-Assisted Restoration of Yangshao Painted Pottery Using LoRA and Stable Diffusion* and the specially trained LoRA model for restoring Yangshao pottery patterns.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2024View details →

Species and plot characteristics for River restoration effects on dispersal and the development of riparian seed bank: Do poor seed banks limit restoration of boreal riparian zones?

Vegetation composition in boreal streams in the standing vegetation and the seed bank,

opencc-zeroDec 2011View details →

Data from: Influence of natural and novel organic carbon sources on denitrification in forest, degraded urban, and restored streams

Organic carbon is important in regulating ecosystem function, and its source and abundance may be altered by urbanization. We investigated shifts in organic carbon quantity and quality associated with urbanization and ecosystem restoration, and its potential effects on denitrification at the riparian–stream interface. Field measurements of streamwater chemistry, organic carbon characterization, and laboratory-based denitrification experiments were completed at two forested, two restored, and two unrestored urban streams at the Baltimore Long-Term Ecological Research site, Maryland, USA. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrate loads increased with runoff according to a power-law function that varied across sites. Stable isotopes and molar C:N ratios suggested that stream particulate organic matter (POM) was a mixture of periphyton, leaves, and grass that varied across site types. Stable-isotope signatures and lipid biomarker analyses of sediments showed that terrestrial organic carbon sources in streams varied as a result of riparian vegetation. Laboratory experiments indicated that organic carbon amendments significantly increased rates of denitrification (35.1 ± 9.4 ng N·[g dry sediment]−1·h−1; mean ± SE) more than nitrate amendments (10.4 ± 4.0 ng N·[g dry sediment]−1·h−1) across streamflow conditions and sites. Denitrification experiments with naturally occurring carbon sources showed that denitrification was significantly higher with grass clippings from home lawns (1244 ± 331 ng N·g dry sediment−1·h−1), and overall unrestored urban sites showed significantly higher denitrification rates than restored and forest sites. We found that urbanization influences organic carbon sources and quality in streams, which can have substantial downstream impacts on ecosystem services such as denitrification.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Phylogenetic diversity reveals hidden patterns related to population source and species pools during restoration

A phylogenetic perspective of community assembly can reveal new insights into how variation within dominant species interacts with the local species pool to influence the structure of restored plant communities. Many studies have examined the effect of dominant species in structuring plant communities, but few have investigated their effect on phylogenetic diversity (PD). We established grassland in a post-agricultural field using two population sources (cultivars and local ecotypes) of three dominant grasses (Sorghastrum nutans, Andropogon gerardii and Schizachyrium scoparium) with three unique pools of subordinate species that varied in PD but not taxonomic or life-form diversity. We tested the effect of the population source treatment on two metrics of community PD (net relatedness index [NRI] and nearest taxon index [NTI]) during the first 4 years of restoration. The NRI measures the overall pairwise phylogenetic distance between all pairs of taxa in a community. By contrast, NTI measures the pairwise distance between closely related taxa in a community. Population sources had a transitory effect on community phylogenetic structure over time. Local ecotypes decreased the abundance of closely related eudicots, monocots (low +NRI and +NTI values) and volunteer species (−NTI) more than cultivars. However, population sources did not affect ecologically conservative species (i.e. species with intermediate-to-poor ecological tolerance and a high degree of fidelity to prairie habitats). Thus, cultivars might have a positive effect on community phylogenetic diversity more than local ecotypes by decreasing the abundance of a phylogenetically diverse community of less closely related volunteer species. Differences in PD of seed mixes were maintained in the community of high-fidelity species, but did not affect PD of the unsown (volunteer) species in the assembling community. Synthesis and applications. This is the first experiment to show consequences of using different seed sources on phylogenetic diversity (PD) in grassland restoration. Phylogenetics can reveal the effects of population sources on the abundance of volunteer species not evident through traditional analyses of species diversity. The PD of seed mixes or establishing communities, or other assessments of phylogenetic relationships, by restoration practitioners is recommended as a metric to allow consequences of the evolutionary patterns among species to be included in conservation planning. Increased accessibility of phylogenetic tools will allow the application of PD in restoration monitoring.

opencc-zeroNov 2019View details →

Data from: Assessing restoration success by predicting time to recovery – but by which metric?

1. Restoration of degraded ecosystems may take decades or even centuries. Accordingly, information about the current direction and speed of recovery provided by methods for predicting time to recovery may give important feedback to restoration schemes. While predictions of time to recovery have so far been based mostly upon change in species richness and other univariate predictors, the novel ordination-regression based approach (ORBA) affords a multivariate approach based upon species compositional change. 2. We used species composition data from four alpine spoil heaps in western Norway, recorded at three time points, to predict time to recovery using ORBA. This approach uses distances between restored plots and reference plots along a successional gradient, represented by a vector in ordination space, to model linear or asymptotic relationships of compositional change as a function of time. Results from ORBA were compared with results from models of more generic univariate attributes, i.e. total cover, species richness and properties of the physical environment as functions of time. 3. ORBA predictions of time to species compositional recovery varied from less than 60 years with linear models to 115–212 years with asymptotic models. The long estimated time to recovery suggests that the restoration schemes adopted for these spoil heaps are likely to be suboptimal. 4. Much shorter time to recovery was predicted from some of the more generic univariate attributes, i.e. species richness and total cover, than from species composition. Given the current rates of recovery, most spoil heaps will reach reference levels for total cover and species richness within 50 years while predictions indicate that 67–111 years are needed to restore levels of soil organic matter and pH. 5. Synthesis and applications. Species composition and soil conditions provide information of generally higher relevance for evaluation of ecosystem recovery processes than the most commonly used metric to assess restoration success, species richness. Species richness is decoupled from species compositional recovery, and likely to be a generally poor measure of restoration success. We therefore encourage further improvement of methods like the ordination-regression based approach that use species compositional data to predict time to recovery.09-Oct-2019

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →

Data from: Can we condition native plants to increase drought tolerance and improve restoration success?

A common method in ecological restoration is the outplanting of nursery-grown seedlings to the field, and with proper resources this technique can be highly successful. However, stressors such as drought may negatively impact plant performance and restoration success, especially in dryland ecosystems. Furthermore, increasing environmental change may hamper the ability of practitioners to restore native vegetation. A growing body of research suggests that exposing plants to a stressor may improve tolerance to subsequent stress events later in life. We sought to understand if such a phenomena could be exploited in order to improve plant drought-tolerance and aid native plant restoration in southern California. In a multi-phase experiment, we first exposed seedlings of native perennials to episodic drought, and then later compared the response of these plants to a second drought event to that of well-watered controls. We also transplanted replicates of both treatments to a restoration site in the field to test if exposure to drought as a seedling could improve plant performance. Plant species responded to drought differently, with species exhibiting the full range of positive, neutral, and negative responses to temporal variability in water stress. However, some species appeared to benefit from drought preconditioning, exhibiting greater growth and increased water-use efficiency compared to well-watered plants. This suggests that simple applications of stress treatments could improve plant growth and stress tolerance, but the success of this method is likely very species-specific. Restoration practitioners should consider conducting pilot studies with target plant species to better understand if this technique could assist in achieving restoration goals.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Bee communities along a prairie restoration chronosequence: similar abundance and diversity, distinct composition

Recognition of the importance of bee conservation has grown in response to declines of managed honey bees and some wild bee species. Habitat loss has been implicated as a leading cause of declines, suggesting that ecological restoration is likely to play an increasing role in bee conservation efforts. In the Midwestern USA, restoration of tallgrass prairie has traditionally targeted plant community objectives without explicit consideration for bees. However, restoration of prairie vegetation is likely to provide ancillary benefits to bees through increased foraging and nesting resources. We investigated community assembly of bees across a chronosequence of restored eastern tallgrass prairies and compared patterns to those in control and reference habitats (old fields and prairie remnants, respectively). We collected bees for three years and measured diversity and abundance of in-bloom flowering plants, vegetation structure, ground cover, and surrounding land use as predictors of bee abundance and bee taxonomic and functional diversity. We found that site-level variables, but not site type or restoration age, were significant predictors of bee abundance (bloom diversity: p = 0.004, bare ground cover: p = 0.02) and bee diversity (bloom diversity: p = 0.01). There were significant correlations between overall composition of bee and blooming plant communities (mantel test: p = 0.002), and both plant and bee assemblages in restorations were intermediate between those of old fields and remnant prairies. Restorations exhibited high bee beta diversity, i.e., restored sites' bee assemblages were taxonomically and functionally differentiated from each other. This pattern was strong in younger restorations (< 20 years old), but absent from older restorations (> 20 years), suggesting restored prairie bee communities become more similar to one another and more similar to remnant prairie bee communities over time with the arrival of more species and functional groups of bees. Our results indicate that old fields, restorations, and remnants provide habitat for diverse and abundant bee communities, but continued restoration of old fields will help support and conserve bee communities more similar to reference bee communities characteristic of remnant prairies.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Benefits and costs of ecological restoration: rapid assessment of changing ecosystem service values at a UK wetland

Restoration of degraded land is recognized by the international community as an important way of enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services, but more information is needed about its costs and benefits. In Cambridgeshire, U.K., a long-term initiative to convert drained, intensively farmed arable land to a wetland habitat mosaic is driven by a desire both to prevent biodiversity loss from the nationally important Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve (Wicken Fen NNR) and to increase the provision of ecosystem services. We evaluated the changes in ecosystem service delivery resulting from this land conversion, using a new Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA) to estimate biophysical and monetary values of ecosystem services provided by the restored wetland mosaic compared with the former arable land. Overall results suggest that restoration is associated with a net gain to society as a whole of $199 ha−1y−1, for a one-off investment in restoration of $2320 ha−1. Restoration has led to an estimated loss of arable production of $2040 ha−1y−1, but estimated gains of $671 ha−1y−1 in nature-based recreation, $120 ha−1y−1 from grazing, $48 ha−1y−1 from flood protection, and a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worth an estimated $72 ha−1y−1. Management costs have also declined by an estimated $1325 ha−1y−1. Despite uncertainties associated with all measured values and the conservative assumptions used, we conclude that there was a substantial gain to society as a whole from this land-use conversion. The beneficiaries also changed from local arable farmers under arable production to graziers, countryside users from towns and villages, and the global community, under restoration. We emphasize that the values reported here are not necessarily transferable to other sites.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Studying long-term, large-scale grassland restoration outcomes to improve seeding methods and reveal knowledge gaps

Studies are increasingly investigating effects of large-scale management activities on grassland restoration outcomes. These studies are providing useful comparisons among currently used management strategies, but not the novel strategies needed to rapidly improve restoration efforts. Here we illustrate how managing restoration projects adaptively can allow promising management innovations to be identified and tested. We studied 327 Great Plains fields seeded after coal mining. We modelled plant responses to management strategies to identify the most effective previously used strategies for constraining weeds and establishing desired plants. Then, we used the model to predict responses to new strategies our analysis identified as potentially more effective. Where established, the weed crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum L.) increased through time, indicating a need to manage establishment of this grass. Seeding particular grasses reduced annual weed cover, and because these grasses appeared to become similarly abundant whether sown at low or high rates, low rates could likely be safely used to reduce seeding costs. More importantly, lower than average grass seed rates increased cover of shrubs, the plants most difficult to restore to many grassland ecosystems. After identifying grass seed rates as a driver, we formulated model predictions for rates below the range managers typically use. These predictions require testing but indicated atypically low grass seed rates would further increase shrubs without hindering long-term grass stand development. Synthesis and applications. Designing management around empirically based predictions is a logical next step towards improving ecological restoration efforts. Our predictions are that reducing grass seed rates to atypically low levels will boost shrubs without compromising grasses. Because these predictions derive from the fitted model, they represent quantitative hypotheses based on current understanding of the system. Generating data needed to test and update these hypotheses will require monitoring responses to shifts in management, specifically shifts to lower grass seed rates. A paucity of data for confronting hypotheses has been a major sticking point hindering adaptive management of most natural resources, but this need not be the case with degraded grasslands, because ongoing restoration efforts around the globe are providing continuous opportunities to monitor and manage processes regulating grassland restoration outcomes.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Plant functional traits and environmental conditions shape community assembly and ecosystem functioning during restoration

Recovering biological diversity and ecosystem functioning are primary objectives of ecological restoration, yet these outcomes are often unpredictable. Assessments based on functional traits may help with interpreting variability in both community composition and ecosystem functioning because of their mechanistic and generalizable nature. This promise remains poorly realized, however, because tests linking environmental conditions, functional traits, and ecosystem functioning in restoration are rare. Here, we provide such a test through what is to our knowledge the first empirical application of the 'response–effect trait framework' to restoration. This framework provides a trait-based bridge between community assembly and ecosystem functioning by describing how species respond to environmental conditions based on traits and how the traits of species affect ecosystem functioning. Our study took place across 29 prairies restored from former agricultural fields in southwestern Michigan. We considered how environmental conditions affect ecosystem functioning through and independently of measured functional traits. To do so, we paired field-collected trait data with data on plant community composition and measures of ecosystem functioning and used structural equation modelling to determine relationships between environmental conditions, community-weighted means of functional traits and ecosystem functioning. Environmental conditions were predictive of trait composition. Sites restored directly from tillage (as opposed to those allowed to fallow) supported taller species with larger seeds and higher specific leaf area (SLA). Site age and fire frequency were both negatively related to SLA. We also found a positive relationship between soil moisture and SLA. Both trait composition and environmental conditions predicted ecosystem functioning, but these relationships varied among the measured functions. Pollination mode (animal pollination) increased and fire frequency decreased floral resource availability, seed mass had a negative effect on below-ground biomass production, and vegetative height increased decomposition rate. Soil moisture and fire frequency both increased while site age decreased above-ground biomass production, and site age and soil moisture both increased decomposition rate. Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest that both trait composition and environmental conditions play a role in shaping ecosystem function during restoration, and the importance of each is dependent on the function of interest. Because of this, environmental heterogeneity will be necessary to promote multiple ecosystem functions across restored landscapes. A trait-based approach to restoration can aid interpretation of variable outcomes through insights into community assembly and ecosystem functioning.

opencc-zeroJun 2019View details →

Data from: Motivations, success and cost of coral reef restoration

Coral reef restoration is an increasingly important part of tropical marine conservation. Information about what motivates coral reef restoration as well as its success and cost is not well understood but needed to inform restoration decisions. We systematically review and synthesise data from mostly scientific studies published in peer‐reviewed and grey literature on the motivations for coral reef restoration, the variables measured, outcomes reported, the cost per hectare of the restoration project, the survival of restored corals, the duration of the project and its overall spatial extent depending on the restoration technique employed. The main motivation to restore coral reefs for the projects assessed was to further our ecological knowledge and improve restoration techniques, with coral growth, productivity and survival being the main variables measured. The median project cost was 400,000 US$ ha‐1 (2010 US$), ranging from 6,000 US$ ha‐1 for the nursery phase of coral gardening to 4,000,000 US$ ha‐1 for substrate addition to build an artificial reef. Restoration projects were mostly of short duration (1‐2 years) and over small spatial extents (0.01 ha or 108 m2). Median reported survival of restored corals was 60.9%. Future research to survey practitioners who do not publish their discoveries would complement this work. Our findings and database provide critical data to inform future research in coral reef restoration.

opencc-zeroFeb 2020View details →

Intraspecific functional trait structure of restoration-relevant species: implications for restoration seed sourcing

<ol> <li>Recent research has highlighted the existence of significant intraspecific trait variation within and among populations of plant species. This inherent variation within species means there is a wealth of trait diversity from which to source germplasm for use in ecological restoration. However, it remains unclear how to source materials from this pool of trait diversity in order to achieve desired outcomes and support ecosystem function in a restoration context.</li> <li> We provide a framework to study the structure of trait variation across populations and genotypes in an effort to bridge functional trait research with the sourcing of native plant materials for restoration. We investigated the structure of intraspecific functional trait variation in three forb species used in restoration on the Colorado Plateau to (i) understand the structure of functional trait variation within and among populations, and (ii) determine if individual and multivariate functional traits differ between populations while accounting for trait variation within and among genotypes.</li> <li>We found considerable functional trait variation at all sampling levels, with variation within populations often surpassing variation among populations. Still, we observed population-level differences in trait values in eight of the twelve species-by-trait combinations and populations largely segregated in multivariate trait space.</li> <li> Synthesis and applications. Using micropropagation techniques, we uncovered population-level differences in functional trait variation, suggesting that mixing populations to create restoration germplasm following a regional admixture provenancing approach could lead to increased functional diversity in restorations. However, the substantial trait variation identified within some populations of our study species also suggests a similar potential when utilizing genotypically diverse material from even a single population. Further research on these and other species is needed to understand the structure of intraspecific functional trait variation and how it impacts ecosystem function. The approach outlined in this study can assist researchers in assessing the underlying trait variation present in various restoration materials and provide managers with more detailed information that can help make germplasm sourcing decisions. </li> </ol>