Abstract
Translocating plants to natural habitats is a long-standing conservation practice but is growing in magnitude to deliver international targets to mitigate climate change and reverse biodiversity loss. Concurrently, outbreaks of novel plant pests and pathogens are multiplying with increased global trade network connectivity and larger volumes of imported plants, raising concerns that restoration plantings may act as introductory disease pathways. We used UK common juniper, subject since ~1995 to conservation plantings and now experiencing significant mortality from the non-native pathogen Phytophthora austrocedri Gresl. & E. M. Hansen, as an example species to explore the availability of monitoring data that could be used to assess disease risks posed by planting. We compiled spatial records of juniper planting including qualitative data on sources of planting material, propagation settings and organization types that managed planting projects. We found that juniper planting activity expanded every decade since 1990 across the UK and while not all planting resulted in outbreaks, 19% of P. austrocedri detections were found within 2 km of a known planting. We highlight the scale and diversity of organizations raising and planting juniper, as well as the lack of source material traceability, and suggest that cross-sector collaboration and changes in practice are required to reduce the risks of pathogen introduction posed by restoration planting.
Highlights
IntroductionThe UN General Assembly declared the 2020s as the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and recommended scaling up restoration of degraded and deforested ecosystems to enhance food security, safeguard water supplies and address the climate and biodiversity crises [1]
Planting was recorded in all four nations, in approximately 9% of tetrads occupied by native juniper during the past 30 years (Figure 1)
The number of planting records and number of planted tetrads show similar trends, but the former shows high peaks concentrated at the start and end of each decade that matches the trend of all juniper record submissions and more likely reflects recording than planting activity, as recorders start to re-visit localities last observed in the previous decade (Figure 2)
Summary
The UN General Assembly declared the 2020s as the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and recommended scaling up restoration of degraded and deforested ecosystems to enhance food security, safeguard water supplies and address the climate and biodiversity crises [1]. The aim is to accelerate existing restoration goals such as the Bonn Challenge to restore 350 million hectares of habitat by 2030 [2]. The UN strategic plan for forests aims to reverse worldwide loss of forest cover through protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation to increase global forest cover by 3% (120 million hectares) by 2030 [3]. While a large proportion of degraded forest ecosystems results from active deforestation by people [3], losses sustained from invasive pests and diseases (primarily insects and pathogens) can be substantial, e.g., 43 million trees killed by Phytophthora ramorum Werres, De Cock &
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
