Restoring a Threatened Ecological Community: Defining and Achieving Restoration Targets

Abstract

Photo 1. The first aim was to define ecologically realistic and scale-appropriate restoration targets. (A) Here, Ben Miller, Lucy Commander, and Davide Abate are conducting vegetation surveys on the slopes of Koolanooka Range, which was found to have 120 species. (B) Western Australia's Threatened Ecological Community in the Koolanooka system occurs on a single rocky range of banded ironstone habitat (317-m elevation) in the Mid-west. (C) Lucy Commander, Luis Merino-Martín, and Davide Abate discuss the vegetation surveys that will identify the restoration target for the vegetation community. Photo credits: (A, B) Luis Merino-Martín, (C) Ben Miller. Photo 2. Partnerships with industry were essential to providing support for the research that informs the restoration of this Threatened Ecological Community on a mine waste rock landform. (A) Industry staff (Sinosteel Midwest Corporation) and research staff (Kings Park Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions; The University of Western Australia) at Koolanooka discussing restoration activities. (B) Heavy machinery was needed to create restoration landforms with specific dimensions. (C) Research staff installing experimental plots (1 m2 or 5 m2) in the restoration trial area (0.86 ha) during final landform modifications (i.e., spreading of topsoil layer). Photo credits: Lucy Commander. Photo 3. The second aim was to identify an optimal approach to return species of this Threatened Ecological Community on the Koolanooka Range. (A) Planting of greenstock (10–13 species). (B) Trialed 25 species with direct sowing of seeds into topsoil that contained 32 species (inset: seed type diversity). (C) Completing the installation of the experimental restoration trial. Photo credits: Lucy Commander. Photo 4. The third aim was to optimize and facilitate the pathway for restoration. (A) Rainfall simulations were performed to measure water infiltration (i.e., the balance between precipitation and runoff) to identify the soil water availability for plant establishment in different soil covers. (B) The controlled environment facility on site that was used to understand the impact of reduced rainfall and its interaction with different soil covers on plant establishment. (C) Sowing seeds in experimental plots to test the interactions between seed functional traits and soil preparation. Photo credits: Luis Merino-Martín. Photo 5. The fourth aim was to develop a protocol to assess restoration achievements. (A) Peter Golos, Davide Abate, and Luis Merino-Martín monitor the experimental plots (1 m2 or 5 m2) to determine seedling emergence and survival. (B) Vegetation coverage of the experimental restoration trial on the slopes of the waste rock landform, 20 months after installation. (C) Diverse composition of species established in the experimental restoration trial on the top of the waste rock landform. Photo credits: (A) Barney Wilczak; (B) Carole Elliott; (C) Arielle Fontaine. These photographs illustrate the article “An approach to defining and achieving restoration targets for a threatened plant community” by C. P. Elliott, L. E. Commander, L. Merino-Martín, P. J. Golos, J. Stevens, and B. P. Miller published in Ecological Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2613