Large-scale Restoration Programs Research Articles

The impact of large-scale ecological restoration projects on trade-offs/synergies and clusters of ecosystem services

Understanding the relationships between ecosystem services (ES) and the factors driving their changes over long periods and multiple scales is key for landscape managers in decision-making. However, the widespread implementation of restoration programs has led to significant ES changes, with trade-offs across space and time that have been little explored empirically, making it challenging to provide effective experience for managers. We quantified changes and interactions among five ES across various stages of the Grain-to-Green Program in the eastern Loess Plateau, examining these dynamics at threefold spatial scales. We observed notable increases in soil retention and Net Ecosystem Production but declines in habitat quality and Landscape aesthetics under afforestation. Over time, and with more integrated restoration strategies, synergies between ES pairs weakened, and non-correlations (even trade-offs) increased. To avoid unnecessary trade-offs, we recommend incorporating socio-ecological factors driving ES changes and ES bundles, informed by empirical experience, into proactive spatial planning and environmental management strategies for multi-ES objectives. The temporal lags and spatial trade-offs highlighted by this study offer crucial insights for large-scale restoration programs worldwide.

A roadmap to coastal and marine ecological restoration in Australia

There is an urgent need for landscape-scale ecological restoration to reverse habitat loss and recover ecosystem functions and services. Given the unique nature of coastal and marine ecosystems a roadmap to overcome current barriers and guide transformative change is needed to achieve large-scale restoration. We conducted a national scale program of engagement with restoration practitioners, decision makers, industry, researchers, community groups, and Indigenous groups in Australia to map out the current state of implementation, barriers encountered and aspirations for the future. In collaboration with a graphic facilitator, we distilled the findings into ten guiding principles which are communicated through an engaging conceptual model. Here we articulate the ten guiding principles for large-scale coastal and marine ecological restoration and include discussion of the rational, the current state in Australia, and ideas for moving forward with respect to each principle. The principles are: 1) Co-design is central; 2) Fit-for-purpose governance; 3) No-gap funding; 4) Access to social, economic and biophysical data; 5) Evidence-based and transparent decision making; 6) Coordinated and at scale; 7) Robust monitoring, evaluation and reporting; 8) Clear strategy to adapt to climate change; 9) Nature-based solutions are implemented; and 10) Knowledge is shared effectively. We then evaluated the principles against three large-scale restoration programs in the UK, USA and Australia and found that their characteristics broadly adhere to each of the principles. Implementation of the roadmap is now necessary and will aid in achieving return of ecological functions in line with international commitments and societal goals.

Challenges for reducing carbon emissions from Land-Use and Land Cover Change in Brazil

Brazil, a crucial player in global climate change mitigation, faces challenges in reducing its carbon emissions, of which nearly half are from land use changes. Despite potential reductions that can be achieved through halting deforestation and fostering forest restoration, setbacks in environmental governance have heightened emissions. This article assesses challenges and proposes solutions for conserving and restoring Brazilian biomes in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement by 2030. Notably, net carbon emissions from land-use change and forestry increased twofold from 2017 to 2022 due to deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado. Native vegetation clearing peaked at 2.8 Mha in 2022, the largest area since 2008. The deficit of native vegetation within Legal Reserves and Permanent Protection Areas must be addressed through restoration. Achieving SDGs by 2030 demands urgent action against illegal deforestation, reinforced legislation for secondary forest protection, large-scale restoration programs, and economic incentives for forest conservation through payment for ecosystem services to rural landowners.

Post-fire Pinus radiata invasion in a threatened biodiversity hotspot forest: A multi-scale remote sensing assessment

Biological invasions are one of the most relevant factors of biodiversity loss, especially after fire disturbances. Wildfires can accelerate invasions of fire-prone species, like Pinus radiata, and dramatically alter ecosystems. However, how to assess the main impacts of this invasion process on the composition, structure, and functionality of ecosystems, including the post-fire revegetation processes, has not been fully resolved. This study aimed to evaluate the impacts of P. radiata invasion on fire-damaged forest ecosystems using combined remote sensing and in situ data, focusing particularly on changes in biodiversity, ecosystem structure, and functionality. The recovery of forest leaf area index (LAI) and the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) were monitored using Sentinel-2 time series products. Then the pre- and post-fire native community composition and the relationships of invasion and biodiversity with biotic and abiotic components were characterized using structural equation modeling (SEM). The postfire P. radiata density was mapped to quantify invasion intensity in three burned native forest fragments using generalized additive modeling (GAM) regressions based on UAS multispectral data. Biophysical metrics indicate that all forest fragments impacted by high, medium-high, and medium-low severity fires achieved a partial recovery of their canopy. The SEM model showed that microtopographic features and vegetation height explain native species diversity under pre-fire conditions due to their close relationship with favorable microclimatic conditions for species establishment. Vegetation height determined the abundance of P. radiata in post-fire conditions, and it negatively impacted diversity by promoting the homogenization of vegetation cover and altering diversity patterns. The general composition and abundance metrics also showed a substantial modification associated with the heavy (significant) invasion of P. radiata species. Predictive mapping of P. radiata density showed high accuracies (R2 =0.73 and explained deviation of 80%). The maps depicted an intense concentration of the invasive tree with a mean density of 76,217 individuals per ha−1 and high invasion spots with more than 176,000 individuals per ha−1. The quantification of invasion and mapping is a fundamental input for prioritizing areas and resources for a large-scale restoration program, and is a priority to avoid the loss of these highly threatened forest ecosystems.

Brazilian forest restoration: Success or better than nothing?

The Brazilian scientific community and non-governmental groups have been working to establish forest restoration programs, compensating for deforestation and mitigating losses from biodiversity and ecosystem services. In contrast, the previous Brazilian government moved in an opposite direction, revoking legal acts and providing scope for the rural producers to sustain non-compliance activities according to the legal regulations. Among rural producers, there is a recognized conflict between agricultural production and forest restoration programs, which results in a chaotic condition where the implementation of the environmental laws is impaired. In this context, restoration projects are often practiced without effective integrated territorial planning. This scenario challenges the success of large-scale restoration programs. The Brazilian government needs to effectively adopt sound guidelines already suggested to promote a genuine state of governance, fostering restoration programs, and moving the country's development towards an ecologically planned environment.

Effects of Salt Stress on Growth, Proline and Mineral Content in Native Desert Species

Implementing large-scale restoration programs requires in-depth understanding about the salinity tolerance of native species, especially in the Arabian Peninsula where salinity is one of the most serious problems. Seedlings of four native species, namely Vachillea pachyceras, Haloxylon salicornicum, Rhanterium epapposum, and Farsetia aegyptia, were subjected to different salinity treatments (1.6 (control), 3, 5, 7, and 10 dS/m). Survival, growth performance, biomass and proline accumulation were assessed after six months of salinity exposure. Different mineral concentrations in the shoot and root tissues were assessed before and after the salinity exposure. Our results showed that salinity influenced the growth parameters, enhanced proline accumulation and changed the contents of essential elements. However, the effects of salinity stress on the growth and other parameters were largely species-specific. Proline accumulation increased with an increase in the salinity level in all the species. However, the mineral content in the root and shoot tissues showed variation, depending on the species and the level of salinity stress. Overall. H. salicornicum appeared to be the most tolerant species, as its seedling survival (100% at EC 10), and root and shoot biomass were impacted minimally; meanwhile, F. aegyptia (16.7% seedling survival at EC 10) appeared to be highly sensitive to the salinity. Data generated from this study will be helpful in screening the suitable species according to their salinity tolerance in salt-affected areas.

Time and space catch up with restoration programs that ignore ecosystem service trade-offs.

In response to extreme societal consequences of ecosystem degradation and climate change, attention to ecological restoration is increasing globally. In China, investments in restoration exceeded USD 378.5 billion over the past decade. However, restoration programs are experiments that can cause marked unintended consequences, with trade-offs across space and time that have undergone little empirical examination. We quantified the long-term effects of large-scale afforestation for soil erosion and sandstorm prevention in semiarid China. We found that soil erosion was notably reduced by afforestation but surface runoff declined significantly, after a time lag of 18 years, limiting overall benefit. While forest area also increased, forest quality declined, interacting with reduced surface water runoff. Crucially, increased forest water consumption accelerated downstream groundwater depletion, thus intensifying conflicts over water use. The time lags and spatial trade-offs revealed by this case study provide critical lessons for large-scale restoration programs globally.

Dynamics of Natural Regeneration: Implications for Landscape Restoration in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil

This study aimed to understand post-agricultural natural forest regeneration in the Southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest and its possible role as a cost-effective, passive approach to forest restoration. The study characterized vegetation structure, floristic composition, and the dynamics of secondary forest chronosequences. Data were collected from 159 plots (10 × 10 m each) across forest remnants in Santa Catarina State, covering forest ages that ranged from 2 to 60 years of regeneration after swidden agriculture. Only areas with no signs of degradation were sampled in order to provide a description of vegetation characteristics that could be used to identify and monitor natural regeneration. A total of 11,455 woody plants were identified and classified into 334 species representing 71 families. As the succession process unfolds, the continuous turnover of species makes forests more diverse and structurally complex. Floristic similarity among forest types is observed during the early stages of succession, but decreases over time. Pioneer species dominate young secondary forests, representing about 40% of the basal area up to 10 years of regeneration. Shade-tolerant species start colonizing the sites at early ages; however, they become more important structural elements only after 30 years of succession. The observed patterns of forest structure and species diversity largely conform to the post-agricultural succession seen in many tropical forests. The high species diversity found in this study highlights the importance of natural regeneration as a strategy to restore ecosystems. Floristic data can be used as a reference for choosing suitable species for active restoration, as well as contributing to the design of integrated restoration strategies. We herein reinforce the potential of natural regeneration as part of large-scale restoration programs, which would be particularly attractive to family farmers by the low cost of supplies and labor.

The right place at the right time: Improving the odds of biogenic reef restoration

Habitat restoration is an international priority. With this demand there is a need for ecological knowledge to underpin restoration projects to ensure their success and cost-effective delivery. This study is the first temperate marine restoration project to examine the role seasonality and location may have on restoration projects. The study found that the settlement of Serpula vermicularis, a rare biogenic reef forming species of conservation importance, was up to three times higher on materials deployed during July than other months. The results also found similar differences in settlement between restoration sites. These results suggest that the timing and location of a restoration effort could affect its overall success in the medium to long term. For the restoration of marine biogenic species of conservation importance, targeted spatial and temporal pre-restoration experiments can greatly increase a project's chance of success as well as making large-scale restoration programs more cost efficient.

Seagrass Restoration Is Possible: Insights and Lessons From Australia and New Zealand

Seagrasses are important marine ecosystems situated throughout the world's coastlines. They are facing declines around the world due to global and local threats such as rising ocean temperatures, coastal development and pollution from sewage outfalls and agriculture. Efforts have been made to reduce seagrass loss through reducing local and regional stressors, and through active restoration. Seagrass restoration is a rapidly maturing discipline, but improved restoration practices are needed to enhance the success of future programs. Major gaps in knowledge remain, however, prior research efforts have provided valuable insights into factors influencing the outcomes of restoration and there are now several examples of successful large-scale restoration programs. A variety of tools and techniques have recently been developed that will improve the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and scalability of restoration programs. This review describes several restoration successes in Australia and New Zealand, with a focus on emerging techniques for restoration, key considerations for future programs, and highlights the benefits of increased collaboration, Traditional Owner (First Nation) and stakeholder engagement. Combined, these lessons and emerging approaches show that seagrass restoration is possible, and efforts should be directed at upscaling seagrass restoration into the future. This is critical for the future conservation of this important ecosystem and the ecological and coastal communities they support.

Assessing the viability of cyanobacteria pellets for application in arid land restoration

The role of cyanobacteria from soil biocrusts in restoring degraded land is gaining interest in recent years because of their critical role in enhancing soil fertility and preventing erosion. However, soil restoration through cyanobacterial inoculation remains a challenge for large-scale restoration efforts and new methodologies for effective cyanobacterial application need to be developed. Here, we propose a bioenvironmental approach to inoculate soils with pelletized cyanobacteria from soil biocrusts. Fresh cultures of three soil native cyanobacteria strains from two representative N-fixing genera (Nostoc and Scytonema) and a non-heterocystous filamentous genus (Leptolyngbya) were added into a substrate composed of commercial bentonite powder and sand (1:10 wt ratio) and extruded into pellets. Then, in two multifactorial microcosm experiments under glasshouse conditions, we evaluated (i) the survival and establishment over time of the cyanobacteria encapsulated in pellets, and ii) the viability of pelletized cyanobacteria after drying and storing for 30 d, on soils from three arid regions in Australia. Our results showed that pellets can dissolve completely and spread out in all treatments. Scytonema and the consortium of the three cyanobacteria species showed significant (P < 0.001) deeper CR680 peaks, higher chlorophyll a contents and lower albedo compared to the other inoculation treatments. Storing the pellets for 30 d significantly affected the viability of the cyanobacteria inoculum with reductions of approximately 50% in chlorophyll a content (a proxy for cyanobacteria biomass). Overall, our results showed that some cyanobacteria species can be successfully incorporated into extruded pellets and survive on degraded soils. This technology opens a wide range of opportunities for application in large scale restoration programs although further testing and refining through field trials is recommended.

Ecological restoration as a strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change: lessons and challenges from Brazil

Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects biophysical systems and human well-being. The Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force in 2016 with the objective of strengthening the global response to climate change by keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 °C. The agreement requires all Parties to submit their “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. Reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is an important strategy for mitigating climate change, particularly in developing countries with large forests. Extensive tropical forest loss and degradation have increased awareness at the international level of the need to undertake large-scale ecological restoration, highlighting the need to identify cases in which restoration strategies can contribute to mitigation and adaptation. Here we consider Brazil as a case study to evaluate the benefits and challenges of implementing large-scale restoration programs in developing countries. The Brazilian NDC included the target of restoring and reforesting 12 million hectares of forests for multiple uses by 2030. Restoration of native vegetation is one of the foundations of sustainable rural development in Brazil and should consider multiple purposes, from biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation to social and economic development. However, ecological restoration still presents substantial challenges for tropical and mega-diverse countries, including the need to develop plans that are technically and financially feasible, as well as public policies and monitoring instruments that can assess effectiveness. The planning, execution, and monitoring of restoration efforts strongly depend on the context and the diagnosis of the area with respect to reference ecosystems (e.g., forests, savannas, grasslands, wetlands). In addition, poor integration of climate change policies at the national and subnational levels and with other sectorial policies constrains the large-scale implementation of restoration programs. The case of Brazil shows that slowing deforestation is possible; however, this analysis highlights the need for increased national commitment and international support for actions that require large-scale transformations of the forest sector regarding ecosystem restoration efforts. Scaling up the ambitions and actions of the Paris Agreement implies the need for a global framework that recognizes landscape restoration as a cost-effective nature-based solution and that supports countries in addressing their remaining needs, challenges, and barriers.

When good animals love restored habitat in bad neighborhoods: ecological traps for eastern cottontails in agricultural landscapes

Large-scale restoration programs have been implemented worldwide to counteract habitat loss and fragmentation from expansion and intensification of agriculture. These agri-environment programs create habitat patches imbedded in an agricultural matrix. The assumption is these patches benefit wildlife and that individuals either avoid agricultural fields or use them to increase their fitness. We selected eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus) as a focal species on restored grasslands in Illinois, USA to assess survival and to determine if maladaptive habitat selection for agricultural fields could create an ecological trap. We also investigated whether a mismatch between real and perceived predation risk could explain their habitat selection. We radiotracked 95 cottontails and estimated habitat-specific survival using known-fate models, and measured habitat selection using Manly’s standardized selection ratios. We also assessed perceived predation risk with giving-up density experiments. Survival of cottontails was higher in restored grasslands relative to agricultural and developed areas. Habitat selection did not reflect this spatial variation in mortality risk, however, when crops were present on the landscape. Agricultural lands created an equal-preference trap. Cottontails did not accurately assess predation risk; they did not recognize that agricultural fields were risky. This mismatch could be due to cottontails’ emphasis on protecting themselves from avian predators rather than from coyotes (Canis latrans), which currently are their main predator. Our novel study demonstrates how dynamic landscape context can create ecological traps. Such unexpected outcomes can reduce the conservation benefits of restoration programs.

The effects of restoration on vegetation trends: spatiotemporal variability and influencing factors

ABSTRACTSince the ‘Grain to Green Program' was launched in 1999 in the Loess Plateau, China, the processes and patterns of ecological change have become important. Through the use of the fractional vegetation cover (FVC) index, this study examines the spatial distribution and temporal change of vegetation cover in the Loess Plateau during 2000–2014. Over this period more than 60% of the Loess Plateau has remained with little vegetation cover (FVC &lt;30%). The spatial distribution pattern shows an overall increase from the NW to SE. Temporally, the vegetation cover exhibits a general trend of improvement. In 2000–2005, 2000–2010 and 2000–2014, the percentages of restored vegetation (vegetation with significantly increased FVC, P&lt;0.05) were 2, 21 and 52%, respectively. The rate of vegetation cover restoration was highly variable among different bioclimatic zones. The expansion of restored vegetation was greater in the N of the Loess Plateau than in the south. Both human restoration activities and climatic fluctuation influenced the vegetation cover change. The ‘Grain to Green Program' emphasised vegetation restoration. Regional precipitation also had clear effects on vegetation cover. The results of this study reveal that vegetation change shows a non-linear process in response to climate and ecological restoration measures, and that the change gradually emerges over time. This study highlights the importance of considering the spatiotemporal variability in vegetation cover during the implementation of restoration programs, which could aid decision-making for the effective and sustainable management of large-scale restoration programs.

A generalizable monitoring model to implement policies to promote forest restoration – A case study in São Paulo - Brazil

Examples of large-scale restoration programs to recover ecosystem services are now common in many countries, and governments are assuming ambitious forest restoration targets. Given the increasing investment of time, effort, and money in restoration, there is an urgent need to develop monitoring programs to assess restoration effectiveness. Some countries are already conducting monitoring programs, but the effectiveness of the restoration programs remains mostly unknown. Restoration evaluation often entails significant difficulties, such as the lack of harmonized monitoring data and imprecise information available about project goals and implementation. With the intent of contributing to the development of effective and accountable restoration projects, the objective of our work is to create a conceptual model that provides the building blocks of a planning and monitoring system to support forest restoration programs. The aim is to develop a conceptual model that represents forest restoration monitoring processes that effectively attain and measure the desirable outcomes. The São Paulo Forest Restoration Program is the case study that provides variables and processes to illustrate the development of the conceptual model. This paper presents the conceptual model, emphasizing generalizable principles that extend its applicability to similar monitoring programs. Based on action learning principles and recommendations from a comprehensive literature review, the resulting Forest Management Decisions Support System (FMDSS) embeds adaptive management strategies and the existence of an auto-updatable knowledge base. The result is a conceptual model that can be generalizable and applicable beyond the realms of the FMDSS. The restoration of degraded areas in a case with >40,000 rural properties serves as the case study. Although the planning and the monitoring of the restoration programs differ, the generalizable principles used to develop the conceptual model presented in this paper result in continuous intelligent monitoring processes that transform the systems so that they are adaptable to apparently different situations. Additionally, conceptual models that integrate adaptive planning and monitoring processes, supported by an auto-updatable knowledge base, mitigate the risk of failures, mainly when the comprehensive gathering of well-established references for the initial knowledge base has been conducted well at the outset.

Selecting indicators to monitor outcomes across projects and multiple restoration programs in the Gulf of Mexico

Tracking the incremental and combined effects of large-scale ecosystem restoration programs is scientifically and socioeconomically challenging; this is especially true for ongoing management and restoration programs in the northern Gulf of Mexico and adjacent areas following the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. When implemented, monitoring programs for large-scale ecosystems typically monitor overall system health and/or the progress toward individual restoration project goals. However, being able to demonstrate successful “individual restoration projects” does not necessarily equate to providing cost-effective benefits at the large-scale ecosystem level, especially when the area and complexity of the system is large. More than $16billion is available for ecosystem restoration related activities associated with multiple Deepwater Horizon settlements (i.e., Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustee Council, and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation). Restoration activities conducted under the NRDA settlement are intended to restore injured resources to conditions that would have existed in the absence of the spill and to compensate the public for lost use of injured resources. Other restoration activities funded by the settlements are designated to restore the Gulf Coast economy, culture and environmental health by addressing a multitude of other ecological and economic injuries in the Gulf ecosystem not directly caused by the spill. Although the collective funding for restoration activities is large, unprecedented, and has the potential to begin making progress toward reducing adverse long-term environmental stressors, it is insufficient to fully address all stressors to restore ecological health in the vast Gulf ecosystem. This creates a unique challenge for restoration program managers who in addition to demonstrating the success of individual projects, need to demonstrate that overall restoration funds were spent wisely and produced significant synergistic benefits to preserve and restore the Gulf ecosystem. This will be especially important as settlement funds are exhausted and resource managers seek public funding to continue restoration and conservation efforts.We evaluated approaches for integrating the monitoring of individual project outcomes in order to also monitor the combined program progress across all Gulf oil disaster restoration programs based on (1) lessons learned from other large-scale restoration programs; (2) integrated restoration goals and objectives from multiple Gulf restoration programs; (3) common stressors, and potential interactions with varying restoration and conservation target categories and their associated types of projects; and (4) the applicability of monitoring at both the project and program level. We identified a suite of 10 performance metrics or indicators that are applicable to multiple project types and restoration entities in the Gulf using restoration indicators that are highly applicable across restoration categories at both the project and system level. Utilizing a small set of indicators that can be measured across multiple resource and project types creates an opportunity to build a core set of metrics into individual project monitoring plans in a way that is cost-effective, efficient and consistent. Our approach represents one way to track the impacts of restoration activities at a scale larger than the project level in the Gulf, while recognizing the scientific, political and economic challenges associated with restoring the Gulf ecosystem in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

How to Organize a Large-Scale Ecological Restoration Program? The Framework Developed by the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact in Brazil

Large-scale ecological restoration programs across the world have begun to extensively transform degraded lands into young native ecosystems. However, more projects like these will be necessary in the coming years to fulfill the goal of restoring 150 million ha established by United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Here, we present and discuss the steps required for and the lessons learned from the organization of a large-scale ecological restoration program in Brazil, the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact. These lessons are organized around 9 steps: (a) the presentation of the motivations driving the promotion of large-scale restoration, (b) the organization of the main stakeholders, (c) the definition of goals, (d) the organization of a database, (e) the indication of both available and priority areas for restoration, (f) the proposal of science-based and field-validated methods, (g) the establishment of a monitoring protocol, (h) the proposal of a communication program to unite members and interact with society, and (i) the strategies for promoting the establishment of public policies conducive to restoration. This framework may provide a template to help other initiatives to mainstream isolated restoration projects into a large and well-organized movement, which may increase the chances of successful restoration in the future.

Challenges and Opportunities in Applying a Landscape Ecology Perspective in Ecological Restoration: a Powerful Approach to Shape Neolandscapes

Over the last 30 years, ecological restoration has emerged as the central new promise for the reconciliation of societal wellbeing and biodiversity conservation in a human-dominated world (Dobson et al. 1997; Bullock et al. 2011). After an initial phase of scientific consolidation and experience accumulation in the practice of assisting the recovery of degraded, damaged or destroyed ecosystems (sensu SER 2004), ecological restoration is finally considered a global priority for moving towards sustainability (Aronson & Alexander 2013). In the last decade, many large-scale restoration programs have arisen across the world (see examples in McQueen et al. 2001; Doyle & Drew 2008; Arriagada et al. 2012; Melo et al. 2013a). Ideally, these pioneer initiatives will be just the first steps of a more ambitious movement towards the restoration of degraded ecosystems at global scales, as targeted by the Bonn Challenge and the Aichi target 15 of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (Menz et al. 2013). In this context, restoration ecologists and practitioners, as well as policy makers, will certainly have to be prepared to adopt new approaches for inducing, planning and implementing restoration programs. Central to this process, will be the fundamental movement from local to large-scale perspective in restoration (Melo et al. 2013b).

Micropropagation of Vegetable Rennet (Withania coagulans [Stocks] Dunal)—A Critically Endangered Medicinal Plant

Withania coagulans (Stocks) Dunal (Solanaceae), popularly called vegetable rennet, is a critically endangered and highly valued medicinal plant. Overexploitation and reproductive failure forced the plant species toward the verge of complete extinction. We describe here the development of a simple, rapid, and cost effective in vitro micropropagation system for W. coagulans for mass-scale production of true-to-type plantlets using nodal shoot segments. Exactly 95.5 ± 0.34% explants responded within 8–10 days (d) and produced multiple shoot buds (4.1 ± 0.10 shoots of 2.95 ± 0.15 cm length) on 0.8% agar-gelled Murashige and Skoog's (MS) basal medium supplemented with 8.88 μM 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), 0.57 μM indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and additives (100 mg L−1 L-ascorbic acid, 25 mg L−1 each citric acid, adenine sulphate, and L-arginine). The shoots in cultures were multiplied by repeated transfer on MS medium with 4.44 μM BAP, 0.57 μM IAA, and additives. Further cultures were multiplied on a large-scale through the subculturing of shoot clumps differentiated in vitro, on MS medium supplemented with 1.11 μM BAP, 0.57 μM IAA, and additives. Maximum number (19.1 ± 0.28) of healthy (6.15 ± 0.25 cm) and viable shoots differentiated on this medium. The microshoots were rooted both in vitro and ex vitro. Exactly 67.3 ± 1.01% microshoots rooted in vitro within 25–30 d on agar-gelled half-strength MS salts supplemented with 29.52 μM indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 200 mg L−1 of activated charcoal (AC). Alternatively, 73.8 ± 0.65% cloned shoots rooted on sterile soilrite (soilless compost and soil conditioner) under ex vitro conditions after pulse treatment with 2.46 mM IBA for 300 s. The clones of W. coagulans were hardened in a greenhouse within 40–45 d by slow and gradual exposure of plantlets from high relative humidity (RH; 70–80%) and low (26 ± 2°C) temperature to low RH (40–50%) and high (34 ± 2°C) temperature. The hardened plantlets were transferred to soil and stored in agro-net house with more than 90% survival rate. Replacement of pure and laboratory grade sucrose with commercial grade sugar, use of less expensive commercial grade agar-agar in culture medium, higher rate of shoot proliferation, single step ex vitro rooting, and hardening of plantlets in the greenhouse are advantageous features of the protocol. The micropropagation protocol defined here is reproducible, easy to follow, and would be helpful in large-scale restoration programs through true-to-type mass-multiplication of W. coagulans.

Facilitating Transitional Processes in Rigid Institutional Regimes for Water Management and Wetland Conservation: Experience from the Guadalquivir Estuary

Traditional policies for water resources management and wetland conservation are often based on command-andcontrol approaches. The latter tend to drive the human–wetland–water system into pathological states, characterized by more vulnerable ecosystems and rigid institutions for governance. The overcoming of these states may rest in the development of flexible and adaptive institutional regimes that rely on adaptive governance and management. Because past factors might constrain the implementation of more flexible adaptive approaches to management, it is important to understand the historical mechanisms underlying the genesis of institutional rigidity. We first present the results of a historical analysis of Donana, which can be characterized as a pathological water socio-ecosystem governed through rigid institutional regimes for water resources management and wetland conservation. In a second step, we analyze the advances achieved during a recent, large-scale restoration program for the Donana wetlands, which adhered explicitly to the tenets of adaptive management. Our analysis indicated that the historical persistence of command-and-control approaches has been a path-dependent process that led to the emergence of a rigid institutional regime and caused it to enter a rigidity trap. However, the achievements of the restoration program suggest that a more flexible and adaptive regime could be developed through the introduction of adaptive management at the operational levels, using specifically tailored action research programs. To conclude, we speculate that the research strategy outlined could be extended to comply with, or complement, the requirements of the EU's Water Framework Directive in other European water socio-ecosystems.