Landscape Restoration Program Research Articles

A drought stress transcriptome profiling as the first genomic resource for white teak - Gamhar - (Gmelina arborea Roxb) and related species

Background Gmelina (Gmelina arborea Roxb), also known as white teak is a tropical deciduous tree native from moist tropical forests of Asia. It has been successfully introduced in equatorial Africa, as well as central and south America. Gmelina is known for its very fast growing rate, its intrinsic disease, fire and drought tolerance, as well as the quality of its wood which is suitable for different types of uses such as paper pulping, plywood or particle board industry, furniture and light constructions. In addition, gmelina is considered a pioneer plant species capable of rapidly colonizing eroded or low nutritional quality lands, which makes it interesting for reforestation or landscape restoration programs. Despite its ecological and increasing economic importance, very little is known about the biology of this species and its remarkable field behavior such as drought tolerance, at the genetic, molecular and biochemical levels. Genomic tools have recently increased the numbers and volume of genomic resources for several crop plants and trees and have contributed to enlarge our knowledge on basic aspects of plant biology, population dynamics or phylogeny; furthermore, they represent valuable sources of candidate genes and new molecular markers to assist breeding programs. Biological sequences reported to date in public databases and belonging to Gmelina do not exceed 20 entries: this very narrow availability of genetic information is the main bottleneck to initiate molecular breeding programs in Gmelina arborea. We report here the first genomic resource for this tropical tree based on an RNAseq transcriptome profiling approach.

Community participation in land restoration

This case study of community participation in a landscape restoration program explores some implications of the Federal Government’s Caring for Our Country Program (CFOC) in Mount Alexander Shire in North Central Victoria. It briefly describes the process of establishing a community-based wide-ranging program of landscape restoration, Connecting Country, from its inception in 2007 to its current stage: implementation of a detailed program. As a member of the Connecting Country group, I used participant observation techniques to examine issues and concerns worked through in this process by community members. Background literature about community participation in Landcare programs since 1989 provides the setting for this analysis and for reflection on the development and conduct of land stewardship programs in the changing context of government policy in land restoration funding.

Recovering the Reptile Community after the Mine‐Tailing Accident of Aznalcóllar (Southwestern Spain)

Abstract Ecosystem restoration requires that habitat requirements of all species be considered. Among animal communities in Mediterranean ecosystems, reptiles, as ectothermic vertebrates, need refuges for avoidance of extreme environmental temperatures, concealment from predators, and oviposition sites. In 1998, a massive amount of tailings broke out of the holding pond of the Aznalcóllar mine (southwestern Spain) and polluted the Guadiamar river valley. After the accident, a soil‐ and vegetation restoration program began, and the Guadiamar Green Corridor was created to connect two huge natural areas, Doñana National Park and the Sierra Morena. Within this corridor, the reptile community remained dramatically impoverished, probably because of elimination of all natural refuges during the soil restoration program. To test this hypothesis, we set an array of artificial refuges (logs) in a large experimental plot. During the 5 years of the experiment (2002–2006), the area managed with artificial refuges exhibited a better and faster recovery of the reptile community in species richness and individual abundance than did the control area with no artificial refuges. Moreover, reptile colonization of the Guadiamar Green Corridor was transverse rather than lineal—that is, it did not act as a corridor for reptiles, at least in the first stages of colonization. This suggests that landscape restoration programs should not neglect refuge availability, a limiting resource for reptile species.