Ecological Restoration Activities Research Articles

Condition of linear landscape elements improves with contiguity to protected habitats: Empirical evidence useful for agroecosystem accounting and restoration

In Mediterranean Europe, both intensification and abandonment of traditional cultural practices represent main drivers for the loss of natural and semi-natural elements in agricultural settings. Once common in rural landscapes, these habitats have to be conserved or restored to ensure resilience and resistance of agroecosystems against biodiversity loss and socio-ecological changes. In particular, linear landscape elements (LE) fall among the high-biodiversity landscape features that require to be increased in agricultural lands to facilitate species mobility and provide a wide range of ecosystem services. However, within the framework of environmental accounting procedures, there is still a need for a thorough methodology to assess conditions of LE and, subsequently, of the hosting agroecosystems. The present research is therefore aimed at (i) proposing a method for a thorough assessment of LE conditions, with a special focus on biodiversity support capacity, (ii) investigating the potential effect of extrinsic determinants on LE conditions, such as contiguity to protected habitats and governance framework, and (iii) identifying useful parameters to guide LE ecological restoration actions. Based on different structural, compositional and landscape indicators, the proposed assessment method was tested in eight administrative units of two Mediterranean Europe countries. In the study sites, favorable LE conditions were found to be strongly associated with contiguity to protected habitats, by showing marked structural continuity, dominance of trees, active dynamics, and good quality of the surrounding landscape mosaic. Potential applications of the results have been finally explored in both ecosystem accounting and ecological restoration processes.

Prioritization of Ecological Conservation and Restoration Areas through Ecological Networks: A Case Study of Nanchang City, China

Rapid urbanization has led to ecosystem fragmentation, conversion, and degradation, posing great threats to natural habitat and biodiversity. The utilization of ecological networks has gained importance in ecological restoration planning to mitigate the negative impacts of urbanization on ecosystems. This study focused on Nanchang City, China, as a case study area to examine the application of integrated ecological networks in 2000, 2010 and 2020. This study analyzed the dynamic characteristics and spatial differences in landscape connectivity, providing evidence-based support for ecological conservation and restoration. The results indicate the following: (1) a decrease in the number of ecological sources and corridors, especially general sources and corridors, along with a decreasing trend in their importance; (2) an increase in ecological barrier points and breakpoints over time, especially in the southeastern region of the study area; and (3) the identification of ecological conservation priority areas, ecological improvement priority areas, and ecological restoration points based on connectivity and dynamic analysis. Multiple priority actions were proposed, which remarkably improved network connectivity and strengthened biodiversity conservation. Our research provides a valuable reference for identifying ecological priorities and developing ecological protection and ecological restoration actions in highly urbanized areas.

Fire danger in the supply areas of hydroelectric reservoirs under the restoration process in the south of Minas Gerais, Brazil

The partial or complete loss of vegetation cover triggers an increase in surface runoff, erosion, and sedimentation of water bodies, including reservoirs for hydroelectric power generation, reducing their life expectancy. To control or mitigate this issue, ecological restoration interventions should prioritize the recovery of areas most vulnerable to these processes, such as springs. Conversely, wildfires cause damage to vegetation cover and hinder ecological restoration and/or natural regeneration processes. Therefore, this study aimed to identify - with the aid of Geographic Information Systems - the temporal and spatial likelihood of fire occurrences in spring recharge areas undergoing ecological restoration and contributing to hydroelectric reservoirs in southern Minas Gerais, Brazil. The findings indicated that the months with the highest probability of wildfire occurrences were August and September (accounting for 66% of cases), requiring increased attention to prevention efforts. Furthermore, locations most susceptible to fires (steeper slopes, more flammable vegetation, and higher anthropogenic use) should be treated as priorities for both prevention and ecological restoration actions.

Deteriorating habitat suitability and connectivity of waterbirds in the Bohai Sea Rim: Consequences of land use transformation

Wetlands in the Bohai Sea Rim play an indispensable role in maintaining the stability of waterbird populations on the East Asian-Australian flyway. However, motivated by economic development and urban expansion, coastal wetlands in this region have been extensively reclaimed, leading to a decline in the area and degradation of natural wetlands over the past two decades. We analyzed the temporal and spatial changes of suitable habitats of different groups of waterbirds and quantified habitat connectivity changes and the importance of different patches by using the Probability of Connectivity. The results show that the suitable habitat area of all the different groups of waterbirds decreased sharply from 2000 to 2020. In addition, the utilization ratio by waterbirds of artificial habitats increased. Land use is the primary environmental variable determining the distribution of suitable habitats. Meanwhile, the connectivity of habitats of different groups of waterbirds has also been declining. However, the patches of Tianjin and Hebei in Bohai Bay still have high importance for waterbirds, particularly shorebirds. Expanding existing protection areas to cover the above-mentioned patches is recommended. We also advocate stricter protection measures and necessary ecological restoration activities on both the natural and artificial wetlands.

MedGermDB: A seed germination database for characteristic species of Mediterranean habitats

AbstractSeed germination is a crucial phase of plant responses in early life to current and future environmental conditions. However, germination data are still scarce or disaggregated for many plant lineages and regions, including global biodiversity hotspots such as the Mediterranean Basin. We present MedGermDB, the first germination database for characteristic species of Mediterranean habitats, as defined by the EUNIS classification. We also present a systematic approach to build germination databases using automatic and semi‐automatic data extraction from the literature. MedGermDB contains germination data for 4680 laboratory tests performed with 236 angiosperm species from 43 families, extracted from 125 literature sources (2837 sources screened). Each test is associated to a seed lot (i.e., a seed collection of a plant species obtained from a specific location at a specific time) and its metadata, recording geographical information and experimental conditions (storage, dormancy‐breaking treatments, incubation temperature, and photoperiod). MedGermDB is available as a csv file, and through a web app: https://dianamariacruztejada.shinyapps.io/medgermdb/. MedGermDB can be used to explore eco‐evolutionary questions and provides a backbone data set for informing effective seed‐based conservation and ecological restoration activities targeting EUNIS habitats. Our methodological approach to data extraction can be extended to other study systems, contributing to global efforts to mobilize germination data.

Interactive Effects of Ecological Land Agglomeration and Habitat Quality on Soil Erosion in the Jinsha River Basin, China

Soil erosion is a significant global environmental issue and a crucial aspect of global change. Exploring the interactive effect of ecological land agglomeration and habitat quality on soil erosion can effectively guide the positive intervention of ecological restoration activities. The study calculated the comprehensive ecological land agglomeration with Fragstats 4.2 and the habitat quality with InVEST 3.7.0 for the years 2000, 2010, and 2020 within the Jinsha River Basin in Yunnan, China. In addition, the RUSLE model was utilized to calculate soil erosion in the study area. The Geographic and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) model was employed to obtain the regression coefficients and their spatial and temporal variations. The findings of this study revealed the following: (1) During the study period, there was an overall 29.06% reduction in the soil erosion modulus with an annual rate of 1.70% reduction on average, accompanied by an increase in both the comprehensive ecological land agglomeration and habitat quality. Soil erosion was more severe in the eastern regions than in the western ones and the other two indicators were higher in the northeast and southwest. (2) The GTWR results demonstrate that comprehensive ecological land agglomeration and habitat quality were negatively correlated with soil erosion, with results of −0.1383 and 0.0021, respectively. However, in northwest regions, there was a significant positive correlation between habitat quality and soil erosion. (3) The interaction term between comprehensive ecological land agglomeration and habitat quality was significantly negatively correlated with soil erosion with a result of −0.0299, and the interaction coefficients have regional variations. This study offers valuable guidance for land-use development and soil and water conservation in the Jinsha River Basin.

Relationship between Carbon Sequestration and Soil Physicochemical Parameters in Northern Campeche, Mexico

For decades, mangroves have been exposed to various pressures, resulting in the loss of large swathes around the world. For this reason, ecological restoration actions are presented as alternatives to recover mangroves that can restore their ecosystem services while helping to mitigate climate change’s effects. Mangroves are crucial, as they capture and sequester carbon in biomass and soil, highlighting their importance in environmental conservation and in the fight against climate change. In this research, the amount of carbon sequestered in a mangrove area restored eight years ago and its relationship with soil physicochemical parameters were evaluated and compared to those of a reference forest. Soil cores were collected at a depth of 30 cm from both sites, and in situ measurements of physical chemistry were made at different depths. In addition, soil salinity, bulk density, and carbon concentration were determined. The results revealed a similar amount of carbon sequestered both in the reference forest (BR) (470.17 ± 67.14 Mg C/ha) and in the restoration area (RA) (444.53 ± 86.11 Mg C/ha) (p > 0.05). A direct relationship was observed between carbon sequestration and soil depth. In the case of the RA, a direct relationship was found between carbon sequestration and soil salinity. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that the behavior of carbon sequestration in soil is determined by the physicochemical conditions in both the BR and the RA, as well as by the presence or absence of vegetation.

Tracking the Vegetation Change Trajectory over Large-Surface Coal Mines in the Jungar Coalfield Using Landsat Time-Series Data

Coal mining and ecological restoration activities significantly affect land surfaces, particularly vegetation. Long-term quantitative analyses of vegetation disturbance and restoration are crucial for effective mining management and ecological environmental supervision. In this study, using the Google Earth Engine and all available Landsat images from 1987 to 2020, we employed the Landsat-based Detection of Trends in Disturbance and Recovery (LandTrendr) algorithm and Support Vector Machine (SVM) to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the year, intensity, duration, and pattern of vegetation disturbance and restoration in the Heidaigou and Haerwusu open-pit coal mines (H-HOCMs) in the Jungar Coalfield of China. Our findings indicate that the overall accuracy for extractions of disturbance and restoration events in the H-HOCMs area is 83% and 84.5%, respectively, with kappa coefficients of 0.82 for both. Mining in Heidaigou has continued since its beginning in the 1990s, advancing toward the south and then eastward directions, and mining in the Haerwusu has advanced from west to east since 2010. The disturbance magnitude of the vegetation greenness in the mining area is relatively low, with a duration of about 4–5 years, and the restoration magnitude and duration vary considerably. The trajectory types show that vegetation restoration (R, 44%) occupies the largest area, followed by disturbance (D, 31%), restoration–disturbance (RD, 16%), disturbance–restoration (DR, 8%), restoration–disturbance–restoration (RDR), and no change (NC). The LandTrendr algorithm effectively detected changes in vegetation disturbance and restoration in H-HOCMs. Vegetation disturbance and restoration occurred in the study area, with a cumulative disturbance-to-restoration ratio of 61.79% since 1988. Significant restoration occurred primarily in the external dumps and continued ecological recovery occurred in the surrounding area.

Moss establishment in restoration: The role of moss production method and short‐term benefits of abscisic acid

AbstractMosses may be useful in ecological restoration activities but are excluded from most native plant materials programs. Recent efforts have attempted to propagate mosses in controlled environments for deployment to boost the recovery of degraded field sites. Field re‐entry and establishment have proven challenging, possibly because the moss materials are not field‐ready. We compared the field establishment rates of mosses of the same species propagated using three methodologies carried out either in greenhouses or outdoors. In an attempt to chemically boost field‐readiness, we amended each with either sucrose, an osmoprotectant, or abscisic acid, a stress response phytohormone, or neither. Mosses grown outdoors with only one initial fall irrigation event lost at least 30% less cover than outdoor‐grown moss that was irrigated in spring and moss tissue grown in a fog chamber inside of a greenhouse. The addition of abscisic acid also induced a subtle difference, leading to about 10% less cover loss compared to controls. Ultimately, all treatments declined to only trace level moss cover at most after 3 years. From these results, we put forward the working hypothesis that growing methodologies more similar to field conditions and exposing mosses to environmental fluctuations are more likely to produce field‐ready moss materials. Abscisic acid addition is promising as a way to delay the mortality of mosses introduced into a desiccating environment. To translate short‐term relative differences to long‐term success, these practices may need to be combined with techniques that reduce the stress experienced in the field.

Regeneration from seeds in a temperate native flora: A climate‐smart and natural–capital‐driven germination risk modelling approach

Societal Impact StatementExceptionally rainy winters and hot–dry summers are becoming the new normal around the United Kingdom. The effects of these climatic changes can already be seen in forests and grasslands, agricultural fields and even in our own gardens, as native plants try to keep pace with them. In this study, the seed germination of the native flora of Wakehurst, in the Southeast England, was analysed to identify potential threats to the long‐term persistence of selected species, which are part of the natural landscape of this area. Recommendations are provided for ecological restoration interventions which aim to maintain the different potential benefits those plants can provide to people.Summary Seeds play an important role in plant adaptation to human‐driven climate change. In this study, we applied a multilevel modelling of thermal germination responses of native temperate plants, to understand how global warming could affect their reproduction and the potential benefits they provide, as part of their natural capital. We identified Wakehurst (Southeast England, UK), as our study system. We modelled thermal seed germination parameters of the native flora as a whole and according to different uses categories (e.g., medicinal or food plants), through a phylogenetic meta‐analysis of publicly available data from Kew's Millennium Seed Bank (MSB). We also carried out a comparative germination study for MSB seed lots of 20 selected species. Finally, we quantified the germination risk, by comparing current and predicted environmental temperatures with thermal germination parameters at flora, uses categories and species level. Under future climatic scenarios, germination of the native flora will be at higher risk in spring than in autumn. Fitted quadratic models, although affected by phylogeny, did not show major differences among uses categories. Species with a narrow window of cold germination temperatures could be more at risk than those with warm optimal temperatures. Restoration activities should target species from phylogenetically clustered uses categories, to avoid losing their benefit provisions, and implement climate‐smart seed sourcing for high‐risk species. This multilevel germination modelling approach, based on collections and available data from conservation seed banks, can be applied to selected floras and regions to inform climate‐smart ecological restoration activities, while accounting for their natural capital.

Long-term impacts of ecosystem restoration on saturated hydraulic conductivity in the Loess Plateau

Since 1999, large-scale ecological restoration activities have been launched across China’s Loess Plateau, known as the ‘Grain for Green Program’, which has substantially changed the landscape as well as the physicochemical properties of soil, including saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), an essential parameter in hydrological cycle. This could also contribute to the reduction of water and sediment in the Yellow River in this century. However, there is little study about the changes in root zone (upper one meter) Ks profiles at large scale. Quantitative description of the revegetation impacts on Ks is needed to assess the impacts of revegetation on local water cycle. In this research, 2665 soil samples at six depths within root zone (0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–50, 50–70, 70–100 cm) from four land use types (forestland, shrubland, grassland, and sparse grassland) at 25 different sites across the central Loess Plateau were collected and analyzed. Our results suggest that revegetation has significantly improved Ks values with the largest increment in the near surface layers, enlarging the vertical heterogeneity of Ks. The parameters of vertical profiles of Ks were correlated to vegetation index (NDVI), especially for Ks and its decay rate at surface, and the correlations under well vegetated land use types collapsed on the same line. The change of Ks due to revegetation was also correlated to the change of NDVI. This contrasting Ks amplified by revegetation could lead to a shift of runoff generation mechanism in the Loess Plateau. Our results could provide support for estimation of local water usage and availability changes caused by revegetation, shedding light on the vegetation restoration implementation in the Loess Plateau.

Variation of soil physicochemical properties of different vegetation restoration types on subtropical karst area in southern China.

To carry out differentiated ecological restoration activities and formulate appropriate environmental conservation strategies for karst regions, it is essential to investigate the impact of ecological restoration and forest management strategy differences on soil properties. The karst region in Xiangxi, Hunan province, China was selected as the study site. Here, we determined soil physical and chemical differences in soil profiles of karst areas with ecological restoration activities. The results showed that (1) the soil properties showed a significant difference between the restoration vegetation and uncultivated land, especially in soil physical properties. The soil moisture conversion coefficient (83.0%) and soil bulk density (1.37g/cm3) of Liriodendron chinense (Hemsl.) Sarg reached the highest value among 12 vegetations. 2) The topsoil was more sensitive to ecological restoration. Soil physical properties in the topsoil samples from the forest management areas were significantly higher than uncultivated lands (P < 0.05). (3) Redundancy analysis showed that the soil chemical content differed significantly among the types of forest vegetation restoration and different soil layers. Among the nutrients analysis, Mg, Zn and K were the main factors affecting soil properties in the rocky desertification areas. Therefore, our results recommend planting the broadleaved deciduous forest as the preferred forest among three different forest types to enhance soil fertility and water conservation functions, especially in subtropical karst areas ecosystems, which provided for making scientific forest restoration management in the karst region.

A mountain of health benefits? Impacts of ecological restoration activities on human wellbeing

Just as ecological degradation contributes to many public health problems, restoration of these areas can be health-enabling not only for the environment but also for people. However, despite growing recognition of the positive relationships between ecological restoration and human health, knowledge gaps persist. Rural areas are most closely affected by ecological degradation from industries such as forestry, farming and mining and rural populations suffer the poorest health outcomes. Nevertheless, the wellbeing benefits of ecological restoration for participants and communities in these areas are under-researched. Rural wellbeing is impacted by factors of geographic isolation, poverty and limited health services which generate rural health inequities. Place-based ecological restoration activities have the potential to address individual and community-level wellbeing issues. In this paper we report on a qualitative study from the Break O'Day municipality in Tasmania, Australia, the site of over 20 years of ecological restoration by local people. The organisation leading the restoration work, the Northeast Bioregional Network, observed that well-organised holistic ecological restoration projects could cultivate ecological ethics and improve human health. Using interview data, we explored the lived impacts of ecological restoration on various aspects of participant health and wellbeing, as well as the observed community-wide benefits. Our analysis identified certain characteristics of place-based ecological restoration participation that are supportive of wellbeing, and the opportunities for improved synergies between ecological restoration and mainstream rural health service provision. We conclude that participation in well-designed, holistic ecological restoration programs can contribute to ameliorating complex health problems affecting rural communities.

Lake Guidimouni: Diversity of Vertebrate Fauna and its Threats

Lakes provide many services to humanity. However human activities affect negatively the function of the lakes to deliver their values to society. It is in this sense, this study tried to assess the effects of human activities on the dryland lake (Lake Guidimouni) mostly, the effects of the human activities on the vertebrate fauna. This study will close the paucity of data about the diversity of vertebrate fauna in the West African Sahel Lake. Therefore, this study assessed the diversity of vertebrate fauna and its menaces in Lake Guidimouni, Niger. We used Field investigations and questionnaires for the data collection. While we used descriptive statistics and the number of species, the number of families of the different classes of vertebrates recorded in the lake. The study recorded 21 vertebrate fauna species across the four vertebrate classes (Fish species = 7; Bird species = 7; Amphibian species = 2 and reptile species = 5) in the lake Guidimouni based on the field observation and questionnaire. More specifically the study recorded six fish species belonging to the six families in the lake with as Cichlidae dominant family. While we recorded seven bird species with Ardeidae having the high species richness (3 species) belonging to three families. Furthermore, five species of reptile were recorded belonging five families in the lake Guidimouni. Lastly, two amphibian species were identified belonging to two families. Secondly, the study documented the many threats to Lake Guidimouni biodiversity mainly illegal poaching, salinity, the use of the chemicals, overexploitation such as overfishing, invasion by species such as Typha australis and Prosopis juliflora, destruction of the lake by unsustainable farming practices such as cutting down of trees and drying up of the lake. This study constitutes the baseline reference about the impacts of human activities on the dryland lake (lake Guidimouni) in Zinder region, in Niger. The study recommends some ecological restoration activities of lake Guidimouni such as the removal of the invasive species, enforcement of law and regulation about the use of chemicals in the lake. It also recommends further study which look at socio-economic and ecological benefits of the lake Guidimouni in the context of changing climate.

Temporal and Spatial Variation of Land Use and Vegetation in the Three–North Shelter Forest Program Area from 2000 to 2020

The Three–North Shelter Forest Program Area (TNSFPA), covering the three subregions of Northwest, North and Northeast China, is an important green ecological barrier in northern China. Research on spatiotemporal variation of land use and vegetation in this area can help us understand the evolution of vegetation recovery. Based on MODIS image data, we built a dataset including land use/cover, annual and seasonal vegetation coverage and vegetation productivity in the TNSFPA from 2000 to 2020, then analyzed their spatiotemporal dynamics’ characteristics and further explored the driving factors. The results demonstrate that 90.05% of land area in the TNSFPA remained unchanged from 2001 to 2020. The area of barren decreased, whereas the area of all other land use types increased. From 2000 to 2020, the vegetation coverage generally presented a spatial pattern of high in the east and low in the west, and the interannual fluctuation of high coverage area was small. More than 90% of the TNSFPA had an increasing vegetation coverage (0.41%·a−1), with the change rates of 0.51%·a−1, 0.54%·a−1 and 0.37%·a−1 in Northeast, North and Northwest China, respectively. The spatial distribution of vegetation productivity was generally consistent with the vegetation coverage, and the interannual fluctuation in areas with low productivity was small. The area with an increasing vegetation productivity (3.41 gC·m−2·a−1) occupied 51.66% of the TNSFPA, mainly in the basic stable state and significantly increased state. The change rates in Northeast, North and Northwest China were 7.34 gC·m−2·a−1, 6.72 gC·m−2·a−1 and 2.10 gC·m−2·a−1, respectively. The vegetation coverage and productivity were positively correlated with climate factors, and the correlation with precipitation is significantly higher than that with temperature. The ecological protection and restoration activities in the TNSFPA have accelerated the recovery of the vegetation ecosystem. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of population has led to the acceleration of urbanization. The intensification of the interaction between humans and land has led to the reclamation and development of barren, which has a great impact on the small–scale vegetation ecosystem.

Madagascar's extraordinary biodiversity: Threats and opportunities.

Madagascar's unique biota is heavily affected by human activity and is under intense threat. Here, we review the current state of knowledge on the conservation status of Madagascar's terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity by presenting data and analyses on documented and predicted species-level conservation statuses, the most prevalent and relevant threats, ex situ collections and programs, and the coverage and comprehensiveness of protected areas. The existing terrestrial protected area network in Madagascar covers 10.4% of its land area and includes at least part of the range of the majority of described native species of vertebrates with known distributions (97.1% of freshwater fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals combined) and plants (67.7%). The overall figures are higher for threatened species (97.7% of threatened vertebrates and 79.6% of threatened plants occurring within at least one protected area). International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessments and Bayesian neural network analyses for plants identify overexploitation of biological resources and unsustainable agriculture as the most prominent threats to biodiversity. We highlight five opportunities for action at multiple levels to ensure that conservation and ecological restoration objectives, programs, and activities take account of complex underlying and interacting factors and produce tangible benefits for the biodiversity and people of Madagascar.

Ecohydrological decoupling of water storage and vegetation attributed to China’s large-scale ecological restoration programs

China has implemented some of the world's most ambitious ecological restoration (ER) programs over the past two decades. These large-scale multi-billion-dollar projects have achieved widespread greening across the country. However, the impacts of different ER-driven land cover modifications on total water resources remain largely unknown, particularly over areas characterized by complex environments of coupled human and natural systems. Here we quantified ecohydrological impacts of multiple ER programs applied over various parts of China’s Yellow River Basin (YRB), with their lumped effects being partitioned into individual ones. ER-related drivers were disentangled, leading in individual attribution of inter-annual climatic variability and agricultural activity with cross-sensor satellite observations and statistical modelling. Our results showed an ecohydrological decoupling of water storage and vegetation greenness attributed to ER programs. Increases in natural land cover types (e.g. forest and grassland) were found at the expense of human intensive land use, such as farmland, with the combined changes resulting in a concurrent dramatic water storage loss of 3.70 billion tons/year from 2002 to 2021. ER was the dominant driver of water loss (>66 %) among all factors considered, commensurate with areal land-cover change and ER program cost. The entire basin was divided into two regions with opposite water trends by the ER activities with different restoration strategies. This study’s framework is applicable to substantial part of the globe like YRB and is encouraged to be applied for more wholistic ER impact evaluations.

Identifying Suitable Restoration and Conservation Areas for Dracaena cinnabari Balf.f. in Socotra, Yemen

We examine the distribution of Dracaena cinnabari, the Socotran Dragon’s Blood Tree, an endangered species endemic to the island of Socotra (Yemen)—and we propose an accessibility approach to its conservation, taking the proximity of local communities and land users into account. Using the present occurrence of D. cinnabari, we applied a machine learning algorithm (random forest classifier) to estimate the potential distribution of the species across the island (overall validation accuracy of 0.91) based on available climatic and physiographic parameters. In parallel, we used an accessibility methodology to generate a map of the energy cost of accessing potential areas from the villages. This community-focused accessibility map, combined with the potential distribution map of Dracaena cinnabari, could contribute to decision-making processes related to long-term ecological restoration and reforestation activities. With our case study, we wish to emphasize that user-focused efforts and the implementation of sustainable land practices should play key roles in conserving endangered tree species.

Mapping Forest Stability within Major Biomes Using Canopy Indices Derived from MODIS Time Series

Deforestation and forest degradation from human land use, including primary forest loss, are of growing concern. The conservation of old-growth and other forests with important environmental values is central to many international initiatives aimed at protecting biodiversity, mitigating climate change impacts, and supporting sustainable livelihoods. Current remote-sensing products largely focus on deforestation rather than forest degradation and are dependent on machine learning, calibrated with extensive field measurements. To help address this, we developed a novel approach for mapping forest ecosystem stability, defined in terms of constancy, which is a key characteristic of long-undisturbed (including primary) forests. Our approach categorizes forests into stability classes based on satellite-data time series related to plant water–carbon relationships. Specifically, we used long-term dynamics of the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation intercepted by the canopy (fPAR) and shortwave infrared water stress index (SIWSI) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for the period 2003–2018. We calculated a set of variables from annual time series of fPAR and SIWSI for representative forest regions at opposite ends of Earth’s climatic and latitudinal gradients: boreal forests of Siberia (southern taiga, Russia) and tropical rainforests of the Amazon basin (Kayapó territory, Brazil). Independent validation drew upon high-resolution Landsat imagery and forest cover change data. The results indicate that the proposed approach is accurate and applicable across forest biomes and, thereby, provides a timely and transferrable method to aid in the identification and conservation of stable forests. Information on the location of less stable forests is equally relevant for ecological restoration, reforestation, and proforestation activities.

Characteristics and Assembly Process of Reclaimed Soil Microbial Communities in Eastern Plain Mining Areas

Understanding how soil microorganisms respond to land reclamation is essential to evaluating the success of ecological restoration actions in disturbed mine soil. However, the microbiological mechanism referred to as productivity reconstruction of the reclaimed soil is still unclear. To shed light on this mechanism, a total of 75 soil samples were collected for 16S rRNA amplicon high-throughput sequencing. The five sampling sites contained four reclamation plots (reclaimed 8 a, 11 a, 14 a, and 17 a) and 1 non-reclaimed plot, which served as the control sampling site. The microbial community composition, potential functions, and assembly mechanisms were also analyzed. The results showed that:①the richness of the microbial community increased with the reclamation time and was higher than that of the control site. However, the community diversity and evenness decreased with the increasing reclamation year (P<0.05). ②Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes dominated in the reclaimed soil, and the relative abundances of the first two phyla were significantly higher than that of the control (P<0.05), whereas the latter two presented the opposite trends (P<0.05). ③ Eight functions, including coenzyme transport and metabolism, translation, ribosomal structure, and biogenesis, showed a positive succession in the reclamation sites and enhanced with increasing reclamation years. ④ The molecular ecological networks of the microbial community in the plain mining area were well modular, whereas the key microbial groups belonged to the Acidobacteria and Bacteroidetes. The microbial communities were dominantly assembled with the deterministic process, and the homogeneous selection contributed the most, which might have been mainly controlled by the local special environment. The results presented herein will undoubtedly aid in the establishment of success indicators of ecological restoration activities in disturbed mining soil. These findings also provide the theoretical basis for improving the productivity and ecological services of reclaimed soil.